Or to be accurate about it, I think I fell in love with Calatagan.
I’ve always been an advocate of Davao, that place in faraway Mindanao where I run to whenever I want some peace and solace. Davao, with its beaches, mountains and unhurried way of living will always be my refuge. It’s a place where I go to lose my worries, calm my nerves and be carefree.
But though Davao will always be a sort of hometown, a place I will go home to for the holidays or to surprise my father, a small town so near my other city has made me sit up and realize how this teeny municipality is so similar to Davao---peaceful, dotted with beaches, and well, safe and calming. How it is literally brimming with possibilities. If Davao, despite its location (it’s near the Mindanao war zones)can be such a gem for tourists, why can’t Calatagan use its natural gifts and strengths (which are, in my lovelorn opinion, so so many) to lure more guests into witnessing its charms? A place this beautiful and this close to Manila deserves to be on top of the to-go list for those in need of a short weekend sojourn. I guess it feels a bit like seeing something innately beautiful, like a small bud of a rose and knowing how with the right elements—the sun, a good soil, a dousing of dewdrops—how it can blossom into something even more spectacular.
I look at Calatagan and think, well, it very well may be the little town that could! And why not? It has its blue waters---miles and miles of shoreline and a sea that is amazingly calm and soothing. There’s also a sprinkling of gently sloping hills, verdant, lush and inviting, an amazingly picturesque town pier, and a heritage to be proud of. Though it is common knowledge that the whole of Calatagan was once owned the country’s wealthiest Spanish descended family, it is also in Calatagan that some of the oldest Pre-Spanish artifacts were found including an extremely rare Pre-Spanish manuscript.
The beaches in Calatagan ranges from fine white sand to the grayish rocky kind, some are even surrounded by bakawans (mangrove). It’s the choices that boggles me, how a town this small (well, compared to Davao it is pretty small, tiny even) can offer such varieties of beaching experiences. I could just walk through fine beach sand in Calatagan or go off the beach and dive to watch underwater life. A beautiful resort we went to had this simple walkboard jutting out to the sea. It reminds me of a similar walkboard in Pearl Farm, Davao’s priciest beach resort. Only, the one at Ronco (the beach resort in Calatagan) was more barebones and more true to form devoid of those oh soo pretty artifice that is a bit too glaring in Pearl Farm. Being in that resort was almost like being a guest in a private resthouse. The resort is pretty and homey without being too resort-like. And the walkboard to the sea, oh that, I can spend a day just being there, contemplating, comforted by that vast, blue undulating silence. At night, we walked to the shore as the fishermen were unloading their catch. In Calatagan it becomes nothing sort of natural to buy the freshest catch right off the bancas (fishing boats) at the best prices. And may I say that the fish was sweet and as succulent as expected.
But beyond beaches which you can very well find in the other towns dotting the Batangas coastline, what draws me back to Calatagan is its amazing heritage, how it holds remnants of a culture that dates back long before the Spanish era. Many Pre-Hispanic archeological finds have been uncovered in this peninsular town. I wonder what stories we’ll find if we piece together these archeological finds and how many other “heritage objects” are still buried deep and undiscovered?
There are Spanish heritage markers of course. Punta de Santiago, the Calatagan Lighthouse is simply amazing. Built in the 1890 by the Spanish to serve as a guide for navigators sailing through the Balayan strait. More than a century since and there it is, still standing tall, a bit decrepit but still beautiful. If you want to see how naturally beautiful Calatagan is, you only need to go up to the tower and take in the view. The tower, located in a sort of natural enclave with lush, really lush grasses, is indeed a perfect backdrop for a heritage center. A place where concerts can be held, the grounds can even be transformed into a sort of picnic spot, with benches and tables.
Sadly there are rough spots, too. Or to be frank about it, there are craters and craters strewn along Calatagan. Yes, the bad roads, darn it. Though to be honest, it was pretty fun too ramming through the bad roads on a 4WD vehicle. Kinda makes you feel you earned your right to see such beautiful views. But a bit of road fixing wouldn’t hurt, especially for the finicky travelers who’d balk at the price of a sore tush for even the most magnificent of views.
Some people judge a place's progress by the prescence (or lack) of a McDo or Jollibee. Calatagan has neither. And I hope it stays that way. I wish there will never be a mall or any sort of fast food, city thingy in this beautiful town. I hope it stays true to its roots, embrace its quaintness.
I’ve been to Calatagan twice but I feel as if I’ve seen so little of what it has to offer. It’s like love, yes? I can’t wait to come back and get to know Calatagan more.
