Our trip to Batanes started at 2:30 am when we woke up in the hot and musty hotel room in Manila. Our flight was at 4:50 am and since we have had multiple problems with airlines here we decided to be plenty early for the flight. We arrived at the airport almost 2 hours early but still were far from the front of the line waiting for the airport to open. After going through security twice, eating an overpriced breakfast, and checking our bags we found ourselves on the runway waiting to board a white prop plane with no logo for the 2 hour flight to Basco, Batanes. Basco in the provincial capital and Batanes is the main island with a population of just under seven thousand.
One day we hiked into the interior of the island which is mostly agricultural land. The ridgelines have paths on them and the slopes of the hills are used for pasture and growing vegetables. The way the fields are designed is reminiscent to the hedgerows of England. There are paths all over the interior of the island so farmers can get to their different fields and this also makes it perfect for hiking. At many points in our hike we could see both coasts of the island between the microbursts of rain and wind. Towards the end of our hike we came across a herd of Kalabaws (water buffalos). There were about twenty members of the herd and it created a safari like scene as they grazed on the windswept grasslands of the eastern side of the island.
The island of Sabtang is an hour ferry ride from the main island and it is an intense ride. The first half hour is no problem since the ferry (small boat) rides close to the shore but then it has to cross the channel and the waves are impressive. One moment you are at the peak of the wave and can see everything around you and then the next moment your at the bottom of the wave surrounded by water. It took our boat about five tries to dock at Sabtang since the boat has to wait for the right size wave in order to make it to shore. If an oppourtunity is missed the boat has to circle around and try again. Getting off the boat is like a carnival ride also since the waves are still in full force. If you try to climb down the ladder when a wave comes in your sent 8 feet into the air with the front of the boat only to come crashing down again when the wave is gone. The unloading process only wounded one person and it was a flesh wound so good for us. The island of Sabtang is quiet. There are only 4000 people on this island with no resorts and a handful of restraunts. We only had about 5 hours to explore the island since our boat left almost three hours late but if we were to go back to Batanes we would spend more time exploring Sabtang Island. We walked north of the main town to a long sand beach and spent some time in the main town looking at the limestone houses. We almost got trapped on the island overnight but the other ferry passengers pleaded with the ferry operator to go so he did. It was quite the experience. The hardest part was getting out of the port since the waves were very large at this point. A couple of times are boat was turned sideways into the waves which means a lot of people got very wet as the wave consumed the boat. We spent close to a half hour just trying to get out of the port and once we finally did the boat operator lost control of the boat and couldn't steer so one of the guys jumped off the side of the boat with a knife and had to cut free the propeller which had gotten a rope wrapped around it somewhere in the port. After that it was a rough trip back but uneventful.
The second days that we rented bikes we went to Diura which is a seasonal fishing village on the opposite side of the island. The weather was sunny and a little warm. The warmest day we had there but definitely not too hot. The village was nothing special but there was great scenery from it. After the fishing village we biked along the National Highway again and explored some of the more interesting beaches in depth. It was hard to choose which beaches since almost all of them are untouched.
After returning to the mainland Philippines one of the things that I missed most about Batanes is the constant wind whether outside or inside it always made it's prescence known. The islands of Batanes are definetley the most remote place we've ever been and probably the most rewarding. We spent our days hiking and biking, we ate lobster, ferns, and fish and spent our nights listening to the wind and waves.
As our plane approached Basco we could see the multiple shades of blue representing the ocean and the lush green color of the land. As we stepped off the plane we were immediately met by a strong wind and a moderate temperature at the doorstep of Mt. Iraya, the tallest mountain/volcano on the island. We decided that since the weather was perfect to walk the 3 km to our resort. The town of Basco has a couple of characteristics which set it apart from many other provincial capitals. First of all it is small in terms of population and area, second pedestrians and bicyclists outnumber motorized vehicles, and lastly there is a lot of vegetation. It is an enjoyable place to walk or bike through and has a final frontier feel. There are only a handful of restaurants and hotels the rest of the town is made up of hardware stores, houses, sari-sari stores, a small market, and a few tourist shops. One of the restaurants is Casa Napoli, which is open for dinner only and makes homemade pizza is delicious and has great music playing constantly. The hardware stores seem to sell everything you could want. Since the Batan Islands are so far from the Philippines mainland there is a large focus on subsistence living and a great need for the weekly cargo ship that brings in everything the islands cannot produce on their own. The thing grown in greatest abundance on the island is garlic and is added into every dish. There are even multiple varieties of garlic grown on the island.
The seven days we spent in Batanes were not enough. The island lacks many "resort" characteristics but that is why we enjoyed it so much. There were few tourists, plenty of open space, fresh food, and plenty to do outside. During our week we spent there we rented bikes twice and biked along the one and only highway on the island, hiked three days, took a boat to another even more isolated island, and spent one day exploring some beaches. The Batan Islands have numerous beaches with no people to be found. These beaches range from boulder beaches, to brown sand, to white sand. The islands also represent a lot of different scenery. The best way to see the change of scenery is bike the national highway loop which is about 40 km and is a great way to see the island. We biked the loop on the first day and got a little too caught up in stopping every couple of kilometers to look at something or take more pictures. We were also caught off guard when the national highway turned into a mud/dirt track for about ten kilometers which we couldn't bike and had to walk. Then thanks to a wrong turn made on that stretch we found ourselves biking the last five kilometers in the dark. The bike loop along the national highway is mainly a coastal road except for the mud/dirt track which goes into the interior of the island. There are small towns dotted around the island and each one that was further from Basco had a better preserved village in terms of traditional Ivatan architecture. The Ivatan are the people group of Batanes. Traditional Ivatan architecture are houses built from large blocks of limestone which helps withstand the multiple typhoons the islands receive each year.
Part of the holiday season is a basketball tournament sponsored by our local government. Steve was recruited by the team in our neighborhood (the Rockistas) and they've won all but one of their games. He's also lucky because the Rockistas are a crowd favorite, and the teenage girls watching the games are a lively bunch. They will always yell when the other team is taking foul shots and tell them to "uwi na" (go home now). 
There are a lot of places to get uniforms made around town, so every team has customized uniforms with their team logo and name.
The festive spirit really took off with our town's Lambayok Festival December 10-12. There was a beauty pagent, parade, boxing match, singing contest and dance competition. 
Students from local high schools competing in the street dance.
Simbang Gabi started December 16. This is a daily mass at 4 a.m. or 7 p.m. We joined others from town at mass this week. There was singing, a message and communion. There was only standing room in the back when we arrived, but it was fun for us to join so many people from our community.
After Simbang Gabi there are a lot of vendors outside the church selling bibingka. It is a rice flour cake made in a banana leaf on a small clay burner that has a fire burning underneath and on top. This woman is using coconut husk for fuel.
The bibingka cake is usually served with salabat, a sweet, strong ginger tea. 
Celebrations officially began at school this week with a dance competition. Each class had to create a dance and then compete for various small prizes. The songs are almost always something with shocking English lyrics, but the kids don't understand and they like the beat.
Yesterday we had a very lively party with my class of 40+ students. The party included games, eating and the kids' favorite: the gift exchange. These girls are playing the "don't drop the apple while you dance" game.
In the afternoon my co-teachers and I attended our town's teachers' Christmas party. The low-point of the afternoon was doing a performance in which the other teacher's and I danced the tak-tak mo, kili-kili and other local favorites in front of the other teachers. Living here certainly helps with issues related to public speaking and performing. The high points of the afternoon were merienda (snack time) and winning glasses in the raffle.
Today we attended one of my co-teacher's weddings. Donna is one of the sweetest people we know and we were very happy to be with her and Sath on their big day. 
The teachers from my school - my Filipino family.
