Bantayan Island for the Holy Week

April 1, 2010 – Backlogging seems to be me nowadays. Thank you for those readers who still keep coming back even if my stories are somehow past current times. March, April and May have been a blur, too, and lately, we have been seeing beaches, sand, corals, pump boats, unlimited SPF 30, and lycra. Last holy week in April, we were in Bantayan Island.

For someone who just got there for the first time, I felt like I’ve already been in Bantayan Island. Don’t you sometimes have that feeling whenever you are in ANY province in the Philippines? Except for Vigan whose photos that I see make me want to go there and be transported into time, Bantayan gives you THAT kind of feeling and no, it isn’t sad, it is actually familiar. The island does treat you kindly yet the sight of small streets that you know you’d always end up going back to or beach shores that will forever stick to your toes will already make you feel that you no longer need to bring home sand like you used to do.

 Arriving at the port confirmed our worst suspicions because the queue to get boat tickets were so long. I was warned about the influx of humankind in Bantayan during Holy Week but really it. was. overwhelming. Thoughts of enjoying ever observing holy week flew out of my head already.

Road trip = 3 hours. Boat ride = 1 hr. Total number of hours = 4.

The whole thing had been last minute, too, and we didn’t get a hotel reservation on time. Luckily, my friend Marvin Evangelista, (check out his gig sometimes at the Ayala Center Terraces or Taproom, Banilad) owned a house and was happy to accommodate our friends. We were with Yves, Eden and everyone else, too.

Heading to Sugar Beach. Tents, BBQ, and music – a party was just getting started on Good Friday Night.

Holy Week wouldn’t be complete without binignit!

Sugar Beach Resort had an event going on that weekend and was entirely closed for people who bought tickets and rented tents inside. There were neighboring resorts in the beach so everyone can pretty much enjoy the huge crowd that partied on Friday Night. All I can remember were too much booze, photos and people. It was pretty much the same on Saturday Night, too. I fell asleep on Saturday Night already and didn’t get to join in the beach thing. I feel old but it was pretty much too generic so I didn’t really feel bad.

We roamed around Bantayan on our last day, visited their market and even went to Madridejos, another municipality.
The fact that it was my first visit to Bantayan didn’t give me enough time to really appreciate the island. Everything was so commercial, so dirty and crowded. 

Now, let’s stick to the obvious yet very helpful facts. Getting to Bantayan Island is going to the Northern part of Cebu which means you can either take a bus, a van for hire (VHIRE) or a private car. You will normally find these at the South and North Bus Terminals and get off the Daan Bantayan – the port that will take you to the Island. We hopped on Miguel’s car, skipped the bus fares and sang our way to Bogo and Daan Bantayan. I guess it is more fun and convenient to be on a private vehicle that time because we were pretty certain Bantayan would be so crowded. Have you heard horror stories of people jumping inside windows of the bus just to not miss the trip? They are true. To be continued..

**Text and photos by Kristine Roa. Reproduction without consent is not allowed.

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