Batanes Diary 7. Eating Our Way Around Batanes

Do not expect gourmet-anything in Batanes. No fancy frappes and smoothies either. If you're a coffee connoisseur, bring your own beans because chances are, "cappuccino" in 3-in-1 sachets are the best you can find in Basco. Curb your burger and chip cravings..no sign of the golden arches there, not even Jollibee or Minute Burger. 

What Batanes has is plenty of seafood -dried and fresh, vegetables-dried and fresh, organic, home-grown or wild.

Like these wild mountain ferns that we asked the staff of a small canteen to cook for us the way they'd cook it in their homes - they boiled some meaty pork bones and added these ferns just before serving.  Yum.

There is not much choice of foodstuff around Batanes. The locals make do with what is in the market everyday, or what they have in store, so the rule is, what you see is what you get. Most of the basics like pork, chicken and vegetables come from the mainland (Manila or Tuguegarao). 

A lot of fish is dried and stored for the rainy season. We saw this man in his front yard preparing the day's catch of dibang (flying fish) for drying.

We saw fish drying from clothes hangers..

..from wires strung between houses

..and even from street signs!

Other types of seafood are plentiful, although these days, the prime ones are reserved for tourists, like this huge rock lobster accompanied by smaller slipper and rock lobsters.

The Ivatans like turmeric, and they slice and dry them on the streets...

..then pound them into powder which they add to rice to make the elegantly-hued Ivatan rice

The freshest ingredients are cooked very simply. Here are some of the dishes we had:

Mountain snails cooked in light coconut milk and wild ferns - this was really yummy!

Uvud balls. Our guide told us these are made with  ground pork mixed with the root portion of banana plants. They are cooked in a slightly salty broth. 

A whole parrot fish steamed with soysauce and ginger

Coconut crab, a Batanes delicacy which we later found out is already on the endangered list! Sad. And no one seems to be in charge of controlling the catching of these. 

Beautiful large onion shoots and flowers which were stir-fried - this was one of our favorites!

 Here's what a  typical food store in Basco looks like

No hypermarts here

But they offer to cook the goat meat for you!

ou

Three beautiful words sum up typical Batanes food - fresh, organic and healthy!

"Make voyages. Attempt them. There's nothing else." - Tennessee Williams

Batanes Diary 6 - In Batanes, It's All About Honesty.

Much has been written about Batanes' Honesty Cafe. The concept is simple, really...put up a small coffee shop, and count on people's honesty to keep it going. Honesty Cafe is located about a hundred meters from Ivana Wharf, the jump-off point to Sabtang Island. Trips to and from the island start very early in the morning, and the boat is not always on time, and the mornings are often cold, so what better way to while away the time than with a cup of coffee..and some honesty... 

The owners live nearby, and presumably come to the store every now and then to check on and re-stock the supplies. But most of the time, there is nobody at the store. The whole time we were there (about thirty minutes), people kept coming and going and buying stuff, but we never saw anyone connected to the store. 

What we saw was a greeting from the owners

The "REMINDERS" read:
"Self-service only
1.  Get what you need
2.  Please pay whatever (sic) you get. 
3.  If you have no change, knock at the next door. If no one answers, sorry, so you have to give more than the price. MAY YOUR TRIBE INCREASE...
4.  Remember-HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY!

THANK YOU AND HAVE A HAPPY AND NICE DAY!
                                                Joe and Elena"



And one more neatly-handwritten sign says it all

"Welcome to Honesty Coffee Shop

1.  Self-service po lamang dito.
2.  Get what you like and pay or drop your payment at the shelf.
3.  You give more if you have no exact money. The Lord will give you more later on....so may your tribe increase!
4.  In your journet remember the Golden Rule and that Honesty is the best policy,
5.  Have a good time and Happy trip.
6.  Goodbye and may God bless us all!
Thank You! 
                                           The Owners,
                                          Jo-El Gabilo"

Makes perfect sense, don't you think so?

The are thermos jugs of hot water, sachets of instant coffee, sugar and creamer. Inside a covered dishrack are mugs and plastic spoons. There are bottles of soda, packs of crackers, gum, candy, juices in tetrapaks. There is a simple wooden dining table with six chairs, and lots of souvenir items all around - hats, fans, T-shirts, etc. 

The little shop is trim, neat and clean; it even has a vase of flowers on the table. You make your selection/s, list down each item on the blue notebook on the table, and check out the price list on the wall....

....and then drop your money on the slot provided. 

One can even "rent"  a vakul (Ivatan headgear made of grass) for pictorial purposes.  Just make sure you return the items on the hangers, and pay the rental fee. (Note how intricate the inside stitching and weaving on that headgear is.)

Look, Ma, I'm Tina Turner!

We paid P40.00 to rent the headgear and the grass "rain jacket"

Out in the back, there's space to park bicycles for those who have gone to the island for the day...or days.

Only in Batanes! Dios Mamahes (Thank You) indeed, Honesty Coffee Shop!



"Travel in the younger sort is part of education; in the elder, a part of experience." - Francis Bacon

Batanes Diary 8. Sabtang Island

A visit to Batanes is not complete without a daytrip to Sabtang Island. It's 30-45 minutes away from Batan Island (where Basco,  the capital town of Batanes, is) but many visitors to Batanes are unable to visit the island because of the rough seas. 

In Sabtang, one will find whole villages made up of the traditional Ivatan stone houses, some in ruins, some in perfect condition and currently occupied. Aside from getting a glimpse of day-to-day Ivatan life, Sabtang also has some of the most amazing views in the country. It should definitely be on one's Batanes tour list. 

 This is a falowa, the traditional Ivatan boat, except that this one is motorized. This is what we used to cross to Sabtang. 

Among the cargo from Sabtang to Basco are a calf and a pig bound for the market. Poor things!

The 40 minutes of rough seas are soon forgotten when we see this.

And this...

 And this...

this too...

and this....

Enough already! Just go!


"All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, hay may learn to improve his own. And, if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.: - Samuel Johnson

Batanes Diary 5. Batanes Tours

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, we asked around for tours. We met a group of fit, fab,twenty-somethings at the hotel who told us they rented bikes and motorcycles and pedaled/motored their way all around Batanes. Just listening to them made our ancient hamstrings ache, so we opted to book for ourselves a 3-day Batanes tour. The hotel recommended Joaquin Cantor, who turned out to be a trained, patient and very well-informed guide and skilled photographer, answering our endless questions and handling up to four cameras at a time. 

He had perfect timing for jump shots too ;-)

He outlined for us the following  itinerary:

Day 1 - after lunch - Northern Batan Tour
Day 2 - Sabtang Island Tour with set lunch
Day 3 - Southern Batan Tour

Because we were a group of 8, the whole tour cost us P3K/person, instead of the usual P5K/person that he charges for groups less than five. The 6am flight from Manila to Basco meant that we woke up at 3am, so Joaquin suggested that we start the tour after lunch so we could take it easy in the morning.

Also covered by the tour fee was the rental for the jeepney for three days, and boat fares to and from Sabtang, the tourism registration fee, and set lunch in Sabtang Island. 

Since Joaquin could not be with us in Sabtang, he referred another guide, Gloria, who is a Sabtang local, and who met us at the Sabtang port with another jeepney. 

Gloria explains how corals and rocks are mixed and "cured" for a year in these pits before the mixture is used to build stone houses.

Although the tour fee included only one meal, Joaquin was able to suggest and arrange for sunset dinner by the Basco lighthouse, and lunch at the Racuh A Payaman ("Marlboro Hills"). 

We will not post too many Batanes pictures here so as not to preempt your enjoyment of the sights, but trust us when we say it was worth every peso we paid. 

Here's Joaquin's pretty calling card and contact numbers:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Batanes Diary 3. Going Around Batanes

There are very few motor vehicles in Batanes. Around Basco, there are a few rental vans for tourists. Bikes and motorcycles are available for rent. 

Of course there are a few tricycles which seat two slim people in the front seat, and another one behind the driver. however, because gas is expensive in batanes, the tricycles in basco do not go around town looking for passengers; instead, if you need a ride, you send a text message to the tricycle terminal and tell them where you wish to be picked up, and in a few minutes, the trike is there. How convenient is that! Besides, everyone in town knows the contact numbers of the trike terminal.

instead of an airconditioned van, we opted to tour batan island in this big jeep. 

this proved to be a wise choice as we had an all-around view of the sights as we went along since it was open on all sides. 

and you can even take pictures from a moving jeep...

of course, there's nothing like a sturdy pair of legs for strolling

and for climbing up and down the mountains....

Make sure you bring a sturdy pair of walking shoes for all that walking. Flip-flops sometimes just won't do the trick.

But wait...you mean we're walking all the way up and down there? hmmm...

"Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." - Gustave Flaubert