BATANES SOLO BACKPACKING TRIP 2015 - Part 2

AN EARLY START

December 13, 2016, Sunday marked my second day in Batanes. 'Twas a good thing that I slept early the night before because our call time for the second part of our three days Batanes group tour was at 6 am. I was first in the group to be fetched by the tour van from my accommodation.

Another good thing was that Ate Crisan, hands-on owner of Crisan Lodge together with her husband Kuya Mon Imperial, knew my group tour itinerary. She also woke up early in the morning to prepare my breakfast.

Fried Egg, Crispy Dried Fish, Turmeric Rice and 3-in-1 coffee for breakfast

DAY 2 - SABTANG ISLAND TOUR

Our second day tour started at Port Ivana where we rode a Faluwa (boat) from Batan to Sabtang Island.

Port Ivana

The boat ride took less than 30 minutes. The weather that morning was fine and the Pacific Ocean and West Philippine Sea were both calm, so the waves weren't that rough and big.

One of the boatmen fishing while on trip. Fishing is one of the livelihoods of the Ivatans, aside from agriculture, livestock raising and, of course, tourism.

Finally arrived in Sabtang Island #HairCheck

*** info break start ***

The province of Batanes is composed of several islands. The three inhabited islands are: Batan (where Basco is), Sabtang and Itbayat (northernmost inhabited island in the Philippines). While the boat ride between Batan and Sabtang islands takes around 30 minutes, travel from Batan to Itbayat (or v.v.) takes around four hours long.

*** info break end ***

Local Tricycle. You can hire them for a day to tour the island.

Our rugged but al fresco ride in Sabtang

Before we started our journey in Sabtang, we had to drop by at the Municipal Tourism Information Center to register as tourists and have a briefing of our tour for that day.

Island Map

Ate Juliet ("Let") our Ivatan Tour Guide giving us a rundown of our Sabtang day tour. 

Hanged on both sides of the map were traditional headgear of the Ivatans.

Vakul: Traditional headgear for women (and should be only worn by women)

Traditional Ivatan headgear for men

Most of the people who were on the boat ride from Batan to Sabtang were tourists, but there were also some locals who travel between the islands.

A family of tourists top-loading a jeep for their Sabtang Tour. They were also with BISUMI Tour and Service (with another tour guide), but their tour package was an exclusive one.

On our way to Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint, we had two stops in the middle of the road. First was for the Savidug Idjang Viewing.

*** info break start ***

An "Idjang" is a stone fortress used by the Ivatans long time ago as defensive covers from their enemies. You can refer to item no. 13 of this internet post for more information: Batanes Castle

*** info break end ***

Savidug Idjang (center)

Our second stop was to sample a date-tasting fruit from an abundant tree in Batanes (which, I forgot its name) picked by Ate Let.

The ripe ones are black which are sweet-tasting (mukhang maliliit na duhat, pero lasang prunes/dates)

After a couple of minutes of leisurely drive, we arrived at Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint. It was clever of Ate Let to re-arrange a little our Sabtang tour itinerary and start here because it was still early in the morning and the sun wasn't still beating us with its scorching heat. The place is vast, so come lunch time or anytime in the middle of the day, it would be very uncomfortable to roam around.

"Thank You Lord" pose (or as my office-mate Kath commented, "Oble" pose)

View below from where I was standing (nakakalula, pero ang ganda!)

The "Ang lamig kaya naka-jacket at lakas ng hangin" pose.

Info bite: Batanes is known as "Land of the Northern Wind"

The "Kanina nakatalikod, ngayon nakaharap naman" pose. Awesome rock background, isn't it?

The "feeling ko I can conquer the wold pero ang taba ko" pose

One of my favorite shots and spots in Batanes.

It's the newly weds' turn to strike a dramatic pose

view from another side

Panorama Shot (you'll be seeing more of these in later posts)

zoomed in shot of the place where I had the awesome rock background. We were at another part of the viewpoint, thus the impression, well actually, of being far.

The "wind on my face at sobrang lakas na ng hangin kaya ang gulo na ng buhok ko but I'm happy" shot

You may not notice the huts/house-like structures in the picture (offset a bit to the left from the center), but that's where we started our walk. Far eh?!

Before we went to the next stop, we first tried some local drinks. I was able to taste their tea while my other group tour-mates opted for fresh coconut juice.

Dahil tipid mode ako, dun ako sa free taste. Hahaha.

Tubho Tea. I drink both coffee and tea, and most of my office-mates do too, that's why I was tempted to buy this (pero nanaig pa rin ang kakuriputan ko, sapat na sa akin that time na natikman ko ito. Hehehe)

The friendly newly weds sipping their fresh coconut juice. They even gave/bought me a boiled egg to snack on (PG lang. Hehehe)

Photo-op with Ate Let, our Ivatan Tour Guide (hindi ko naisip nung first day na magpakuha ng souvenir photo with Kuya Tour Guide [tuloy, nalimutan ko na name nya])

Next stop, Brgy. Chavayan where we had a walking tour to see several stone houses and watch in live action how the elderly local women weave/make their traditional headgears, raincoats and other products.

Welcome Marker

Sabtang Weaver's Association. This where you can see how the locals make their weaved products. Finished items are put on display for sale or for picture taking (with minimal fee).

Ivatan Weaver

Nanay brushing the leaves/grass to make into fine strips for drying

Finished products on display (hindi na ako nagpapicture na may suot ng Kanayi [yung parang raincoat worn by Ivatan men) dahil kuripot mode nga di ba. sapat na sa akin na makita at mahawakan ko ang mga yun. Hehehe)

Walking tour in Brgy. Chavayan

Local House

One of the many Batanes stone houses. These houses are built through "Bayanihan".

Random Flower Pic

Home Signage #cool

Fellow tourist who joined us for the Sabtang Tour

By the way, in that day's tour, we had two new tour-mates. Their names are Mich and Minnie (can't remember who is who), high school friends. One of them worked in DOLE Region IV, the other a medical doctor(?). They availed BISUMI's compressed tour package because they were only in Batanes for three days. They did the South Batan tour on their first day, then the Sabtang and North Batan tour was "commpressed" on that day. The following day was supposedly their flight back to Manila but was cancelled for some reason (more of that story in the next post).

Tour Guiding in action!

Local kid probably doing his household chore

These looked like dried barks (or skin stems?) of banana tree. I honestly don't know what these were.

Chavayan Chapel. A uniquely Batanes church because of its cogon grass roofing. There are actually a handful beautiful churches in Batanes. See this list: 10 Beautiful Churches in Batanes

The sun was already high and mighty that time (even though it was getting hot, I was very thankful for the sunny weather) so we had to move on to the next part of our itinerary.

Captivating Coastline

Local walking on sunshine

We headed back near the port to visit these next places.

St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel

A popular stone house in Sabtang for picture-taking

Tourists can even go inside it.

Big hit for Pre-nup pictorials

Several minutes passed and it was lunch time. From the port, we had to travel to Morong Beach to have our lunch.

we passed by this local stone house in the making

Pananayan Canteen

Dining Area

Lunch is served! Aside from the nilaga, fried meat and veggies, we also had fish in sweet and sour sauce but I wasn't feeling of eating fish at that time #choosy

Coconut for dessert

Just a couple of steps away from the canteen is the Morong Beach and Ahaw or the Natural Limestone Arc Formation.

Pathway to Morong Beach. You have the option to swim/snorkel at this beach (which I didn't do)

Ahaw (Natural Limestone Arc Formation). Definitely one of my favorite shots. (lakas maka-advertise ng company with the water bottle)

Mrs. Lopez on emo mode

Other side of Ahaw. From L-R: The newly weds, Mrs. Lopez, May Lopez, tourist from another group, and the High School Friends

After strolling around the beach, it was time to head back to the port and go back to Batan Island.

I'm guessing this is the Malakdang Lighthouse (photo taken from the port area)

Wave Breakers (mukhang mga malalaking jack stones)

Faluwa. Unlike most boats in the Philippines, the Faluwa has no outriggers which makes it more safe for travel in the waters of Batanes.

When we arrived back in Batan Island, my orignal tour buddies (the newly weds and the Lopez's) and I were taken to BISUMI Souvenir Shop, and in a separate but near location was their office, while the two high school friends went on with their North Batan tour.

BISUMI Souvenir Shop. I only bought ref magnets from here. They also have souvenir shirts but a little pricey for my budget.

The one and only... Ryan Cardona! Owner/Manager of BISUMI Tour and Services.

Receipt. The group tour package is P5000 per pax, inclusive of all the fees (environmental, tourist registration, boat ride ticket, etc.) and lunches during the tour. To know more about their rates and packages, check out this link: BISUMI Tour and Services

After souvenir shopping and settling our payment, we were driven back to our respective hotels and homestays.

Later that night, I ate dinner at Crisan Lodge. Altough the P400 per night fan room accommodation only includes breakfast, guests can make arrangements with Ate Crisan if they would also want to have their dinner at the lodge. Food depends on what their family is having that night. Here's what we had:

Fish (which I think was cooked adobo style) and Fried Lumpia with two servings of rice (mukha raw kasi akong PG. Hahaha). I'm really choosy when it comes to eating fish, but boy oh boy... this one I luuurv!

I ate dinner with my roommates (the ones staying at the other room inside our bigger room [you can lookup the description of our room in Part 1

of this post series]), Drs. (PhD) Jet and Leo who were in Batanes to attend the wake and burial of their mentor Dr. Florentino Hornedo. 

It was still a little early that night and Drs. Jet and Leo invited me to the wake of Dr. Hornedo, whose remains were at the Basco Gymnasium at that time but later was buried at his hometown in Sabtang the following day. I was able to know more about Dr. Hornedo, his contributions to the Ivatan culture and his influence and great inspiration to people like Drs. Jet and Leo.

I am truly thankful to meet Drs. Jet and Leo who were genuinely nice and warm towards me and made my trip to Batanes a special one especially when they invited me over for dinner on our last night in Batanes which I'll write about in a later post.

Stay tuned!


Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 Post Series:

Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 - Part 1
Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 - Part 2
Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 - Part 3
Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 - Part 4
Batanes Solo Backpacking Trip 2015 - Part 5