HOME EXCHANGE
There was a change in my accommodation on my third day in Batanes. But I had no worries because I was informed about this by Ate Crisan and Kuya Mon of Crisan Lodge when I arrived in Batanes on the first day. They had a slight mix-up with the booking of their guests, and since I'm a solo traveler, it was logical for them to transfer me to another home-stay, just nearby, which they are close family friends with the owners.
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Batanes has a population of 16,604 based from 2010 Philippine Census. And according to locals, Batanes has a tight-knit community and almost everyone knows everyone (or for younger/new generations, know which family you come from based from your surname).
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Before they drove me to my new home-stay, they still prepared a breakfast for me to start the day.
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| Some sort of kakanin (rice cake) but with leche flan on top (yummy!) and 3-in-1 coffee. The food, breakfast and dinner, served at Crisan Lodge is prepared and cooked by Ate Crisan. |
My new home-stay in Batanes for the next two nights was at Berlen Lodge, owned and managed by Nanay Elena Villarta and her husband who is an agriculturist. Their fan room for one person is rated at P350 per night, without breakfast but guests can cook their own food in the kitchen free of charge (or... was there a minimal fee in using their gas range stove? I can't remember since I didn't cook any food when I stayed there).
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| Nanay Elena's business card |
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| Nanay Elena of Berlen Lodge. |
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| Berlen Lodge second floor living room. Behind the curtain is the kitchen while the hallway beside the TV/fan are the guest rooms. |
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| Sea Shells Collection |
I wasn't able to take a photo of my room, but it was simple and comfortable enough to stay at. The room has two beds, good for a maximum of four people (I assume, but would comfortably accommodate two). At that time, there were three of us who were guests at the lodge. Coincidentally, I was with the two high school friends I met at the second day of our group tour. Their flight was cancelled that morning, and their flight was rescheduled the next day. They stayed in another room, so again, I had my room all for myself!
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| Chili Plant |
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| Stairs from the second floor leading to the rooftop garden |
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| Panorama shot of Berlen Lodge rooftop garden |
DAY 3 - SOUTH BATAN TOUR
I had to inform Kuya Lex from BISUMI Tour and Services that I transferred to a different home-stay so the tour van would know where to pick me up for the third and final leg of our three-day Batanes group tour. As usual, I was the first one to be fetched by the van.
We started our tour at Cliff Road. It was a walking tour to our next destination but it wasn't that long. It was also a pleasant stroll because it was a bit cloudy that morning.
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| Ate Let pointing to where we're heading. |
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| The shelter on the right is where we started our walking tour. |
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| Snapping some picturesque seascapes while walking |
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| BLOW UR HORN. A very common road sign you'll see in Batanes. The province has a lot of long and winding roads, with a bunch of blind curves, thus the sign. |
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| Spot where locals used to throw their trash, but is now strictly prohibited by the local government (Clean and Green, For The Win!) |
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| "Do Not Throw Your Garbage Here" (if I remember correctly, or something similar) in Ivatan |
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| Our next destination, Chawa View Deck |
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| This is where the stairs from the view deck leads to #Amoooyzing |
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| government-regulated quarrying |
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| tour-mates taking photos and selfies before going down from the view deck |
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| newly weds excited to go down first |
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| followed by Mr. Lopez |
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| more post-nuptial pics |
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| Finally near the ocean/sea (not sure which side were we at). Timing was a bit off, background should've been a big splash of water like the next picture. |
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| proud to capture this shot with my (well, originally my mom's) handy-dandy point and shoot camera |
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| panoramic scene below the view deck |
The climb back up was a little challenging but manageable (that was the reason why Mrs. Lopez didn't go down with us). We rode again the van to our next destination, the Mahatao Boat Shelter Port.
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| Boat Shelter Port Marker |
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| Parked boats as background |
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| I just fancy taking photos of other people taking other people's photos. Hahaha |
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| another "Idjang" that helps protect and serves as cover and wave breaker for the boat shelter port |
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| Tourist Mode On! |
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| another postcard worthy panorama shot |
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| Notice the row of plants near the cow. Those serve as natural dividers of land properties in Batanes. |
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| A private house beside the lighthouse |
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| A-10-TION. No Trespassing. Private Property!!! |
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| Lighthouse front view looking up |
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| Gaaah! No words for this... just pure wonderful Batanes memories #Emo #Drama |
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| panorama view in front of the lighthouse |
Just before lunch, we dropped by another Batanes church.
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| San Carlos Borromeo Church in Mahatao Batanes |
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| Informational Marker |
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| full front view |
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| miniature church |
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| miniature stone house |
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| groom doing a daring pose choreographed by the bride |
Just beside the church is the Blank Book Archive. Here, tourists can write anything on a page of a blank book. This, for me, was an emotional part of the tour #EmoKing #DramaRama. We were given a couple of minutes to write before heading to a nearby canteen for lunch.
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| Batanes Blank Book Archive Marker |
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| These are the donated blank books which tourists, and some local students, write on. |
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| Here's what I wrote (buti na lang blurry. hahaha). Each book has a number (and I totally forgot mine) so next time a tourist re-visits Batanes, he/she can read what he/she has written on his/her past visit in the province. |
Several steps away from the church and the blank book archive is Paulvana's Canteen where we had lunch for that day.
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| hungry tourists storming into the canteen |
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| Tarp Sign |
Among the inclusive lunches we had in the three-days group tour, this one was, as agreed by all of us, the most satisfying.
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| Fried Pork |
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| Sauteed Shrimps |
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| Best Beef Nilaga I have ever tasted in my life! Meat was so tender, juicy and flavorful. The reason behind, according to locals and as we observed, is that cows in Batanes are just chillin' around the pasture lands, stress-free, eating grass all day long. They are neither used in farm work nor other forms of labor. |
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| Uved Balls in light broth (gawa-gawa ko lang yung light broth, basta sinabawan sya). Here's a Youtube video on how to make this native delicacy: Batanes' Uved Balls |
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| Sweet Potato Fries for dessert |
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| Blurry Group Photo... #Ngorkz |
After a sumptuous meal, it's time again to hit the road for our next destination, Racuh-a-Payaman, or more popularly known to tourists as Marlboro Country.
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| queue in the Marlboro (cigarette) music... |
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| Just like what I mentioned in my first post for this series... When in Batanes, jump! #ugh |
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| like the cows of Batanes... just chillin' |
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| Batanes coastline |
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| zoomed in shot |
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| view of the Tayid Lighthouse |
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| I told ya... there's gonna be a lot of panorama shots in this post series... Hehehe |
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| We didn't know where the cows were at that time, but hey, there were carabaos! Hahaha |
Another church we went to was the San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel in Imnajbu.
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| There's an interesting trivia about the wooden cross beside the church. Unfortunately, my memory has failed me again. #boinkz |
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| A technique that I learned from Ate Let when taking panorama shots (assuming you're using a smart phone in taking photos) is to hold your phone in a portrait position. That way, the output wouldn't be very long compared to when holding the phone in landscape. #neat |
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| Brgy. Imnajbu where San Lorenzo Ruiz Chapel is located |
Batanes' rustic beauty has attracted may filmmakers to shoot their movies in this province, like "Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit" starring Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta. The next tourist spot we went to was where one of the popular scenes in that movie was shot.
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| Rock formation near Alapad Hills where the old CharDawn movie was shot |
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| as you can see, the rock formation was pierced through to make way for national road |
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| walking towards Alapad Hills, we came across this tree with pineapple-looking fruit and Ate Let is explaining what it was (again, sorry, I can't remember [dapat kasi nag-notes. Hehehe]), with a carabao photobomber! |
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| Which are stones/rocks, which are carabaos? |
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| Alapad Hills |
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| my interpretation of "Hihintayin Kita Sa Langit" #boom #talikodgenic |
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| closer look at LORAN station |
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| can you point out the one person in this photo? :D |
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| rocky waters |
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| panorama shot landscape mode. LORAN Station (L) and Rock Formation (R). [approx. 180 degrees shot] |
Also included in our South Batan Tour itinerary was the Ruins of Song-song and we also passed by the pink church of Brgy. Uyugan, but I wasn't able to take photos of those places as we only viewed them inside the van.
A trip to Batanes won't be complete without visiting the famous Honesty Store, which to my surprise was super duper close (as in, a couple of steps away) from Port Ivana!
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| please read :P |
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| Honesty is the best policy! #OkayAlright |
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| Kapian Kamu [Pa] Nu Dios Literal: The goodness of God be with you. Usage: "How are you?" / "Hello!" / general greeting |
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| as we say in the office... "for audit purposes" |
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| my afternoon snack |
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| "The Lord is my Security Guard" |
Churches in Batanes are rich in history and vary in color, like San Jose De Ivana Church in front of Port Ivana.
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| another angle and camera setting |
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| church entrance |
Next stop, House of Dakay, oldest surviving house in Batan Island.
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| please read :P |
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| House of Estrella, more popularly known as House of Dakay |
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| According to Ate Let, only the house's roofing is changed every XX years (again, I forgot the exact number). Behind the house is the Breadfruit Tree, the leaves of which are used to wrap traditional Ivatan food, just like the ones we had for lunch on the first day. |
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| from the words of Leah (OTWOL), "mukha kang jebs" shot |
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| tourists can enter the house, but they must remove and leave their shoes/slippers/footwear outside |
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| the "Ninoy Aquino" pose |
On our way back to Basco town proper, we passed by the Old Spanish Bridge and Hohmoron Lagoon, both pictures were taken inside the van.
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| Old Spanish Bridge |
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| Hohmoron Lagoon. Tourists, even some locals, go swimming here. |
And that ends our South Batan Tour and our Three Days Batanes Group Tour. The Lopez's were first dropped at Casa Napoli (#sosyal) to have their early dinner. The newly weds and I went straight to our respective hotel/home-stay.
If my memory serves me right, I took a nap when I got back at Berlen Lodge then ate korean cup noodles and vienna chicken sausage (both my baon) for dinner #kuripot. I don't remember if it was Nanay Elena or the two high school friends who to told me about the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony at the Basco Municipal Hall that night.
After eating dinner, I went out and walked to the town proper. Here are my attempts at night photography (please excuse the quality, I only had with me my Lenovo A5000 phone and [originally my mom's] 10 MP, or a bit more, point and shoot camera).
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| Colorful Lanterns #MedyoFail |
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| Different setting for my phone camera. I was hoping for a bokeh effect #EpicFail |
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| Municipal Christmas Tree #HighISO #Noisy |
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| trying out different camera settings for night photography |
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| Christmas Tree near Basco Church |
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| Basco Church at night |
I strolled more for a couple of minutes then went back at Berlen Lodge and took a hot shower before going to bed.
The next day would be my fourth day in Batanes, my free day. I was thinking of going to the souvenir shop that fits my budget as recommended by Ate Let and I was planning to re-visit the tourist spots that I can go to on bicycle.
That and more on my next post.
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