We travelled to Sabtang Island on what turned out to be a stormy day, even by local standards. That boat ride was memorable, with real gale force winds! In between bouts of rain and wind, our guide and tricycle driver still took us around. Sabtang was now actually the northernmost point of the Philippines I'd been (I yearn to visit Itbayat someday!).
We headed to Morong Beach, along a little cove with grasses leading up to the sand, and this picturesque stone arch. We hopped back in the trike and drove up to a viewpoint where visitors could try on the vakul - a traditional Ivatan headpiece made from the leaves of date palms called vuyavuy. At a rest stop with the store owners, we tasted some local fruit wines made with those vuyavuy dates (quite sweet), the local sugarcane (called minyevaheng), and arius berries - a special berry native to Batanes and Taiwan. Tart and a bit sweet. My heaven.
We continued to the community of Chavayan, where traditional stone houses called savidug still line the village's narrow streets. The houses were made with local stones held together by a lime mixture, covered by a thick cogon roof that everyone in the community helped replace every 20 to 30 years, depending on what typhoons have been like. Truly an intangible cultural heritage.
We stopped at a local chapel, continued walking through town (the road was barely wide enough for a car), and ended near the beach. The local attraction was a pair of towering rocks, just offshore, that looked like they were kissing. At the Sabtang Lighthouse, I couldn't help but watch the waves crash onto the cliffs, trying not to think about the return boat ride we were racing to make. What a day!
