Mandy's Posing Safari in Batanes

employees at the top of the hill

That's what we did all weekend - pose!  My officemates were more inclined to be the subject with the breathtaking view of Batanes as the background than the other way around. I'm now calling the trip last weekend - Mandy Navasero's Posing Safari.

It was the first time for the 30 employees [and family] plus the four guests [German couple Klaus and Silke,  Tess and Nenette from Pampanga]  to visit Batanes and also their first time to join Mandy's photo safari.

They absolutely had fun posing of course. Those who were not accustomed to walking or running, enjoyed trekking the hills, even dared enter the Japanese tunnel, attempted jumpology and some wanted to do a Dawn Zulueta "lift" in the scene of the movie Hihintayin ktia sa langit.

inside the japanese tunnel

Yiessa posing for Mandy outside the Japanese tunnel

trekking the hills

Mahatao lighthouse taken from the plane

Batanes, located at the northermost tip of the Philippines, is comprised of ten islands, three of which are inhabited. It is by far,  the purest destination that I've ever visited. The  distance from Manila (659 km) and being surrounded by rough seas - South China Sea and Philipine Sea- has pretty much isolated it from the rest of the country. The people called Ivatans are generally peace-loving and friendly having only a population of 16,000 distributed in six municipalities. There's hardly any pollution, no blaring karaoke noise and zero crime rate.

Mandy teaching 13-year old Joachim how to take jumpology shots in Marlboro Hills

Honesty Cafe, proof of zero-crime rate in Batanes

I've actually teased Mandy that it's her doing  for making Batanes popular. She was the first to bring a herd of  tourists every summer with her photo safaris. She coined most of the tourist spots like the 'Dawn Zuleta Hills' (original name is Lorrance), Marlboro Hills (Payuman), the Fountain of Youth, etc..  I was one of the first 21 students who joined her initial foray to Batanes on April 13, 2006. Back then, there were only three flights a week and there were no others tourists. The weather was so unpredictable that Batanes gained notoriety for its frequent flight cancellations.

Fundacion Pacita Abad

A lot has changed since my last visit  in 2008 which by the way included a trip to Itbayat. There are now more hotels with Fundacion Pacita's bed and breakfast being the most posh; our lunch in Marlboro Hills is no longer a picnic but inside a hut; and our lunch in Sabtang beach is also inside a hut.  Batanes though still continues to amaze me with its  picturesque terrain, charming stone cottages, lighthouses, white sand beach with giant boulders and golden sunsets. I still manage to come home taking more than a hundred photos! In fact, some people mistake my photos for Scottland, Ireland or even New Zealand except that when they take a closer look, they see carabaos grazing in the background.

Carla waves onboard the faluwa

A must visit is Sabtang Island,  declared by the Department of Tourism as one of the 12 Best Destinations in the country. Typical Ivatan homes line up the streets, people walk around wearing uvuds (traditional raincoats). To get there is a bit tricky because the sea is usually rough. It is a 30-min faluwa boat ride from Basco. The window to travel is from 5am to 8am from the Port of Ivana and out of Sabtang at least by 2pm.  We definitely experienced a roller coaster ride heading back to the island.

Coconut crab

And lastly, while in Batanes, don't forget to enjoy its culinary delights!!!  My favorite must-eats are coconut crabs (order a day in advance though), my favorite lumpiang dibang (flying fish),  dibang-silog for breakfast which is dried flying fish with sunny side up egg on rice, giant squid calamares, lobster (order a day in advance) and kamote!!

To join Mandy's Photo Safari, email Mandy at luzamandolina@yahoo.com or call (+63-2) 896-3208.

Jumpology shot

Chicago Chicago! 5 Must do things in Chicago.

Chicago River

Did you know that the Chicago River is color green because of the clay floor and the algae that grows on that clay?  Well, that's what the guide said during our architectural boat river cruise which by the way is a must- do while in Chicago. 

Here's my five must do things while visiting Chicago:

1. The restaurants! Its a foodie's haven. "Chicago cooking" has been buzzed about in the last couple of years as one Chicago resident described it as "daring, snout-to-tail, chef-driven." 
Blackbird chef Paul Kahan was the first to defy the foie gras ban way back which led to the city repealing the law. Must try are: Purple Pig food from rising star chef Jimmy Barrios who opened Batali's New York restaurants (note: no reservations so best to go off-hours), top Chef winner Steph Izar'ds Girl and the Goat, Maud's Liquor Bar by Chef Jeff Pikus, Boka in Lincoln Park, Naha on Clark, the new Italian-fare Balena. To book a table try opentable.com. 

Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture 

2. Take the  Architectural River Boat cruise. Actually, it  should be the first on your list to give you an orientation of the City, its history and architecture. Note that it was scorching hot this June with temperature as high as 100! So, best to go early to avoid the lines and also wear a hat and sunglasses.



3. The Millenium Park to see the modern  art sculptures laid out in the 9-hectare garden and the iconic Cloud Gate (right photo), the gigantic, biomophic  sculpture made by Anish Kappor. It took him two years to complete this biomophic piece referred to by Chicago residents as 'the bean'. It is huge! 33 x 66 z 42 feet and apparently weighs 110-tons and made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together with a mirror finish. 

with Eileen, Torpedo Los by Lichenstein behind

4. The Museums - top of my list is the Art Institute of Chicago on South Michigan Ave.  I was lucky to catch the retrospective show of Roy Lichenstein (until September 3), the largest exhition so far of the pop artist mounted with more than 160 of his works up. I heard it took four years to mount this exhibit. Also check out the Museum of Science and Industry on Lakeshore Drive. The museum has four floors and special exhibits so allot at least 4-5 hours!! I was able to see the interactive exhibits You! The Experience, Genetics and the Baby Chick Hatchery and Fast Forward and missed Mythbusters Explosive Exhibition and Smart Home: Green + Wired. 
If you have more time, go visit Sheld Aquarium which has the largest shark exhibit and tank and the natural history museum,  Field Museum. 

5. And lastly, go check out the theater scene which now rivals New York. Clybourne Park was first staged by Steepenwolf before winning a Tony for Chicago-playright Bruce Norrisand now playing in New York. Theater! I watched the Million Dollar Quartet, a fun musical about the story of Sun Records producer Sam Philips' last night on December 4, 1956 with his four bankable talents - Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and his then new discovery Jerry Lee Lewis. To get discounted tickets, visit hottix.org.

Last tip, bring your running shoes and run along Lakeshore Drive or Michigan Ave to the Water Tower. Enjoy!

An afternoon stroll along Estero de Paco

Estero de Paco view from Pedro Gil sans trash

I've always wanted to check out Paco especially since it is the first tributary cleaned by Gina Lopez's project called Kapit Bisig Para Sa Ilog Pasig (KBPIP) or Linking Arms for the Pasig River.  So, when  I saw Jude's tweet inviting any would be walkers to join him in Paco on a Saturday afternoon, I immediately replied with a "Yessss!!".

The Pasig River is 27-km long that stretches from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Unlike the Thames, Seine, Chao Praya or any other river in the world, the Pasig River has been deemed biologically dead in the 1990s due to 80 years of abuse brought about by over population and pollution.  Several efforts were undertaken by past governments to clean the river but have fallen short because of lack of funding and technology as well as difficulty in relocating the informal settlers.

with some of the active River Warriors

Instead of attacking the whole stretch, Gina divided the river into its tributaries and focused on cleaning the river one section at a time starting with Estero de Paco - the dirtiest and largest.  In two years, she managed to relocate over 1,200 families to Caluan, Laguna, removed 3,200 cubic meters of trash, landscaped the area and installed biomatrix floating machines (aerators) and lastly, created and recruited River Warriors.

spotted five aerators along the canal

There are about 200 River Warrior volunteers and 25 of them are active. The 25 are charged with cleaning  the headwater (the area covers 16 barangays) five times a week from 6 am to 5 pm and half day on Saturdays. They admitted that it's hard to break a litterbugs' habit. No matter how hard they try to discipline the residents, some still do litter.

The River Warriors are also responsible for the MRF (material recovery facility) which transforms the garbage collected into usable products such as the hard tiles that are installed on the walkway along the canal (below).

tiles made of trash

the newly renovated Paco Market

The newly rennovated Paco Market which took ten months to build is right next to Estero de Paco. We were told that it will be formally launched on May 30.  The market with its white painted walls, high ceilings and clean stalls looks more like a tiangge for clothes, shoes, whatnot. At the center is an area for gatherings possibly for staged events.

Pasig River has at least 48 esteros.  The next section targeted is the area of Malacanan Palace - specifically Estero de San Miguel.

Our impromptu afternoon stroll in Estero de Paco is more like a do-it-yourself tour. We started at 3:30 pm and ended past 5pm,  over two hours. We started off at the corner of San Marcelino and walked down Pedro Gil where Jude pointed out the art deco buildings along the way (lucky for us he lived in the area since his University days as a medical student and loves architecture).

art deco Bellevue Theater built in the 1930s

walk-mates Charlotte and Jude

Our first stop was Paco Market to check out the stalls and view the exhibit about the history of Paco. Then, walked down the canal which is about 3-km long admiring the colorful homes painted in bright colors, the greenery - flowers and all.  Mind you, the river is clean (hopefully, clear soon) and rid of any stench. The children would either gape at Charlotte's dreadlocks and try to touch or ask why we were walking.

The walk was leisurely, meandering down the canal's path until we reached the end at the railway tracks across South Super Highway. We were looking for the MRF and accidentally met the River Warriors who were in a prayer meeting. We doubled back and chanced upon the first masonic lodge in the Philippines on San Marcelino.

Kids touching Charlotte's dreadlocks

We ended the day with a hearty italian dinner prepared by swiss Chef Chis in his new restaurant called My Kitchen located at the ground floor of Oasis Hotel, right next to Paco Park.

and me matching the flora (photo taken by Jude)

I must say that there is a huge potential to market Estero de Paco as a tourist destination. The tour is much like the Hutong tour I enjoyed in Beijing (which included a lunch though with a typical family) and the reality tour I booked in Mumbai inside  Dharvi, one of the largest slums in the whole of Asia. There are other tours offering this such as the Favela tour in Brazil and the Township tour in South Africa. In fact, Charlotte kept saying that backpackers would love the place. So, paging Secretary Jimenez of the Department of Tourism!

Trek to Taal, the worlds smallest volcano

Through the years, I've always thought that the iconic photo of Taal is the active volcano.

iconic shot of Taal (right side) 

Well, it is not. The whole island (refer to map below) covers an area of 23 square km and is the volcano complex. Our guide said that there are seven craters on the island- two of which are active. However, I googled and found out that Taal actually has "about 47 craters or depresions formed either by direct explosive eruptions or by collapse or ground subsience."  Interestingly, Taal is considered the world's lowest volcano with the highest point at 311m above sea level compared to Mayon volcano's elevation at 2,463m.

Taal Volcano, map by Philvocs

with Gai and Moni at the jump off point in Taal Yacht Club

The three of us - Gai, Austrian healer Moni Platt and I hiked to the main crater.  Moni said that she tried to climb the volcano last April but due to eruption warnings, she wasn't allowed up. So  far, there has been 33 recorded eruptions since 1572, twelve of which occured at the main crater from 1749 to 1911. The 1911 eruption devasted the whole island and claimed a total of 1,034 lives. The last eruption was on October 3, 1977.

The whole trip to the main crater and lake will take half a day - about an hour from Manila to Talisay, Batangas, then a 30min banca ride (right photo) to Volcano Island, an hour on foot to the Main Crater and back.

If you want a faster option to go up, go ride a horse (left photo) which looks more like a pony though at P500 per horse.

Warning to hikers: go early.  The whole island is volcanic and thus, the ground is hot! There is an area where you can see steam coming out of the ground and smell sulfurous. Also, check Philvocs website for volcano activity. The alert level "1" is still acceptable to hike to the crater.

Aside from the regular touristy trail, there are other ways to explore the island such as the Calauit Trail and for the more experienced hikers, the Mt. Tabaro Trail (south-west).

Main Crater and Lake

the easy trail 

the Ridge

Yoga Body Temple Retreat

I haven't been practicing yoga for quite some time - six months to be exact from bikram and more than a year's break from ashtanga yoga. The best way to ease this tight body back into a daily practice is to take a weekend retreat and the best one so far, is Teresa Herera's Yoga Body Temple Retreat at The Farm in San Benito, Lipa, Batangas.
It was not the usual hectic yoga retreat sked and the venue was just perfect! We had two yoga sessions a day in the 'shala' located right smack in the garden, providing a breathtaking view of the grounds, the man-made lake and Malarayat mountain.
CNNTraveller voted The Farm as one of 6 Environmentally Friendly Hotels in the world. There were birds walking freely around - peacocks and ducks, and birds chirping along with Teresa's playlist. In between the yoga sessions, I was able to squeez- in medical and spa treatments - alternating days of colema and colonics and afternoon massages. And of course, enjoy their surprisingly filling, three-course vegan menu which is 85% raw, 15% cooked and 100% organic. We ordered French organic wine with our dinner and believe it or not, the Alive! restaurant has a range of interesting coconut nectar (tuba) brews such as pina coladas, margaritas, ginger beer or tuba-on-the-rocks.
Our meals were served in conducive settings - breakfast under the 200-400 year old magical mango tree in the garden (right photo shows Teresa enjoying breakfast) and lunch by the south pool. Everything in the farm is organic and homegrown from the food served and the soaps and massage oils used. The Farm has its own organic garden for its herbs and vegetables and since the whole area is surrounded with hectares and hectares of coconuts, they harvest the coconuts to make their own, you name it - butter, milk, juice, water, infused coconut oils, crackers, soap and cold-processed virgin coconut oil (bottled as Oil of Life).
As usual, I didn't finish my reading list. How could I with the relaxing treatments in-between the yoga sessions plus the long three-five course meals. I brought Adbobo Magazine's year ender issue and two books - Yehuda Berg's latest The Power to Change Everything which was launched last November 9 in Los Angeles and George Friedmans' latest The Next 100 Years. I thought I would finish Yehuda and then start Freidman... but ended finishing Chiqui's book insteadThe Man Who Ate the World by brit-Top Chef Masters Jay Rayner.

Here's our Yoga Retreat sked:
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
12:00nn Check in @ The Farm
1:00-2:00pm LUNCH
5:00-7:30pm Opening / Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar)
7:30-9:30pm DINNER
Friday, Nov 27, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (solar)
9:00 BREAKFAST
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH
4:00pm-5:30pm Lunar practice: Meditation / Satsang / Journal Writing
7:30pm-9:30pm DINNER
Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar)
9:00 BREAKFAST
12:00-1:00pm LUNCH
5:30-7:00pm Yoga Trance Dance (solar/high energy)
7:30-9:30pm DINNER
Sunday, Nov 29, 2009
6:30-7:00am Sunrise Meditation
7:00-8:30am Prana Vinyasa Flow (lunar) / Closing Ceremony
9:00 am BREAKFAST
12:00nn Check Out
This is indeed the best way to start the holidays and the new year, going inward through yoga and nature and cleansing the body. For the next yoga retreat and other wellness packages, check out Travel Club Philippines.