The Virgins of Baler

text by: Carla Ocampo

photography by: Lester Valle

photo captions by: Lester Valle

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DATE: 18-20 April 2009

LOCATION: Baler, Aurora, Philippines

COORDINATES: 15°45′31.59″N 121°33′38.97″E

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Baler is uber-famous for being a surfer’s haven and heaven.

But beyond that, we knew nothing. As we’ve previously mentioned, we’ve never been to Baler, and there’s a dearth of information about this tourist spot online. We’re practically… virgins.

The day we went there mid-April, waves were receding, since Surfing Season’s actually over. Still, Baler held more than enough charm to keep us pleased to the core.

MANILA TO BALER

A P394 bus ride from the Genesis Bus Station along northbound EDSA Cubao (clumped together with the stations of Superlines, Baliwag, etc.) would take you to Baler– Aurora’s provincial capital– in about 8 hours, via the Pantabangan route.

Genesis is the only bus company with direct trips to Baler. Another option is a P170 ride aboard any Cabanatuan-bound bus which will take you to the city’s central station. From there, vans going to Aurora via the Nueva Ecija-Aurora Highway route, passing through Bongabon, are available. The vans normally charge P200 per head.

Most of the Sierra Madre road is still unpaved, and the mountainsides bordering the zigzags are marked by evidences of landslides for every couple of kilometers. Word for the wise: before taking the trip, check the PAG-ASA website for weather updates. Aurora is danger zone during storms and/or extremely heavy rainfall.

FIRST STEP INTO THE SUNSHINE

Fern shoots being sold at the sidewalk in one of the main thoroughfares of Baler. Most say you've never been to Baler if you didn't get to taste their famous Fern Salad (Ensaladong Pako).

Baler surprises the first-time visitor who may have held the belief that, since it is a provincial capital, it is buzzing with activity.

Alighting from the Genesis bus that Saturday noon, a sparsely peopled Poblacion greeted us. No noisy barkers hooting about service vehicles willing to take you to the nearest beach. There are tricycle drivers waiting around as buses of tourists pulled over at the central station, but they are never obnoxiously aggressive. A plus point for Baler. We wish they remain that way…

(Trike fees to places which are only blocks away from the City Terminal range from P20 to P30. A little less than P30 takes you to Sabang Beach. No public jeepneys zoom around the Poblacion, making the place all the more pacifically handsome)

And since there was no pressure for us to take a trike to wherever, we roamed ’round the vicinity on foot. Lunch was an imperative after the long trip, and God bless Baler… they still sell your favorite home-cooked viand at P20 per respectable platito. Other foodhouses in the Poblacion, which boast of beach-themed nipa sheds as dining areas, would sell viands at P30. Still ain’t bad.

For reasonable worry-warts thinking of unforeseen emergencies requiring courier services, there are branches of LBC and RCPI/Western Union Money Transfer, situated meters from each other along Quezon Street.

HERITAGE WALK

Baler has another attraction, amply brought to national consciousness by the movie

In this church lies the memory of the "siege" of the last army detachment of the Spanish colonial regime. It is where they garrisoned themselves and held ground for 11-long months (July 1, 1898 – June 2, 1899) before finally "surrendering" to the Filipino forces.

“Baler” starring Jericho Rosales and Anne Curtis (a review of this movie would require a totally separate post, but we won’t bother… sheesh). The church at the center of the town, the Simbahan ng Baler, is a historic landmark: site of the “Siege” of Baler. Sadly, the church was recently restored to an utterly unrecognizable appearance; with the huge slabs of stones that characterized its walls before now gone, it has lost its old grandeur.

The movie has a lot of inaccuracies, so it COULD be better to take the Heritage Walk: a series of footprints on the concrete pavement, originating from the door of the church, leading to the Museo de Baler, where one can learn more about the town’s history, and the significant role it played in the closing days of the Philippine Revolution, as the 19th century breathed its last days. Follow the footprints, and along the way, markers tell snippets of Baler’s period of valor.

AH, THE BEACH!

A novice surfer caught his first wave in the afternoon - where waves are relatively stronger.

Sabang Beach is a long stretch of gray sand flanked by silhouettes of the Sierra Madre. When we got there, the waves were perfect for beginners. Rates for surfing is generally pegged at P200 per hour for a surf board (without the services of an instructor), P350 per hour for a surf board + instructor, and P800 for day-long surfing, with instructor. We didn’t get to try out the boards, but we heard it from the grapevine that some local instructors tend to be a little too epal for comfort, the “Dito-dito-dito-sa’ken-sa’ken-sa’ken” types (epal, for our foreign readers, is Filipino slang loosely translated as “blunt hogger of attention”). Still, we think a little diplomacy would work. Baler is actually a town of pleasant people.

A lot of inns and transient houses line the road running parallel with Sabang Beach. These provide affordable lodging, ranging from rooms fetching P400 per night, to bigger suites at P1700 or more. Bay’s Inn is hugely popular, with its homey rooms and beachfront dining area. No wonder, the place was fully-booked when we inquired at the desk, so calling them up for reservations is a must.

(Bay’s Inn, +63928 5000858, piasb_43@yahoo.com)

Having been shut out of our target lodge (since we forgot to make reservations, nyaha!), we walked a short distance further, and found a strangely-named inn: Little Girls Surfing Lodge. Frankly, it got our attention because of its, uh, strange name… which alternately reminded us of fairy tales and Michael Jackson… but, after checking it out, we found the place commendable enough. We took a room-for-two, at P400 per night, without air-conditioning. Well, you don’t really need an air-con unit by the beach. Imagine yourself being baked by the summer heat, and then you subject yourself to the cold? Ain’t a nice formula at all. Besides, once you decide to hit the sack, the sea breeze more than cools your tired brows; you’d be sleeping soundly in no time.

Litters of tin cans, candy wrappers, cigarette butts, and many others jeopardize the booming tourism in the area.

Sadly, though, the influx of people is slowly defacing Sabang Beach. Out on the public shore, cans and all sorts of wrappers said an evil hello. Que horror. To those planning a Baler trip, leave no trace, we beg you…

And then, of course, no beach bum-ness will ever be complete without a little intoxication. Beer, sold in videoke huts dotting Sabang’s public shore, goes at less than P30 per bottle. A bottle of Generoso (our brandy of choice, mwehehe), is P60 in nearby variety stores. Tagay!

However, it is pertinent to tell the caretakers of your chosen inn about your good-time gimmick… if you wish to stay outdoors until an unholy hour. The lodges (those with gates, at least) close up at 8pm. On both nights we were out drinking, Lester had to climb walls just to lift the latch of Little Girls’ wooden gate to get us in.

FRESH DISCOVERY

Pepperoni Pizza of the newly-opened Trezzo Restaurant, which offers authentic Italian cuisine right on Baler's surfing capital - Barangay Sabang.

And we do mean fresh. Along the narrow street, a few meters further on from Bay’s Inn, is the newly-opened TREZZO, a beach hut serving the best pizza in town. The claim: Authentic Italian. We may never know, we’ve never been to Italy, but we are betting you’d come back for more of their pizzas: choices of pepperoni, or salami, or anchovy, with a generous sprinkling of olives, capers, mushroom slices, onion rings and bell peppers. The thin crust is, well, may we say competitive, coming from a kitchen manned by amiable people who went through the rigors of culinary arts training.

The hut is a good mix of class and casual beach-nipa theme. You can always go there with nothing but board shorts on (er, if you’re a guy. Nudists still shock locals). For added ambiance, Trezzo pipes in surfer music, meaning, Jack Johnson-Incubus-John Mayer types. Those acoustic guitar-driven ditties you imagine playing in your head while you sit on

Trezzo Restaurant's nipa hut-inspired dining area.

sands in front of a surfer-infested sea.

Fortunately, we met the owners of Trezzo, the husband-and-wife tandem of Mitch and Cea Mabunga. They are not really from Baler, but have fallen in love with the town and its lifestyle. We had lengthy conversations; Mitch was asking us for suggestions to help improve the restaurant, and he was genuinely warmed by the exchange, taking down notes every now and then. By the end of it all, we were behaving like buddies, and he invited us to come to his newly bought place in Digisit Beach, to Sabang’s extreme right (just a little past the rock formations of Cemento Beach, readily seen at Sabang’s shore).

DIZIZIT, DIGISIT!

White-sand shores of Brgy. Digisit, Baler, Aurora

Digisit Beach is entirely different from Sabang. It has white sand, a product of coral reefs just off the shore, which then makes the place a good spot for snorkeling.

Lester and I had a blast clicking away at his Olympus camera. With chunks of fractured rocks too beautiful to miss our lens, Digisit is blessed with a landscape picturesque enough for a whole gamut of jpegs, for display in any of your albums in your social networking sites. Hehe.

As of this writing, it is still undeveloped, and entrepreneurs like Mitch have been drawing up plans to beautify the beach. Here’s to hoping they remain respectful of Mother Earth’s own architectural skills, and try to build resorts minimally diminishing the raw beauty of Digisit.