In every plane ride, I always take a window seat and I tell the airline staff upon check-in to give me a seat either at the front or the rear but never in the middle, because that's where the wings are. The obvious reason is that I want to be able to look out the window and see the world amongst the clouds.
Sometimes, there are places when you just know it. The moment I peered down the plane window and saw the waves of lush green hills and valleys bathed in the beautiful morning rays of the sun, I knew it was going to be amazing. And amazing it was.
Visiting Batanes has only been on my list just recently. It had been a spontaneous plan, one that took form in my head while spending free time online at work thinking of ways to make good use of the then upcoming Vesak Day.
For those who are not aware, Batanes is a group of islands, a province found at the northernmost part of the Philippines. It has ten islands and only the biggest three are inhabited, namely Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat. Basco is the capital of Batanes and is in the island of Batan. It is where the airport is as well as most places that will remind you of human civilization.
So, I hopped on a plane, with my usual companions: backpack and cameras, few clothes to last me three to four days, comfortable footwear and some sunnies. I was ecstatic to leave bustling Singapore for three and a half days, so prepared to marvel at the beauty that awaits me.
I have dedicated an entirely different
blog post on Basco, because the charm of how life is so simple and quiet there deserves a spotlight on its own.
Moving on. So here I was, at the northern-most province of the Philippines, on an island 101 miles north of mainland Luzon and about the same distance south of Taiwan. A year ago, I never even thought I would visit this place, let alone go all by myself. It was quite exhilarating, the feeling of going somewhere you have never been to before. The mystery, the uncertainty. Oh, what if something goes wrong? Oh, but what if it surprises you in all the good ways! Truth is, I have always thought that the places less traveled are the most special ones.
On each of the three days of discovering places in this province, I had a guide with me. Of course, there would be nobody to stop you if you wish to explore the islands on your own sans guide but it is still recommended that you have one because as Ryan (popular tour guide) has told me, it might be difficult to find your way around. Even though national roads are well-paved, there are places where you don't see any vehicle pass by for a long time and even lesser people to ask in the event you get lost in the middle of nowhere. But I don't claim to be all-knowing about this subject so please correct me if this is wrong.
It is obvious by now that Batanes is popular for how different it looks from the rest of the country. And by that, I mean the wide expanse of green hills, meadows, valleys and such with the abundance of cows and goats grazing on them. The very first place I went to was
Vayang Rolling Hills. Pick a spot and picture yourself standing there. You can practically just slowly turn around and never lose sight of the green landscape that surrounds you. They are nothing short of beautiful, but mind you, there are areas that you walk on wherein one wrong step and failure of balance will literally send you rolling all the way down the hill. It's no mountain but it's still highly-elevated. You might bump into one of the grazing cows (or their poo) along your way down. It's not a happy thought, but yes. It is a sight to behold.
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| Dark clouds loom from a distance. |
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| Vayang Rolling Hills |
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| come on. say moo. |
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| Cows and chicken |
This beach is called the
Valugan Boulder Beach. Locals say the numerous boulders came from the nearby active volcano, Mount Iraya, when it erupted a very long time ago.
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| trash segregation by the beach |
Right about this time, the rain started to pour. At least I was already at the lighthouse so that was a perfect place to take shelter. This is the
Basco Lighthouse in Naidi Hills
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| To my surprise, there were people inside. A mother and two children, who seem to be there as the lighthouse's caretakers. |
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| It poured. Heavily. |
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| A few souvenirs displayed inside the lighthouse |
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| Thankfully, the very strong rain passed and it gave the place this wonderful fresh light. |
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| This pretty blue door on stone wall caught my attention. |
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| It had been a beautiful day after all. |
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| Mount Iraya and the airport runway (concrete strip on the left) |
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| Inside the WWII Japanese tunnel/hideout |
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| A photo with Mount Iraya. Fact: It is an active volcano. |
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| Fundacion Pacita, a popular hotel, known for its beautiful and expensive rooms |
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| sign at a nearby waiting shed. forgot what it meant. "Dios Mamajes" is Ivatan for "Thank you." |
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| Mount Carmel Chapel. This is a really beautiful chapel where a lot of couples have their weddings. See the faint image of an island in the background? That is Itbayat Island. |
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| Would you believe, there was a sari-sari store in the area. And it has quite a personality to it. |
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| Of course, I couldn't leave without taking a photo with it! |
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| Went to Mount Carmel Church to see the interior. |
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| There are beautiful murals on the ceiling. The chapel was indeed perfect for intimate weddings. |
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| The Altar |
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| The ceiling art |
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| The main door carving detail |
Mahatao is the municipality located next to Basco. These are the sights you will see there.
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| The Mahatao Boat Shelter and Port. This is very eye-catching, you wouldn't miss it. |
The Mahatao Spanish Lighthouse has one heck of a view. It will take your breath away. It was easily one of my favorite sights in Batanes.
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| "Toto, I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore!" |
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| Fact: Lighthouses in Batanes are not functional and are actually put there for the tourists. |
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| The San Carloas Borromeo Church in Mahatao |
This is an interesting part of the church. They call it an "Open Book Library". Inside you will find shelves of books, with blank pages and numbered spines. Anyone can go inside, pick any book and write on its pages.
The words written on book number 332 caught my attention. It said: "Anyone can write, but who reads?"
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| This is only the first page of what the author wrote. |
I couldn't help but say something, too. I chose not to be anonymous.
Dorados are sold at high prices in Batanes. This is where they fish for them. The fishermen use traditional ways of fishing wherein they use flying fish as bait to catch Dorados. Flying fish are also not easy to catch so before these serve as bait, they also need to be caught first.
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| The Dorados are left to dry out in the sun before they are sold. They cost about Php1,000 per piece. |
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| A fisherman who had just caught some Dorados. Mind you, they are heavy! |
While on the road, we encountered a face hidden in these rocky cliffs. Do you see it?
And to my left is another amazing view. If I had been driving, I would not have been able to focus on the road.
An entire day is dedicated to visit the Island of Sabtang. It is one of the three inhabited islands of Batanes province and requires you to ride a Faluwa. It is a boat especially designed to ride bigger waves in the open sea.
This was how the Faluwa "driver" navigates the boat.
The boat can accommodate about 20-30 people. It crosses the sea for 30 minutes before reaching the shores of Sabtang.
On this clear sunny day, between those thirty minutes on the boat was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Times two (another ten on the way back!). The waves in the open sea are indeed huge. Far from the waves I've encountered on rides from Tampi to Cebu. But I looked around and saw that the other passengers did not seem nervous, so I kept calm and pretended to be bored and stared at my shoes.
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| The sight of land drawing nearer. Thank god. |
This is the town of Savidug. Here you will see the traditional stone houses. These were built to withstand the typhoons that are constantly experienced in Batanes. These houses normally have cogon as roof. Using cogon to cover their homes is less hotter compared to using regular roof material. The downside is that it needs to be replaced every fifty years because cogon layers do not last that long.
Town streets are more like alleys. They are too narrow and are only suitable for people walking and bicycles, yes.
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| This is a ground crab. It was quite an escape artist as later that day, we left it in the vehicle. It was gone when we came back for it. |
There is a small hut where weaving of the
Vakul and
Kanayi takes place. The Vakul is a headgear made of fiber worn by women and the Kanayi, a vest, made of the same material. These are worn to protect them from rain and harsh sunlight.
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| Another one of their traditional stone houses. These were built using limestone. |
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| San Vicente de Ferrer Chapel, Sabtang Island |
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| random photo while on the road |
Limestone makes up the foundation of the Ivatan stone houses. There is a beach where they burn limestone. The call it the "Lime Kiln"
It was time for lunch and we had ours by Morong Beach.
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| Seen on the right is the Mahayaw Natural Arc Formation |
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| I had my share of the summer sun. Took a dip in the cold waters of the South China Sea |
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| Morong Beach |
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| Scorching heat but I was not complaining |
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| Nakabuang Cave |
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| It was a good day for a picture like this. |
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| This was another group's ride. |
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| The visit to Sabtang finally ended and had to say goodbye to the mother and daughter, Carol and Julie who were very nice to me. They are from Washington DC. |
Another favorite of mine is Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint. This was the place which I did not want to leave yet, if not for the extreme heat that was starting to hurt my arms. There is a feeling like no other, when you look at something so big and so close to you that you feel tremendously small and insignificant in this world. I might really be just the type who is easily impressed but then again, when it comes to nature, everyone should be easily impressed. When you are presented with God's creation, who are you to say that it's not beautiful?
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| It is worth mentioning that the skill of these goat herders (and the goats) are exceptional in terms of balance. We chanced upon some of them chasing goats downhill, as if they were simply chasing them on flat ground. If you were there, you will seriously stop what you're doing and look at how well they do it. |
At the southern part of Batan Island is what tourists call "Marlboro Country". Its actual name is "Racuh a Payaman" but it was nicknamed the former because the place reminds people of the the scenery seen on Marlboro commercials.
I spent so much time here, taking photos. It turns out, I had taken so much of the same photos without even realizing it. But can't blame me. When you are in a really nice place, you can't seem to get enough of it. You tend to take all the pictures you want in the attempt to take the moments home with you because sooner or later, you will have to leave and you don't know if you'll ever be able to come back.
I also took a three-minute video. If you want to watch, you can
click here.
This is the main view of Marlboro Country.
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| There is a sort of "carinderia"-looking restaurant in the area. This was the place for lunch. |
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| Talk about lunch with a view! |
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| Ah. Mount Iraya. So dramatic with all those clouds! |
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| Courtesy of the "best-shot mode" of my Fuji compact. |
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| another photo while on the road |
This is the town of Uyugan. This is where a "ghost town" is located. People had abandoned an area of this town due to a tsunami that hit the place a long time ago. Uyugan is situated southeast of Batan Island facing the vast Pacific Ocean.
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| Alapad hills and rock formation at Imnajbu Village (still in Uyugan) |
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| Alapad Hills |
In the next town,
Ivana, is where you will find the
Honesty Store. It is a store that gets its income based on the amount of conscience that the people who come to the store have. The store sells items you would normally see in a sari-sari or souvenir store, but there is no one there to accept payment. Every item has a price but you might be tempted to take things with you without paying for them simply because nobody is there to stop you. If you decide to pay, you add up how much you need to pay and drop it in the box.
I just went in to look, a few others were also there. A man was so nice to buy me a cold drink. I asked for his name but he only told me his name was
"Piolo Pascual." Lol. Of course he was no Piolo but hey, since you bought me a drink, you can call yourself anything you want!
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| Dios Mamajes is "Thank you" in Ivatan dialect |
A popular church, the
San Jose de Ivana, is dominantly yellow and is facing the Ivana port. It is quite old, built in 1814 but still looks almost brand new today.
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| bicycles outside the church |
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| What with all this yellow around me! |
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| San Jose de Ivana (interior) |
The House of Dakay is the oldest stone church in Batanes. It was the home of the late Lola Inday, who passed last 14th January 2014. She was 88 years old.
It was a small house, with wooden floor, foundation and walls made of limestone and roof made of cogon. Inside were photos of Lola Inday with a lot of other visitors who had greeted her in this home. You should take off your shoes when you enter the house, as a simple sign of respect.
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| I saw the Philippine flag waving on top of a house facing Lola Inday's. It was a proud moment being able to see Batanes and knowing it is part of the Philippine archipelago. |
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| another stone house nearby |
Well, there you go! Three summer days in northern Philippines, not so bad! Itbayat Island will have to wait until next time. It required another day or two to see that island and there was really no time for me. There was so much beauty to take in for such a short period of time. But the best part was getting to know the place, not just take pictures and marvel at the view.
By the way, whenever I get back to my "home" away from home, I will admit it got a little boring. Did I mention there was no internet? There was cable tv, but I didn't really feel like watching anything. I made use of the tripod to take some photos of my room and the night sky. I wanted to try shooting star trails but it wasn't feasible at that time.
I was quite glad that I made some acquaintance with a group of guests were staying in the other room. They were brothers from Ateneo. For two nights we had happy hour and exchanged stories about work and travel and of course how the Batanes experience had been for us. They are quite a happy bunch and were very kind to buy me some flavored beer. They did look for San Mig Light but apparently nobody sold those anywhere. Seriously? So the flavored beer then, which tasted like Cali. Another night they offered me wine, which was good, too. Best consumed with pistachios and some chips.
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| L-R: Me, Kenneth, Raffy and Alex |
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| Well, the bedside table with everything on it. |
Here's a glimpse of the room, which I absolutely loved. To bits.
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| This is basically how every window in Batanes homes looks like. |
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| Beside the stairs (2nd floor) is a window to my room! This window shows me a beautiful view of Mount Iraya every morning. So perfect. |
By now, I can safely say that Batanes has captured my heart. I never understood when people say they fell in love with a place but I do now. Whenever I think of Batanes, there is not a bad thought that comes to my mind. And when people ask you if you like a place and you say yes, the best way to really know how much you like it is when they ask you:
"Would you ever come back?"
My answer to that would be
"Yes. In a heartbeat."
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Special thanks to the guides who were so patient to take my photos at all these places, Kuya Toto, Kuya Ian and Mr. Ryan Cardona.
All photos shot using a D90, Fuji X10 and iPhone 4s.
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