⌛ A Window On Time In Sabtang, Part 1

It seems Batanes is one of those places that beguiles. Beyond the inescapable pride of place Ivatans have for their homeland, there is the palpable enthrallment of ipulas (non-Ivatans) fortunate to have visited its shores. From what I heard, I could not wait to be captivated myself.

Me and two of my friends arrived on a rainy April day. That was not really surprising, after all rain – having lots of it -- is something Batanes is famous for. It turns out, however, it is not because rain is incessant, but because PAGASA uses the province as its reference point for storms leaving the Philippine area of responsibility.

We had gone to celebrate two events that happen to fall on the same day: the birthday of a friend and the fiesta of Sabtang, an island municipality known for its traditional Ivatan houses and its pastoral beauty. In 1994, it was named one of the twelve best destinations in the Philippines by the Department of Tourism.

To get there, we went to the town of Ivana to board a motorized faluwa, the traditional boat of Batanes. Uniquely adapted to sea conditions in the islands, it has a pointed keel that makes it pitch and roll effortlessly despite the strong currents it navigates through.

That is not to say however, that this dexterity made crossing the Ivana-Sabtang Channel enjoyable. For most of the trip, the top of the boat’s sides were just inches from the water. Often, we seemed to lose sight of the horizon as the pilot guided the faluwa through the heaving waters. I craned my neck in an effort to keep my eyes on the highest mountaintops of Sabtang.

Someone had told me that having a reference point warded off nausea. I lulled myself into a state of reassurance with the thought that conditions couldn’t be that bad. Susie, my friend and the birthday girl who lives in Sabtang, had taken one look at the channel before we boarded and said “Ay salamat! Walang alon!”

I was not to know it at that time, but, that crossing would seem like entering a time warp and provide a window on time and the Ivatan way of life. We arrived to find Susie’s family busy preparing for the fiesta in honor of San Vicente Ferrer, the town’s patron saint. Her relatives had butchered a cow and the meat was being segregated into the various dishes that would be prepared. The menu was not only traditional; it was also being prepared without the conveniences of modern life. The beef was being minced with the rhythmic fall of a cleaver, as was the root/heart of the banana that were to be mixed to make uved, the local version of a meatball.