Batanes

Batanes – Ivatan with vacul

Originally uploaded by estan.

An Ivatan native dressed in the traditional vacul, a woman’s headgear to shelter from the elements. This minority of Batanes, the northernmost province and islands of the Philippines have a unique culture of their own including a dialect that can’t be found elsewhere in the country. However, they do have a sister community in a tiny island the south of Taiwan where they have cultural affinity.

If there was one thing that I promised myself to bring back from Batanes, it is vacul, the unique headgear of the Ivatans. Made of shredded leaves of a unique palm in Sabtang island, it is truly waterproof. We got stares at the airport in Manila and Cebu when we hand-carried this one.

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Batanes colorful boats are called Faluwa. If you need to travel to Sabtang or Itbayat you need to take a motorized boat called faluwa. Ivana to Sabtang takes around 30 minutes while Basco to Itbayat takes 3 to 4 hours depending on sea condition

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 SongSong Ruins

The ruins of Songsong, a ghost barrio between Uyugan and Itbud, is one testimony of nature’s wrath and its effect on humans. The seaside town of Songsong used to be inhabited until a tidal wave swept through it in the 1950′s. The survivors have since then migrated to Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao.

 

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