The province of Sorsogon is the southernmost province of mainland Luzon. It is the last navigable point by land if one travels down south, arguably the farthest on may go when traveling southwards. It is the direct opposite of Ilocos Norte, the home of the northernmost point in the largest island group in the Philippines. Whatever land-and-sea feature that Ilocos Norte has, Sorsogon also has, except the latter is at the geographical bottom.

During the dawn on Spanish colonialism, however, Sorsogon was the gateway to the north as the colonizers came from the Visayas. It was from Sorsogon that the two Spanish Augustinian Friars credited for the evangelization of Bicol, Alonzon Jimenez and Juan Orta, started their mission in 1570, moving inland all the way to what would become Camalig, Albay.

This place of dual characteristic of being a last frontier and a gateway was our next destination after our Peñafrancia pilgrimage in the City of Naga. It took us just a quarter short to four hours from Naga City to Sorsogon City, the capital of the namesake province. It was already bright when we finally reached our first destination in the province, the Sorsogon Sports Arena.

Taking inspiration from the Roman Colosseum, the Sorsogon Sports Arena was originally built in time for the hosting of the province of the Palarong Pambansa in 2022. The hosting was however moved to 2023 due to the pandemic a couple of years prior. The 12,000–seater stadium was inaugurated in 2024.

The sky was gloomy when we were in Sorsogon. It was already 07:00 AM but there was no hint of the sun yet. The plan was straightforward with just sightseeing the aesthetically pleasing sports stadium, reminiscent of the glory that Ancient Rome was. Ran and I weren’t playing Romans though. We were playing Koreans.

There was no particular reason why we decided to cosplay the popular Korean survival drama series that day. We just really felt packing our costumes and bringing them all the way to Bicol. It was fun and rather crazy. Made us wonder: what could be the people in the arena thinking about us?

After spending about an hour in the sports arena, we took a very short drive to our next destination, the Sorsogon Provincial Capitol. Built during the term of Governor Victor Eco during his term between 1915 to 1917, the provincial capitol was built in neo-classical architecture as was predominant during the American colonial era.

Sorsogon Provincial Capitol.

Since it was a weekend, taking photos of the provincial capitol without the usual crowd came fairly easy. It was just Riyan, Ran and me who went out of the car though. All the rest of our companions opted to catch as much sleep as they can.

Making the most of having the place all to ourselves.

There is a park across the capitol building and we chanced upon a family feeding the pigeons that are mainstay in the capitol grounds. Of course, we did not miss the opportunity to get closer to the birds. Since Riyan was with us, it was also a chance for her to get a hand into this kind of experience. She was hilariously afraid of the pigeons at first, but eventually got the hang of it.

It was already almost 08:00 AM, but the sun still had not shown itself as the skies remained cloudy. That was also the time to head to our next destination in Sorsogon. We left the pigeons with their own business and went off.

Our first two destinations in Sorsogon were surely differentiated by their respective purposes: one meant to host games, the other stands as the center of governance. They are not as different, however, if one takes into account the fact that they both serve as perfect venues where families and friends can stay and spend time together, nurturing human bonds of companionship. That was exactly what happened to us when we were in Sorsogon.

What started as a dawn of experiencing the divine in the Peñafrancia Festival continued with a daybreak of bonding with loved ones, in a land considered the farthest south that roads can go in the island of Luzon. That was just the beginning, of course. As the day marched on, the Land of Kasanggayahan continued to amaze us, showing the beauty of the mystical far south as we continued to journey along the way.