I'm finding it difficult to put into words how to describe the Batanes Islands. I spent 4 wonderful days in this far away northern province with a group of friends eager to see and experience something new and wow, we werent disappointed! In fact, we were swept off our feet as our hearts surrendered to this land's rugged beauty and simplicity.
Basco, Batanes is a good 2 hour plane ride from Manila via Asian Spirit, the only commercial airline so far, that can ably land in Basco's very short runway. We were met by our friendly and able guide, Juliet Cataluña, at the airport and the tour of this paradise on earth began.
The roads of Mahatao in Batan Island and Chauvayan in Sabtang Island snaked up and down the mountainside and every which way our jeep would turn offers a gorgeous view of the sea. The sea with its big waves turning from a very deep blue to aqua blue to aquamarine to gray as it pounds and shapes the Batanes coastline. I have never seen such crystal clear water nor have I hiked up a mountain only to be greeted by cows left there by their owners to pasture. The air is soooo sweet, cool and clean that you would want to bottle it up and bring it home with you.
The people of Batanes are called Ivatans and they are a gentle lot. We visited some villages and one thing that catches your attention is that you can just enter someone's home readily for the doors are unlocked. That's unheard of in Metro Manila!! The owners are either out in the fields, tilling the soil (by fields I mean mountains) or out in the Batanes sea, fishing. Its not unusual to see a 5 or 6 year old boy at the back of a water buffalo (kalabaw) guiding the beast without a parent in sight. Such is the simple life in Batanes.
The houses are made of thick lime and stone walls with roofs made of cogon grass which protects them from the strong typhoons that pummels the province each year. The houses are also built very close to each other and the roads are constructed straight and narrow allowing only one vehicle to pass. I believe this is added protection from the strong winds.
The Ivatans are self-sufficient people. They plant and harvest what they need and raise chickens and pigs. Any excess goes to a small market to be shared with the "dayos" meaning visitors or those people who have relocated to Batanes and are starting a new life.
There are no movie houses, malls, Jollibee, McDonald's, video game arcades, ATM machines, Landline and Nightclubs in Batanes. TV is limited to a few channels via Dream Satellite for those who have television sets. There's no pollution, no squatters, no beggars, no indiscriminate throwing of garbage. There's just simply no ugly sight in Batanes.
One glaring thing however that tells you that technology is fast coming to these islands is that Smart has a clear signal in Batanes, though there are a lot of areas with dead spots. Globe's signal is faint in Batan and non-existent in Sabtang but still, a signal is a signal. Quite a number of the locals (excluding the members of the provincial government) already have cellular phones.
We left Batanes with a promise that we will return in the very near future. We found ourselves praying that no government official from Manila or elsewhere will corrupt these gentle people and their land and have told our guides to be very vigilant against people with such intentions.
Batanes is a place where GOD must have spent some time resting while HE was still trying to figure out how to create the rest of our country. You see HIM in the gentle and innocent ways of the Ivatan people, in the roar of the sea, in the howling of the wind, where the earth, the sea and the sky meet again and again, proclaiming HIS handiwork.