Bawal ang Pabebe sa Calayan

Bawal ang Pabebe sa Calayan

Pabebe, to my understanding, is used to describe people who act and talk like children thinking they are cute but they actually end up looking stupid and annoying.

Calayan is an isolated island north of Babuyan Channel. Going there isn’t easy and it requires a lot of patience and people that are pabebe shouldn’t go or even think of going to this island unless they stop being pabebe.

Eighteen. Eighteen hours to reach the island.

Claveria, which is the entry point to Calayan, can be reached by bus with around 12 hours travel time. From Claveria, you’ll ride a boat for six hours that is extremely uncomfortable: exposed to the suns’ scorching heat, seated on a very hard bench while listening to metal (c/o engine noise). Our boat ride felt like forever until we sighted two dolphins.

You’ll get wet.

The weather is unpredictable. On our journey from Calayan back to Claveria, it was a bit cloudy and windy. We stayed at the upper back part of the boat and guess what, we got wet the moment it sailed. The waves were big and kept on splashing on our face and body – it was like that the whole time until we reached Claveria Port. Feel na feel ko ang pagiging basang tuyo: maalat at binilad sa kaarawan. Ang ganda kong tuyo. Hahaha!

Good thing our bags were covered in trash bags. We traveled with a sick elderly and what I admire about the boat personnel is that they made a covering for him and made sure that he’s comfortable.

There are no restaurants but you’ll get to eat REAL food.

There are no fancy restaurants - forget about caviar. During our stay, the foods we ate were either cooked by Tita Connie’s husband or her cousin. What I like about them is they suggest the best fish/seafood to try and the best way of cooking it (that is if we agree). My favorite was the lobster cooked in gata (coconut milk) with lots of garlic.

No night life.

There is no night life, period. The locals wake up and sleep very early because they have a life unlike you who hate Mondays and need an alarm to wake up.

Calayan is a wonderful island with wonderful people. Filipinos are known for their hospitality and for me, the locals of Calayan are the most hospitable people I’ve met in the country. Our guide brought us to his in-law’s house to rest. They have a huge yard with lots of coconut trees. I sat there watching their pet pig sleeping then they offered us buko, for free. It warms my heart that even though we’re tourists they treated us like their own visitor. 









-goodnight-
donna