Mt Matarem: Up the Fairy Trail

Summit of Mt Matarem

“I’ll climb this mountain as long as I still can” Bing exclaims as she gleefully trod the trail on the pasture lands of Ivana, Batanes, as we head to the summit of Mt Matarem. Carlotta Borromeo-Charbonney, or Bing, for short, is a native adventure-loving Ivatan who has learned to be independent from her family early in her life as she studied in Manila during college. Much more when she married her foreign husband who took her around the world and eventually settled in Switzerland. She makes it a point to go home every year in Batanes for family and be rooted to her home. We sure am glad Bing was there to join us for this climb.

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Batanes | Diura Fishing Village: Languid Morning and Tracing the Archaic

Sunrise at the Diura Fishing Village

Oh I am so looking forward to this. After days of hiking around Batanes, and recently a couple of daily hikes in Itbayat I was yearning for a place quiet to rest and recharge. I am excited to spend a night in Diura, an idyll fishing village in a quiet cove, east of Mahatao. I had been to Diura Fishing Village several times but haven’t tried spending a night. I wanted to take sunrise photos at the bay so being there would be advantageous. Our boat for Basco from Itbayat should have left already 2 hours ago. But I had to wait for 2 cows and 2 pigs on the boat. The sudden malfunction on the crane to hoist the cows added to the agonizing wait. I guess its just a little more time to endure for that much awaited repose.

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Batanes Travel Guide | Batan Island 2016 Edition Now Available

The Batanes Travel Guide Batan Island 2016 Edition

The Ironwulf En Route Travel Guides is your offline travel companion. I’m proud to announce the update to the comprehensive Batanes Travel Guide, the Batan Island 2016 edition. The new edition expands to 50 pages updating the latest info on Batan Island, updated map of the island and Basco town proper, latest transpo rates,  accommodation listings and more places to dine. Unlike the first edition, the new edition is a paid download as a lot of time and effort has gone into making this ebook from layout, illustrations, photography and copy. I hope you find it worth as a support for this site and share it to your friends for a discounted price. For more details on what’s inside visit the dedicated page for the Batanes Travel Guide | Batan Island 2016 edition.

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Updated Batanes Maps of Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat Islands

I love maps that’s why Google Maps (and Here Maps) are my friends when I travel. When I’m in a new destination, I’m never afraid to get lost. As long as I have my maps with me I will always find a way back. Aside from maps, I love vectors as well which somehow made me lightly delve into cartography or Art Maps. If you’ve been a Long time reader of this site, I made a set of Batanes Maps in 2010. It was rough and had some glaring errors on several locations and names. These set I made late last year as part of the Batanes Travel Guides I did. Batanes is one of my favorite places in the country and it is fitting I make my first sets of Ironwulf En Route Art Maps about this location. Check below for the maps of Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat Islands.

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Downloadable Batanes Travel Guide Now Available

It took almost two months to get everything together but I’m glad we have finally completed the three-part Batanes Travel Guide collection. It was a really tedious process creating these guides but I enjoyed the moment I spent time with it. Cross checking facts led me to several resources for Batanes that gave me deeper appreciation of the archipelago. You can now download the guides for Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat islands by clicking on their cover images below which will lead you to their download page.

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Biking in Batanes | Sabtang Island from Basco on Day Trip Ride

It was almost pitch black. I was extra careful riding my bike as I could only see only about 6-10 feet of the road ahead of me. I was thankful for the cheap LED light I bought before flying to Batanes as I could never have rode in this darkness. I left Basco as early as 5am so I could catch the first falowa to Sabtang island. After a day’s rest, I decided to continue biking in Batanes while I still have a group to join with, this time to bike Sabtang island. I wasn’t sure at first if I can handle the terrain but our guide Rene assured me Sabtang is a lot manageable than our North Batan Island ride to Tukon we did the other day.

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Launching the En Route Travel eGuide Batanes | Batan Island

This is a concept that has been playing in my head since late last year. I’ve always wanted to do a Travel Guide for my site but I wanted to do it right. Ironwulf En Route has always been about narratives. If I wanted a Travel Guide, I want something that I can practically bring with me on my travels even offline. I swear how convenient these guides were on my own travels. Hence, I made this Travel eGuide, a handy downloadable destination travel ebook. And as a debut, I made sure I feature one of my favorite destinations which is the Travel eGuide Batanes!

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