I saw.

I heard.

I smelled.

I tasted.

I felt.

I experienced Batanes.

The dream has been fulfilled. South East Asian Airlines made the dream a reality. Joining the contest for the nth time paid off.

Finally, for the third try, I won their Facebook contest dubbed as the Batanes Winter Bloggers’ Tour.  Indeed, the saying, “Try and try until you succeed” was true.

My blog entry, Fulfilling the Dream, made me climb a Lighthouse, wear a vakul, interact with the Ivatans, taste a coconut crab, hear the whistling wind, smell nature’s breath, feel the warmth and hospitality of the Ivatans, and experience winter in Batanes along with Bless, Gay, James, Leon, Mike, and Joseph.

Winter? Yes you read it right. We have experienced winter in Batanes, which falls from December to February. Though the weather forecast recorded 23 degrees celsius, I felt my bones chilled.

Nonetheless, the welcoming smiles and greetings of the Ivatans whom I met in three days were like layers of jacket, which kept me warm.

Three days were not enough. Some of us even wished that our flight back to Manila be delayed. hahaha. Definitely, I shall return.

Batanes, the northernmost province in the Philippines, may be an island less traveled. But no matter how far it was from the mainland, Luzon, it was a treasure worth pursuing and protecting.

Adventure awaits those who seek for it. And so, we did find adventure in Batanes. I’ll tell more of that in my next posts.