North Philippines Part 2 - Batad
To say our time in Batad was memorable would be a severe
understatement. We loved every second of our 2 days there, it is a magical
place which gave us a magical experience.
We took the 1 hour van from Banaue to the end of the road
near Batad and then trekked around 1 hour through the mountains to the small,
remote village of Batad.
Just the trek
there helps build the anticipation and on arrival at our guesthouse, we weren’t
disappointed. Batad is a small village of around 200 families, set in a
stunning amphitheatre and dominated by the 2000 year old rice terraces.
We dumped our stuff in the room at the
Batad View Inn and then took a guide for a
3 hour trek up and across the terraces.
It was breathtaking, jaw-droppingly beautiful.
Our guide, Elmur, explained everything for
the first couple of hours, then as we trekked back through the village at the
base of the valley, he popped in to see a friend for a couple of minutes.
He emerged, off his head on either the local
rice wine or the local natural chewing drug.
Either way, the next hour of the tour was the most interesting as he
mumbled and stumbled his way back up to our guesthouse.
Elmur, our rock-star guide, we won’t forget
you.
On arriving back at the
guesthouse, we got talking to the
owner, Ramon.
Top man, he watched our
kids play chess and then asked me if I wanted to play.
‘Sure’ I said and then proceeded to get my
backside handed to me on a plate by Batad’s very own Gary Kasparov.
I quit after 2 games.
We had only been in Batad for about 8 hours but already were
in love with the place and the people.
Then things began to get very strange indeed.
A westerner in local tribal clothes turned up with 3
Filipinos and we could tell something was going on. We asked Ramon who told us that the guy was
Ali from Greece who had been visiting Batad for the last 13 years or so. We then got chatting to a couple of the
Filipinos who told us that they were a documentary crew from Manila and that
Ali was a Greek anthropologist who travelled the world, studying remote
tribes. He has fallen in love with the Batad
tribe some years earlier and had built a house in the village. They told us that the next morning was going
to be interesting as Ali would be:
a)
sacrificing a chicken
b)
performing a local tribal
dance with the Shamen and village elders
c)
welcoming 8 rare mountain
pigs to the village to start a breeding program
We went to bed, not quite sure what to expect from the next
day.
By 9am, we had ringside seats for the tribal dance (we
missed the chicken sacrifice which was no bad thing!). Ali, the Shamen and the
villagers put on a great spectacle, resplendent in tribal clothes.
Most importantly, this was not some ‘show’
for the handful of outsiders staying in the village.
This was a normal Sunday morning, this was
remote, tribal living at its most authentic.
We then sat and ate some breakfast and were lucky to be
joined by Ali and his crew.
Sometimes
you meet someone whose life story and experience just makes you think ‘What the hell I am wasting my life doing?’.
Well,
this was one of those times.
We sat and listened
to stories of remote tribes in all 4 corners of the world and got a huge amount
of information on the people of Batad.
Ali also told us that he had purchased 8 rare baby pigs that
were being brought up that day to start a breeding program with the local pigs
that were in danger of becoming extinct. He said they should arrive by 2pm,
which was perfect for us as we planned to leave by 2.30pm to catch our van back
to Banaue. 2pm came and went with no
sign of the little porkers so we sadly had to leave – kids were very upset.
We got back to our
guesthouse in Banaue, showered and then
then went back down for some evening food.
As we came down the stairs, we were met by a room full of Ali, the docu
team and around 10 of the Batad villagers including Ramon.
They had come to try and track down the pigs
and as Batad has no internet or phone signal, they had come to Banaue.
Hugs and handshakes all round, they told us
that the pigs were coming to the guesthouse, to then be transferred back up to
Batad.
We all sat with much anticipation
and after an hour, they arrived.
So at around 6pm on the 25
th November, we found
ourselves standing outside the
Uyami Evergreen Guesthouse, rain lashing down,
with Ali the Greek Anthropologist, his documentary team, Ramon and the tribal
villagers and a crate of 8 rare baby mountain pigs.
Shoshi and I kept looking at each other and just shaking our
heads, the whole thing was like a surreal episode of Seinfeld.
We headed back inside, the kids went upstairs
to play and we got to sit for a couple of hours with Ali and his crew, riveting
conversation with some really great guys.
Whatever happens over the next 9 months, I’m not sure we
will have such a surreal 48 hours again, our time in Batad will live long in
the memory.
