rastapasta

Basco is the capital of Batanes, the smallest, northernmost and most remote of the Philippines’s provinces, which also happens to be the home island of Dor Merina’s family. Getting there involved waking at 4AM for an early morning flight from Manila in a small propeller plane. Because the Basco airstrip is small and inclined on the far edge of an active volcano, the landing was quite hard as the ground rose up to meet us and the pilot slammed the engine into reverse on touchdown.

Above is the view as you exit the plane on arrival in Batanes. (Note how the landing strip is inclined upwards relative to the level nose of the landed plane.) The top of Mt. Iraya, the volcano, is covered in clouds. Welcome to Basco!

Batanes is magical– lush, green, and there’s one region known as “Marlboro country” for its resemblance to the countryside featured in the cigarette ads. We went to visit our friends Dor and Mitz– Dor was there on a Fulbright to document Ivatan oral poetry. you can check out his work at this great website.

Or listen to/see Laji singers here:

Laji – Oral Poetry of Batanes from dorian merina on Vimeo.

Shots below are of a country road running through Batan Island farmland, the view from the Merina Hacienda where we ate cool watermelons on a hot day. From Basco, we traveled around the island, along the national road runs along the sea cliffs on a narrow, winding track. Bottom left is a tricycle taxi on the way to Ivana. Bottom-center is the basketball court just off the same road in the town of Mahatao.

Dried fish is a staple in Batanes. We visited during a season when schools of mahi-mahi pass through nearby fishing channels, and drying fish was to be found strung up lines and fences everywhere, even the airport fence had fish drying on it!