Sunset at Macallawan

Old Macallawan Port - Santiago Island
Bolinao, Pangasinan
27 April 2010

Being out all day yesterday and it just my third day of my week-long vacation, nothing definite was scheduled today. Aunt said I should just take a rest for today and I didn't know any interesting places in the island, so I just stayed at home.

Late in the afternoon, it's becoming a wee bit boring, so I asked Grace if she wanted to walk with me. She happily said yes, and I told her I wanted to go to the old Macallawan port to watch the sunset, as it was personal tradition I have whenever I take a vacation here.

Back in the days, there were many entry points to Santiago Island from the "main land," and when I was a kid, one of my most vivid memories from this port was when mom and I went there for a short vacation, and mom had to carry the heavy luggage while trying to extend her patience on me. Well, the port to the plaza of the barrio was 1 kilometer long, so of course for a little girl who grew up in the city, I complained and cried feeling my mom and I were helpless, as there were no tricycles yet that time, and there were no horse-drawn carriages passing by to take us to grandparents' house.

Now that I am old and that I started to love walking, the kilometer journey was something uplifting for me. Of course, once we get there, the view alone was enough reward.

Some pictures I took:

Parked. There are no more passenger boats docking here - from the main land, passengers have to take the boat to Sibarbar Junction (it's also where you will go if you want to take a boat out of the island) - but local fishermen (of course) still uses the little ports around the island.

Way of Living. Though many locals have tried their luck working in Metro Manila or working overseas, many still live their lives using the gifts of the sea - fishing and harvesting crabs and other shellfishes.


Houses on the Shore. Their houses maybe a bit small... some were made from wood and palm fronds, but I think they have the best view. :)

Big Rocks. Grace and I didn't want to get wet, and we didn't want to test how deep the water was, so we decided to cross the big rocks around the island shore to get to this spot my siblings and I used to stayed at three years ago.

Grace. Grace led the way, but when we got here, I just loved the view so I asked her to stop because I will take a picture. Well, she is really becoming close to me and would always borrow my camera whenever I am not using it, so for this picture, I used my cell phone because she had my camera (see the thing dangling on her side).

Fisherman Sighted. I told Grace that my siblings and I went to the area where the fisherman was, and we were both apprehensive because the fisherman might get angry at us, or question why we were there. Well, we were there already, so after taking these pictures, we went down the rocks and went near the fisherman.

The fisherman did ask what we were doing there, and Grace said I was vacationing and wanted to see the sunset. I also started talking to the man, and found out he was already harvesting the crabs because he set up some traps earlier that day. More talks and the man said he kinda knew my mom (tracing the family tree), and before he left he gave me one crab as his "welcome token." I actually asked him to keep the crab because he certainly needed it more than I did (it's going to be his family's dinner), but he insisted. I thanked the man and waved him goodbye.


Full Moon. One unfortunate thing happened, though... my camera's batteries went dead. Well, using it since I got here, the camera was actually flashing the lowbatt sign even before we went here, thinking I can still push the battery juice more. Good thing my cell phone was fully charged, but since I still didn't have memory card for my cell phone so all pictures I took after my camera's battery went dead were the smallest images (640x480) I could take.

Even before it got dark, we decided to walk back home. Cousin Dang cooked my crab, but even if I asked them to taste it, they said I should just eat it because they knew I rarely get to eat fresh crabs (very true). Well, my crab was so delicious, that I immediately texted my mom about it, because I knew she loves crabs. She was happy for me, but asked me to take home crabs for her, too. :)

*** Jenn ***