Bee arranged with Chico for another dive early morning, this time in Mahatao. It has to be early morning because there should be 24 hours from the time one surfaces to the water to the time one flies the skies.
Bee took these photos from her Mahatao dive:
Interesting to note that the undersea terrain reflects the topside terrain. The Basco underwater pictures showed a lot of rock, and Basco is a hilly place. Mahatao on the other hand has lots of white beaches and the underwater terrain is also sandy white.
With Bee diving, we started our Batan sightseeing trip without her.
We first headed north to Tukon, Basco ... that high place where Radar Tukon, Basco lighthouse, and Fundacion Pacita could be found. Tukon is actually an Ivatan word that means hills.
When we arrived at Fundacion Pacita, the hotel guests were eating breakfast, so it would be rude to be going inside at that time.
We just took pictures outside while Aunt Dolly, Aunt Veny and Uncle Lou chatted with Dina Abad. They told her that they were surprised to find out that there is scuba diving in Batanes. Apparently, Ms. Abad already knows Chico makes a living guiding tourists who want to scuba dive in Batanes, and work on conserving certain sites gets help from the Zobels who like visiting Batanes. Talk then turned to developing tourism ... and I heard Ms. Abad suggest that Aunt Dolly set up some type of bike rental place for the tourists. Aunt Dolly wasn't up for it.
Near Fundacion Pacita is Tukon Chapel, which was also built by the Abads.
We passed by Basco Lighthouse but it was early morning so it was locked and we couldn't climb up. There was this English guy who I saw earlier walking in the market who was going around Batanes on his own. He got to talking with Aunt Dolly and told her that if he liked the place he would return with his friends. He asked Aunt Dolly if he could join us around Batan island. Aunt Dolly told him that our trip isn't the usual Batanes tour and he should probably join the official tours. We left him at Basco lighthouse... I think he actually walked up there because I didn't see any other vehicle.
Bee, who wandered around Basco on her own with the help of a tricycle she rented in Mahatao, was able to enter Fundacion Pacita. Proof that earlier is not always better. She took these pictures:
Back in town, and wondering where Bee is, we passed by Basco Cathedral which was undergoing renovation.
We then passed by Aunt Fe's house. We were there the night before when Aunt Fe invited Bee, Sam, Sam's mom and I to dinner at the Pension Ivatan Restaurant with the PNB manager and a couple of her staff. It was dark and I wasn't able to see the house clearly so I wanted to see how it looks like in the daytime. What we were able to see that night was Pension Ivatan Hometel and Restaurant, which was situated across the street from the house and is built on the lot she owns and leased to Pension Ivatan. She told me that had I decided to stay in Basco instead of Mahatao, she would have set us up there.
The old house Aunt Fe lives in was the same house my mom grew up in. Being on a hill, the front door is actually on the upper level (where Aunt Fe stays), and one goes down to get to the lower level - which is where my cousin Glen and his family lives. Aunt Fe has rented out some of the rooms.
After bidding goodbye to Aunt Fe, we drove through the market where Aunt Dolly was approached by a woman selling some old Batanes gold jewelry. Families who need money would sell their old jewelry through people like said lady who in turn knows which people might be interested in buying. Sam's mom initially wanted to buy some pieces but she found the prices a bit high than what she was willing to pay.
While waiting for Aunt Dolly and Sam's mom to finish looking at the jewelry for sale, I noticed that although there were lots of fish and vegetables for sale in the market, there was not much pork or beef. Since people here only get pork or beef when a farmer slaughters a pig or cow, what one would actually see on the stalls are announcements of when a pig or cow would be slaughtered so that those interested would come to the market on said date.
Before leaving Basco, we passed by a goldsmith where Aunt Veny and Aunt Dolly picked up some pieces they had custom made. We were back in Mahatao in time to eat lunch at Aunt Dolly's house.
After lunch, this time with Bee in the group, we headed southward, first to see the rest of Mahatao then to see the other towns. We revisited Homoron Blue Lagoon to take more pictures, then passed by Mahatao's White Beach. I wish we could stay longer but we were on a tight schedule.
The town after Mahatao, and at the southern tip of Batan Island, was Ivana. My grandpa used to be a municipal treasurer here, travelling from Basco to work everyday. The new Ivana bridge is parallel to an older bridge that was built during the Spanish time. The old bridge is one of the few Spanish era bridges that are still standing. The oldest house still standing in Batanes, the Dakay home, could also be found in Ivana. Further down the road is Radiwan Point and the San Jose Church, which is large and very close to the sea that the church is very visible from the boats plying the Ivana-Sabtang route.
Nearby is the Honesty Cafe. It actually looks like any sari-sari store or carinderia one finds in Metro Manila. The only difference is that no one mans the store. There is just a dropbox, and a list of items available with their prices. Ivatans expect people to be honorable enough to pay for whatever item they take from the store.
Next to Ivana, and situated on the other side of the island, was Uyugan, where the first mass was held in Batanes. The place has some huts for those who want to swim at the beach.
Somewhere in the middle of these towns is Racuh a Payaman, the wide communal pastureland. Every farmer that uses this land also helps in maintaining it. Because of the green rolling hills, this is also called "Marlboro Country".
Since we were on the other side of the island, and Uncle Lou wanted to be on safer roads before it gets dark (his eyes aren't good as they used to be, so it would be dangerous for him to be driving), we took the Interior Road to get back to Mahatao. This is a cross country dirt road, and therefore kinda rough, but it was quicker than going around the island.
Back in Mahatao, Aunt Dolly arranged for two masseuses to drop by and give massages to Bee and Sam's mom. After a few minutes' rest, spending some time walking around the neighborhood and watching the school kids play softball during break, I joined the rest (sans Bee and Sam's mom) in piling back into the van to head to Samurong Cybercafe, the internet cafe in Basco run by my cousin Joy. This is because Aunt Dolly's Globe connection at home was down and Aunt Veny wanted to check her e-mail account. Passed by the only gas station in the province, which is owned by Petron, and learned that prices per liter here are usually around PHP10 higher than in Metro Manila because of shipping cost. We spent about an hour at the cybercafe before returning to Mahatao. Stopped by the Mahatao Viewdeck (again) for some more pictures.
Before dinner, Sam and I walked at the beach behind Aunt Dolly's house and took pictures of the sunset. Aunt Zita dropped by to give me stuff to bring back to Metro Manila - woven keychains and a bottle covered by basketweave, both made by her son, and some garlic from their fields. There was also a bottle of turmeric (powdered yellow ginger) from Lola Loleng, which Ivatans mix into their rice.
It was a tiring day, like yesterday, but it was fun.
