Phillippines | Sept 28-29 2024 |
Sector 6 of my north Luzon journey. A butt-busting 7.5-hour ride, the first mainly dull, second great mountains and coast. Rode through an Aeta (Negrito) settlement along the way. Baler was interesting, but there wasn't much happening in low-season.
After a 12-hour overnight stop in Tabuk, I commenced another extreme distance ride, to Baler. The first half was a plod through a non-stop string of towns, traffic, and exhaust. A low light along the way was a guy selling live birds and frogs - grim. I tacked the ride on Rever, here's a link to the first half: https://go.rever.co/DfC1jwsAfNb
Fortunately, the second half of the day was better, back into the mountains, crossing over to the coast for the last hour of rugged territory, and nice beaches. Rever link: https://go.rever.co/gekNe1sSfNb
Aeta
In the mountains, I rode through a long stretch of predominantly Aeta villages. Aeta are "negritos", the original settlers of the Philippines and Asia, having arrived something like 60,000 years ago. Today they remain in small pockets in various places around Asia, including the Andaman Islands (Sentinel Island being the most famous), Malaysia, and a few other places, mostly driven into the mountains by more technically advanced settlers. The poverty level was stunning, with people selling tubers along the road on a mountainside.
Baler
Baler is the original surf capital of the Philippines (now superseded by Siargao), where the infamous "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" scene was filmed in Apocalypse Now. Surf was not up literally and figuratively in Baler in low season, so I only stayed one night. The place has that post-Covid apocalyptic vibe, with many abandoned tourist buildings, including one former Canada-themed bar (maybe it was still operating, who knows). Dinner at the local Japanese restaurant was a highlight, some decent sashimi.
Baler Beach
Stayed at Isaguirre's Pension House, a decent place, good folks.
Ride: 270 km / 8 hrs
Stay: Isaguirre's Pension House $20 ***
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