Baler: good moon rising

We had a fantastic Easter break in beautiful Baler. The drive was sort of arduous (see next post) but all our tiredeness slipped away when we saw the Pacific rollers crashing on a beach that stretched as far as the eye could see.

This is the off-season for serious surfers (from October to December the waves are four times higher), which suited us fine, especially as our friends had their 7-year-old daughter with them.

We spent the days half-heartedly attempting to surf, body surfing, and generally larking around in the breakers, and the nights getting pleasantly sloshed, taking in the Pinoy surfer culture, and gazing at the moon. Awooo…

In between we saw the Easter penitents flaying themselves (left), popped into the interesting museum (Baler was the birthplace of President Manuel Quezon) and looked around the church that was the site of the historic siege from 27 June 1898 to 2 June 1899.

The story of the siege reminds me of the Japanese soldiers who lived on in the Philippines after the end of the second world war (what is it with the Philippines and soldiers in denial?). Anyway, not knowing that the Filipino-Spanish war was over and that Spain had already ceded the Philippines to the United States, four Spanish officers and 50 men held on for almost a year, fighting the revolutionaries and resisting several demands for surrender. The church was the last Spanish settlement in Luzon.

When the bugle sounded for the surrender, the men who survived the siege were greeted by revolutionaries with shouts of "Amigos! Amigos!" and were granted safe conduct by General Emilio Aguinaldo.

Anyway, we all loved Baler and vowed to return soon. The place is just at the right stage of development —there are plenty of accommodation options (even during Holy Week), yet outside the town limits life goes on as it has done for centuries.

PS While doing a less arduous kind of surfing I discovered this excellent blog from there.

For more on the siege of Baler see this Inquirer article.

The author (clinging on for dear life)

Comments

[Dominique]

Hi, Torn, looks like you had a good break. Picture of the moon and waves is stunning. Makes me want to go there (and I probably will, too!) Thanks for the heads-up.

[Jon Limjap]

The roads are just as bad in Palawan. But the trip was always well worth it. It's true that the irony exists where if good roads were available, then shanties and all sorts of "cancer" as you so well put it will reach these pristine towns. One has just to look at the mess that Baguio is now.

[Skunkeye]

Baler is one of the few places I haven't visited in the Philippines - I'm trying to think if I've even been to Quezon Province (Frayed knows we have mutual friends from there!!!).
Anyways, something to look forward to on my next visit.
The waves are good in Illocos Norte as well!
Haha, I just got back from the beach house but the Atlantic is still a bit cold... didn't keep my dog away from the surf though!

[Carla]

Re the Baler siege. There's a Spanish expression to describe a bunch of people who are always the last to leave parties/the office/gatherings: "los ultimos Filipinos". It's derived from those Spanish soldiers (considered "Filipinos" then) who held out in Baler.

[torn]

Hi Carla -- That's interesting. My Spanish friend tells me it is actually "Los ultimos de Filipinas" (the last ones left in the Philippines) -- there is a Spanish book by that title apparently and it was made into a movie...

[torn]

By the way, may I stress (in response to some rather unkind comments on the size of the wave I am fearlessly riding) that it was actually a 100 ft “jaws” when I caught it. The photo is after I had tamed it.

[Carla]

I've checked with my translator-on-call. The contemporary expression is "los ultimos Filipinos", but the holdouts were indeed originally hailed as "los ultimos de Filipinas".