Spending a Night in Sabtang: Chavayan Village

I thought of separating Chavayan Village from Sabtang entry because.....(thinks) I just believed I should. :)

Chavayan Village is our last stop during Sabtang Tour.  As we ended the day we spent the Sabtang Tour with more knowledge and experience about the Ivatan's culture. Sheena sat with one of the folks of Chavayan who dared to teach her with Vakul weaving.  Sheena enjoyed learning. While Mother and I enjoyed watching them. We bought our pasalubong from their Weaving Association. We learned that the small vakul would cost 10 pesos less than the bigger one. They told us that it's more difficult to weave the small yuvuk.  Sheena can atest to that. 

At the end of the village you will see the beach. We stayed there for a while. As you all know, what we did was to contemplate - we emo. Most of the time - spent with nature in Batanes we just kept ourselves silent. It's the time of talking to Apo. The beach of Chavayan is the best spot for praying,  Aside from the church of Santa Rosa which is just few meters away from the beach.

Cows and goats are still balancing on the mountain while eating grass. They're really good yogi. You will find them in any parts of Batanes. Don't be surprise! If there's a mountain there's cows and goats or cows or goats on it even at it's steepest hill. 

 We stayed in one of the old ancestral houses.  Where Tina Marasigan of ABS CBN stayed. (We saw her on registry.) Kuya Harold, is one of the owners of the house who is very kind to cook tinola (and rice) for us. We asked him of the cost of the souvenirs we found at the table and told us to just get one each. We thought of paying at first, but as they say, Ivatans do not expect you to pay in exchange of goodwill. (Which I think, it should always be the case.)

View from inside of the stone house

In Chavayan we met the popular guide of Batanes. If you've been reading blogs about Batanes you'll probably known him more than we do. It's Ryan Cardona. Ryan was the tour guide of Donna. They arrived by his motorcycle while we were on Weaving Store. He greeted all of us " Good Afternoon!" I asked him "Taga San po Kayo?" and he told me "Taga dito po ako." They stayed in a different stone house, more like, they were our neighbors.

At midnight expect that the lights will be out.  We put Off Lotion on. It was cold even if there's no fan and obviously there's no AC. We decided to open the window. Sheena and I would still like to go out at night. I thought of buying beer. The entire Chavayan is dark at night. Still silent. Yes it's creepy.  But the stars were at their most brightest. If there's noise within the vicinity it would be just the three of us. We were just so loud chatting and laughing. Sheena and I walked and searched for the store that's still open. We got scared by a man walking , swaying away from us - he's drunk. We took different turn and found a boy in front of us. He smiled and we asked for the nearest store. He accompanied us. While walking Sheena called me. She saw a different man lying on the ground. We ran!!!! We found the store at last. Hay! I was calling the guy at the store he's drunk too but his mother served us well. The boy escorted us to our home. We were so Thankful to him. Imagine the scene from many urban legends or the zombie land that's how it looks like. Yes I am an adventure seeker but not horror seeker. Puhlease! Hehe! Then we're back to chatting and laughing again. Then we sleep. 

I was awaken by the pain of my right arm. It was 2 in the morning. The lights were now turned off. I tried to sleep but my right arm is getting numb. An insect bite me.  I know for sure that it was not a mosquito. At 4 am it was still dark. I decided to walk to the beach. I was not afraid this time because I know the sun will rise at any given time and I know people are still sleeping. I had my cellphone's flashlight turned on while walking.  I can still feel the pain of my arm. I hope I can call my mom for help but I don't want her to worry whenever I am on call for travel. I stayed by the beach and talk to Apo. I asked Him - "please take the pain away."  I stayed there waited for the sun. The sun did not rise at that part of Chavayan but the sky turned red indication that it's already morning. 

The Morning when I asked Apo for Help. 

I went back to the house when everything is transparent. I told them that I was in pain. Mother gave me her White Flower and Sheena gave me medicine and I had advil thinking that it will ease the pain. I slept while they walk to the beach. When I woke up, it was still painful. I went out and saw the old woman from the Weaving Association. She lend me her Katinko. I put Katinko on and Thank her. Mother saw the insect who bite me -  I got stung by a bee. 

The pain slowly subsided.

We were thinking of what to eat for breakfast. We bought cup noodles from the store and egg from the Weaving Assoc. then we asked for hot water to Kuya Harold. Ryan and Donna were there. We chatted. It was the getting to know you part at the kitchen of Kuya Harold. It was nice talking to Ryan and Donna because they're seasoned travellers. Every individual in the house has something to say about traveling, about tourism. We chatted again at the Sabtang Pier and we we still talked about Batanes, Tourism, Travelling. It was one of the coolest conversation ever. 

Here's one that we had:

Jaja: "Gusto ko kasi yung lugar na merong kultura."

Ryan : "Ano sa tingin nyo ang culture ng Batanes na wala sa iba since kayo na yung nakabyahe sa iba't ibang lugar."

Sheena: "Yung sa weaving ng vakul."

Ryan: "Yung hindi tangible."

Nagisip

Mother: "Honest." 

He smiled. 

Kuya Harold

Their pastime 

Santa Rosa Church

Cogon Grass Roof