its been 3 weeks since we last went to batanes and even now, id often think about it and wish i was there again. life in batanes is simple indeed, who would believe that a town exists without a market, a bank, even an atm machine. i got back to manila with 70 pesos left in my pocket!
its supposed to be our "5th annual tarsiers? national convention" - as we fondly call it (the group's name is a different story) - where we go to some far-off place in the philippines and marvel at God's creation. we were 28 folks on day 1 and trickled down to 7 by week's end. we thought that spending our time in batanes in just 4 days/3 nights would be too "bitin", so some of us extended by 3 more days! happy days indeed!
we spent the first 4 days in batanes seaside resort - one of the "better" resorts in batanes. we then bunked in our new friend totoy's house - one of our companion's ancestral homes for the rest of the trip. btw, thanks totoy for accomodating us.
ever tried sleeping inside a hospital sans the medical treatment? itbayat has no official inns and hotels to speak of and most of the residences accepting transients are full. so yes, and we stayed in the delivery room! good thing no delivery was done during the term of our stay! being in itbayat is like going back in time, spanish era time!
a lot of unique experiences happened during this trip:
- its the first time i ever rode a 6 seater cessna plane - fun!
- first time i ate tatus - and i loved it
- northernmost ive ever had the chance to visit after baguio/sagada - hehe
- most beautiful place ive ever been to - ive been to baguio, sagada, batad, pulag, mindoro, cebu/mactan, dumaguete, bohol/panglao and davao - hopefully palawan next time
- first time ive ever ridden a boat with waves bigger than our boat!
batanes... i shall return
I miss batanes!!!!
ReplyDelete