Breathtaking Batanes: Picturesque landscapes, ‘bayanihan,’ and harmony

“I’d have a nosebleed when I go back home today.”

I was taken aback when our tour guide, Remy, made this off-the-cuff remark at the start of our much-awaited Batanes sojourn. Our family of four ended up laughing when we realized what she meant: after always talking to foreigners in English, the locals needed a break!

I did throw in a bit of Tagalog every now and then, words I’ve picked up over my three-year stay in Manila to make Manang Remy, 67 and still growing strong, break into a jig.

Notwithstanding an air of uncertainty about making it to Basco, partly because several of my friends had failed to do so despite careful planning, and since typhoon after typhoon have ravaged Batanes of late, we were determined to make our holidays special this year. This confidence got a boost when I discovered that there were no flight cancellations in the past fortnight, though our departure was delayed—initially because of the late arrival of the incoming flight, followed by the announcement that weather conditions at Basco were not favorable enough for the twin prop plane to make the trip at that moment.

Our delayed arrival at Basco was more than compensated for by the beautiful sunny day and the cool breeze. The gorgeous view of the Pacific that one gets from the Fundacion Pacita hotel would be everyone’s envy. But the story of Batanes is as much about human ingenuity as it is about picture-perfect landscapes.

Take, for instance, the Honesty Coffee shop which thrives on the fundamental premise that humans are by nature endowed with an instinct for honesty, and the few who would otherwise deviate might discover their moral compass once inside. Otherwise, how can you explain why such an experiment, which might have started out of someone’s belief in human goodness or out of sheer compulsion, has enough positive results to keep it going?

While frequent typhoons ravage the amazing islands of Batanes, they also reinforce the spirit of “bayanihan” or community cooperation. Lending a helping hand to resurrect damaged houses or sharing arayu (mahi-mahi) or dibang (flying fish) with the community during the lean season are traits we sometime take for granted, but they symbolize the human propensity to peacefully coexist, share the joy, and deal with the vagaries of life. This defies the Hobbesian concept of the “state of nature,” argued in support of a Leviathan in 1651, when everyone was presumably at war with one another.

If you are in love with nature, you can never have enough of breathtaking Batanes: one can get immersed in the spectacular landscape of Chamantad-Tinyan of Sabtang, or marvel at the rolling hills of Batan. Whether you’re lazing around the Morong beach, appreciating the pastoral terrain at Marlboro country (locally Racuh a payaman), or blowing your horn at the Alapad rock formation, every bit of Batanes is a postcard. The stone houses with thatched roof bear testimony to the human zeal for innovation.

Back in Manila, the Batanes winds are still whistling past my ears. As we ring in another new year, I long for a world where compassion and harmony bind human beings for the greater good. And Batanes fills me with enough positivity.

Rishikesh Singh,

rishikesh2005@gmail.com