On The Peak of Little Batanes: A Slow Day of Art, Gentle Dogs, and Open Skies //Part II

Have you heard of Little Batanes already? If not, you can find some interesting information about this stunning landscape of Caduawan, Tabogon, Cebu in my previous blog before this one. So basically, this is the succeeding blog of my Little Batanes journey, where I will share what happened on the peak and some of our memorable moments whilst letting time pass by in the greens. You can read the first part before this so you can easily follow our journey to the peak.

After learning that a mini store is found on the peak, we immediately bought refreshments and then went to the upside hill near us to trespass on the corner where two mini houses are built. Yes, trespass. But don’t worry, it is not illegal. This one is abandoned, and visitors do utilize this as it faces the other part of Little Batanes which I would show you in the next sections.

Entering this wire fence was a right decision. We came to encounter this house made of wood, perfect for relaxing while feeling all the breeze above. The moment we got inside, there was a dog who greeted us with his silly wagging tail. I thought he would bite us, but he was so friendly I can see his smile all over those wags. We rested our feet after that long hot journey from the highway to the peak, and when we put the things on the floor, everything went peaceful. It was like a deep breath, a peaceful escape with this guy I am dating with.

So what we did on the peak was making some clay version of Ponyo. If you already watched the Studio Ghibli film Ponyo, you can imagine her without difficulty remembering. She is a cute character in the film Ponyo which is a must-watch and recommended film. It’s child-like and fantasy animation captured my interest in watching it, and to be honest, I have watched it three times already.

I prepared the coloring materials we always use and some art materials. This time, we utilized the clay I brought and challenged ourselves to create a clay version of Ponyo individually. Although we don’t have a history of clay sculpture, we pushed through the activity to discover more of our child-like interests, and to discover more of ourselves.

Another dog came to us and greeted us with another pure wagging tail. This one is bigger and has white fur, just like one in an old Ghibli film. He was there the whole time while we made our Ponyo clay sculpture, and the moment was just so perfect.

In front of us is this view, a long mountain stretch that borders the back of Little Batanes. I just can’t take closer photos, but one of those mountains has caves I can see from the Little Batanes peak, and the most visible are three of them that are peeping between those wild bushes and trees.

Looking at the view was wonderful and relaxing to my eyes. It wasn’t that green, since it is January and the season gives the landscape this brown-green melancholic vibe, but the view was still stunning. It is away from the noise of city life. We felt our life stopped there gently, and this mountain stretch looked at us without judgment. Feeling all the province vibes of this area, we finished each other’s work of Ponyo in time before 5 hit the clock.

This is our Ponyo clay sculpture. It doesn’t look like Ponyo actually, so please bear with our impression that these works are accurately cute just like the one in the film. Although our clay materials are limited, we managed to make two of Ponyo, so we can keep them forever. We just made them smaller than planned so we can maximize the clay.

After everything, after we made Ponyo, we left this corner of the peak and stood by on the peak to look at the other view, which faces the city highway and the whole Little Batanes. The landscape is wide, joyous, and alive, and the grasses that danced with the breeze were so elegant in sway. It was a lucky day to have witnessed everything of this landscape with the person I share my interests and life with in the present.

We descended on the trail, but we walked down another path to see more of Little Batanes. The grasses were tall and abundant by this part, and coconut trees were so tall they barely fit in my eyes. Nature is alive here, and the only thing I thought while appreciating it was I hope modernization won’t find its way here and destroy this gem of Tabogon by putting unnecessary buildings and facilities. I hope this one stays as it is and it will breathe still in its joyous way.

We continued our walk since it was getting dark, and the first dog we met accompanied us until the highway, which worried us since it was too far and he would go home by himself. But during the walk home, we met his owner, and the owner gave the dog a ride to their home.

I will share some of the pics of our journey, and I hope you’ll enjoy the other corners of Little Batanes.

This is a very lovely land and it deserves a feature through this blog.

In the end, this journey was not just about reaching the peak or seeing a beautiful view. It was about slowing down, creating something with our hands, meeting gentle souls along the way, and letting nature hold us for a while. Little Batanes gave us space to breathe, to play, and to simply exist, and I think that is something worth coming back to, again and again.