Batanes, Philippines (Day 1, Part 1)

It had never occurred to me that I will go to Batanes someday, but I was grateful that I did.

The province of Batanes, or Batanes Islands, is the northernmost part of the Philippines. It was known to be that place where you would think you’re no longer in the Philippines but in some other country, like New Zealand (as some would say). Though I had never been to New Zealand, I’d say Batanes was indeed a place like no other in so many ways.

We were a group of four brave, adventurous women, all my college friends, who went for three days and two nights trip to Batanes last June 2011. Why brave, you ask? Storm signal number 1 was already called at Batanes Islands. Other northern provinces were already given signal number 2. Though Manila had so far experienced just moderate rain for the past night before our flight, there was still a BIG chance that our flight would be cancelled.

Luckily, despite the storm signals and that our aircraft was really small (Basco Batanes airport can only accommodate small aircrafts); our flight was not called off.

After approximately 1.5 hours, we reached Batan Island at Basco Airport Terminal. It felt very homey inside. :)

By the way, we booked at Batanes Seaside Lodge and Restaurant (I think the same owner of Hiro’s Restaurant also in Basco) for our accommodation.

Fortunately, they also arranged the tour for us, which included land transfers to all the famous sites in the island of Batan, as well as boat ride to Sabtang (which, did not happen due to the tropical depression – I will tell the story on Day 2).

So, after claiming our luggage, we met Kuya Tope who was our driver for the whole trip. He drove us straight to Hiro’s Restaurant where we had our breakfast and met Kuya Lando, our tour guide. The breakfast was a plated meal of rice, egg, and fried flying fish – just enough to get us started. Our first stop: the Batanes view deck.

It was placed strategically to let visitors see the vast ocean, the cliffs of the island, the mountain at the back, and the rocky shores at the bottom.

There was also a stairway going down to the rocky shore for those who would like to get splashed with waves.

From a different perspective:

We had just started but we were already satisfied with what we just saw. :DKuya Lando said there was still another view deck where we can go to as well. So we hopped into the car and headed there. This was what it looked like from afar:

We were already doubtful that it was the same “view deck” we see earlier. This we confirmed as we walked towards it:

Our knees were starting to shake, and some of us needed Kuya Lando and Kuya Tope’s assistance. The strong winds weren’t helping too! We only had that structure made up of nailed trunks of trees to hold onto. These things didn’t stop us, who would when you can see these?

I was not kidding about the wind:

Below the view deck, we saw an old American military base (according to Kuya Lando):

…as well as cattle being pastured:

According to Kuya Lando, Batan island’s main livelihood was raising livestock, particularly cattle. The other big islands of the province have different main livelihoods as well: for Itbayat island was agriculture; and for Sabtang was fishing. True enough, we see different livestock freely grazing in everywhere we go in Batan island.

We were told that there was zero percent (0%) crime rate in the province. In fact, our guides said, locals would confidently leave their animals, their cars/motorcycles at the side of the road with keys on, and their houses with doors open- unguarded. B-)

People in Batan island also do farming. Hedgerows marking separation of land for farming may be seen even while still aboard the plane. They were pretty to see from above! :) Those hedgerows may be made up of different shrubs and small trees, but mainly with tall grass, which looked similar tokugon (cogon) grass, or reeds. They also serve as windbreakers to protect the crops from harsh weathers, and were even used for roofing of traditional Ivatan stone houses.

Oh, and we also saw hedgerows that margin the rough roads on hills. They made the way look safer (so you won’t fall and roll over the slopes). :P

After the two view decks we visited, we went to see more from the top of the Mahatao Lighthouse.

The lighthouse looked old, but people will never get tired of climbing up its narrow, steep steps just to see the view above. Oh how we wished we could have a balcony just like this:

And a window like this:

Well, going up an elevated place like a view deck or a lighthouse was not necessary just to see the beauty of Batanes. Below the lighthouse, you can already get postcard-like photos like these:

Or, simply hop in a car, ride a bike, or even walk at your own pace, one could see the hypnotizing waves of the sea as they splash the rocks at the shore and at the cliffs:

…and the mountains and other rock formations:

It was quite easy, actually, since the main road/ highway connecting one municipality to the other, was at the side of a hill, overlooking the sea:

Along this road were many steep curves, so the Ivatans made these signs for drivers to observe to notify other vehicles:

Kuya Lando joked that Ivatans already knew how to use “text” (meaning, using shortcuts for typing words, like eliminating some letters, or using syllables which sound the same as the word) way before text messaging through phones was created.

Our guide, Kuya Lando (right, at picture below), spoke very good Tagalog and English. He was very spontaneous and courteous at the same time. The same goes with Kuya Tope (left, at picture below), although he was more often quite. They both shared many things about Batanes – their way of life, trivias, etc. They were very friendly and had a good sense of humor. :D

Beauty was just everywhere in Batanes, so we didn’t mind even if we have to walk almost two kilometers just to see the Fountain of Youth. The trek along rough roads from Diura fishing village to the fountain may be tiresome (those steep slopes!), but the scenery along with it was mesmerizing:

Fortunately, the locals made these steps from rocks to help visitors like us climb up (and down):

Finally, we saw the Fountain of Youth! Its cold water was said to be coming from the mountains. It basically looked like a man-made pool designed like the stone houses of the province (for which it was known for). We were allowed to swim there, but we didn’t. We didn’t bring extra clothes (and we thought, even if we did, there was no place to change clothes there at that time).

Something else caught our attention from the Fountain of Youth: we went a little further down to the rocky shore (with dead corals) to meet the sea up close. :)

We rested here for a bit before we trekked our way out and drove back to Hiro’s Restaurant for lunch.

We devoured on: crablet and pork teriyaki, lobster with kamote chips, and ubod balls and fried fish (which looks like tanigue). Yum! :D

We ate to our stomachs’ content while remembering what we had seen so far of this wonderful province, Batanes.

Thanks to my travel companions, Myca, Gia, and MB for the pics! <3

See the other half of this day in my next blog:

Batanes, Philippines (Day 1, Part 2).