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If you’ve been to Batanes Islands, at the northern tip of the Philippines, then you know why it’s called a paradise. Where time seems to take a halt and the people were born from some ancient culture at an era when simplicity and trust is the ultimate virtue.

I went there in 2002, at that time tourism in Batanes was only for the adventurous with cash to spare due to the inaccessibility of the province to many airlines and other modes of transportation. Mainly because the weather is trecherous, Batanes is almost always the destination of devastating storms that hit this side of the pacific.

Plus only small planes can land in its airport, in 2002 only Laoag Air was brave enough to service Manila to Basco (the provincial capital) and only flies once a day. Thus, reservations should be made in December for your summer trip. In fact, it took us three years to finally get a reservation!

Knowing very little of the place, we decided to call the office of its Congressman Florencio Abad who most graciously endorsed us to his staff in Batanes. And this act of goodwill was just the tip of the hospitality that is innate with the people of Batanes.

We got there with a handful of other local tourists. Our guide immediately escorted us to our accommodation at the Ivatan Guest House. Throughout our five-day stay everyone flashed us the sweetest smile, greeted us ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good evening’, and assisted us in every way they can to find our way within the island.

Honesty is the best policy here. No one locked their houses. You can go to a sari-sari store and if the owner is not around, you can freely get what you need and leave your payment. If you have change, well just get it from the cash box. I am not kidding, this is the sense of community that they have.

Our guide Mamat said, no one is poor is Batanes. Each family has a small land to till and fisher folks go asea daily for their seafood cravings. And everyone looked satisfied at this very simplistic way of getting around every day.

The famous stone houses can no longer be found in Basco. You will have to go to the neighboring towns like Ivana and Imnajbu (read im-nahk-bu) to find them. Or go island hopping to Sabtang, 30-minute by boat, and Itbayat, fours hours by boat and 30-minute by chartered planes.

The only sad thing here is the small problem of the Ivatan culture dying because the young folks now prefer to leave for the city. And I’d love for many Filipinos to see this place but there’s the danger of it losing its serenity.

From what I heard, it’s fairly easy to go to Batanes nowadays. There are more commercial Philippine airlines that fly to Basco daily, plus ferrys are already available for the budget tourists. I’m pretty sure, too, that there are more inns and accommodations in Batanes now than five years ago.

My only plea for all you planning on visiting Batanes, please respect their values and practice honesty the way they do. Quite frankly I don’t want Batanes to turn into a tourist haven. For one they don’t really need tourism money.

I’d like Batanes to preserve its innocense and beauty and let only those with the love for
nature and authentic culture reach these islands.

Tags: Batanes Philippines, Philippine Travel Destination, Philippine Travel Tips, Batanes Accommodation