Batanes has always been one of my dream destinations. I’ve seen photos of it, watched the movie, and read literature about it. I was dismayed last year when our flight to Batanes for the press launch of the movie was canceled. But thanks to the wonderful people of GeiserMaclang and Epson Philippines, I finally fulfilled my dream to visit the Northern Isles.
Batanes — where love knows no boundaries — is a place that you really have to see before you die. I kid you not, pictures of it may be beautiful but you have to experience it and be physically there to fully appreciate its beauty. Weather conditions may give you the scare of your life but I’m telling you that it really is worth the risk.
Having read about the climate in Batanes this time of the year, I packed a couple of scarves and about three jackets. So before I exited the plane, I donned my fasyon-fasyonan outfit composed of a scarf, a corduroy jacket, shades, slim jeans, and Havaiianas (I knew I packed my shoes into my luggage but realized later on that I left it at the last minute.). The winter pa-fasyon outfit was a good decision, I found out as I deplaned at about 7 in the morning. Cold and comforting winds welcomed us as we stepped on Batanes soil. And from there, I knew that this trip was gonna be one memorable and fun vacation.
We checked in at the Batanes Seaside Lodge and Restaurant — the same place where Ken Chu, Iza Calzado, Coco Martin, Joem Bascon and the rest of the cast and crew of Batanes the movie were billeted while filming. After freshening up, we got our first serving of a local delicacy – Fried Flying Fish. I now remember one of the lines from Anne Cook’s American Accent Training to correct p and f issues: “It’s truly rural to eat freshly fried flying fish flesh on Fridays.” But it was a Monday, a busy Monday at that. Because even if we were in some distant land, away from the political noise in Metro Manila, there was just too many things to do for the day. I couldn’t complain. And I didn’t. After all, the climate in the area was really cool that you wouldn’t want to waste a minute of the day while the sun was out.
That busy Monday started with a briefing from the bigwigs of Epson Philippines about a photo contest. Ah, no wonder why they asked us to bring our own cameras. And that answered my ultimate question as to why there were so many wide-angle and state-of-the-art camera lenses and cameras around. We were told that at the end of the day, the photos that we took on our tours would be printed on their top of the line printers. And yes, they said that we could print as many photos as we wanted. The theme for the contest was Convergence: when two elements meet. It was quite apt since the region was in itself a convergence of more than just two elements. And yes, in Batanes, you can see the convergence of the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.
I was quite hesitant and intimidated to join the contest for many different reasons. One of them was that I only had a point-and-shoot camera. How the heck would I win (or at the very least produce decent enough photos) using a mere point-and-shoot camera? Another reason was that my knowledge on photography was limited to taking beautiful photos of myself. So I merely shrugged off the idea of joining and decided that I will just shoot whatever I found beautiful in the island.
The first day was a tour of Basco, one of the towns of the island of Batan. I did not keep track of the places we went to, but let me help you all by giving you a tour of Batanes through photos:
A church in Basco (more Batanes Churches here)
The very cold and windy rolling hills
A Lighthouse (more Lighthouses here)
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