BIKING TO THE SUNSET

 February 24, 2010

Today is Sabtang Day, another island tour for us. We will be joining another set of tourists from the hotel. Our designated guide will be Kuya Roger and Ate Remy for the other group. The road trip going to Ivana port from the origin is around 30 minutes and 30 minutes also for the boat ride.  A rough sea and lighthouse will welcome you entering the San Vicente port. While we are waiting for our transportation, we walked around seeing the school, mayor’s office, and the San Vicente de Ferrer church. At the registration area, we tried Vakul (native hat in Batanes).

Four of us decided to top-load on the rented van while our tourmates are enjoying the view inside. Kuya Roger made some short stops discussing the Idjang (fortress for native Ivatans, a very sacred place for them). Next stop is the stone houses in Savidug. Only Sabtang is preserving these icons in the best they can. Some of them are now being transformed into cemented houses for family use.

Next agenda was the Chamantad-Tinyan Sitio where you can see a view like in Ilocos Patapat Bridge. You need to do some minor trekking to see the panoramic scene of the island coastline. Down the hill is the Chavayan village which is the center of weaving, where there you can buy authentic Vakul and native products.

After a refreshing buko sip, we headed back to Nakabuang Beach and Arc for our lunch. Our menu includes, Seaweed soup, Ground Pork with Beans, Sauteed Cuttlefish, Sweet and Sour Maya-Maya, Steamed Lobster, Turmeric Rice and Buko. Some had swimming after lunch while did some photo-shoot along the beach.

At 2:30PM, we need to back at port to catch our 3:00PM boat ride back to Batan. It was a bumpy ride because we are fronting some of the big waves. Though catching some dolphins in the sea is a relaxing scene. We were back at the hotel at around 4:00PM, so we decided to rent bikes and enjoy another sunset viewing.

Armed with our bikes, we strolled and sweat ourselves reaching the second bridge just after Batanes Resort Hotel. We parked our vehicles down the road and then made a short hill-walk to get a better view. Then we need to make a 2km pedal to the center town to return the bikes. After returning, we strolled again, eating barbecues and local ice cream.

We got back at the hotel for dinner, a heavy one again. We decided to have a session after but as soon I embraced my bed, I was sleeping like an overworked horse as they have described.

 
Location: Sabtang/Basco, Batanes