Kalinga - Buscalan Tattoo Village

Most of the places, provinces in the Philippines are rich in culture, one of the famous is the Buscalan Tattoo Village in Kalinga. The place is known for still practicing the traditional way of body art or tattoo and they locally called it "Pambabatok". The people who do the body art are called "Mambabatok". The last of the Mambabatok of her Generation is the very famous, the Legend "Apo Whang Od". 

I wad tasked to experience the place of Buscalan in Kalinga for my work with Tourism, and in this Blog contains how effort it is to meet the legend, learn their culture, explore the place and experience a simple yet a peaceful life they had in their village. 

A Mural of Buscalan

The people of the 3 Vans who met the legend of Kalinga. 

We left Manila 6PM Thursday, May 25th. It was raining badly when we took the road to skyway 3 exiting NLEX. After 3 hours, we reached Sison, Pangasinan and had our dinner there. It was a big restaurant along the highway. 

Dinner at Leeza's at Sison, Pangasinan

After 30 minutes of dinner, we went back and traverse the road again, after an hour we reached La Union, we had a stopover for 15 minutes at a gas station to go to the restroom. Our cool driver, Jayson, said that it'll be the last stop over, next stop is The PNP Checkpoint in Sadanga and in Kalinga.  

After an hour again, we reached Ilocos sur, I don't remember anything after I saw the arc of Ilocos province. I was awakened by the shaking of the vehicle, there were several hard curves, and you won't have any chance to get some sleep. The road was too dark and kudos to the drivers of the Van of the travel Agency I took, indeed all are professional drivers. 

Around 3:30 AM, we stopped to a check point and had some smoke for 15 minutes, it was a bit cold outside, I was wearing a knitted blouse that somehow keeps me warmed. We went back inside and had another stop after 30 minutes. That's the indication that we reached Kalinga Province. Afterwards, I saw the signage of Whang Od Tattoo Village. After another 15 minutes, we reached the Jump off point. It was still dark but slowly starting to light up. The 2 yellow lights in the picture below were said to be our accommodation in distance. Looking at it in distance I was imagining how far and hard it is to trek up there. They said, it'll take 40 minutes depending on your body stamina. There is no limit of time in resting, thus this does not require speed. 

Buscalan Village from the Jump Off Point

We started the trek at exactly 5:50 am and starting to get light. It was a bit slippery due to the rain last night. The local guide, Ate Venus offered to carry my bag. She said that I had to be light when I hike. At first, it was an easy trail. 

The Sun came out and revealed the beauty of the place. 

As we continue to go down, we passed along the Rice terraces going to a stone bridge. There were 2 stone bridges along the trail. This part of the trek was very very easy. 

Trail to the top

A Stone Bridge down the stream

A running brook

A small waterfall

We finally reached the starting point of the real trek. The trail was laddered and looking at it, there was no break. Its a continuous ascent. I stopped every 15 minutes to take a rest and let my heart catch up some air. I almost consumed all my water. Finally, after 20 more minutes we reached the village. People are welcoming all the tourists. They were nice and accommodating. We went straight to Gracia's house. At her house, I saw a foreigner guy, they said they guy was just a tourist back then and eventually turned to be a lover to Gracia and got married. We were given coffee, It was my first time to experience Buscalan Coffee. It was very delicious. Far different from any other coffee brands or locally made coffee. 

"Tinik" as called by the locals use for the Pa Batok

After coffee sesh, I bought 3 tiniks. 1 for my cousin, 1 for myself and 1 for a very close friend as my pasalubong. Elyang and Gracia started early around 7am. They might probably notice that it is getting crowded and that they might not be able to cater everyone the whole day. I was the second customer of Elyang. I was hesitant at first while inside the vehicle but finally made up my mind to put on body art to make my climb worthy. I saw the Traveller's compass to have a deep meaning for me. Directions and As I am a traveller. The pa Batok for my design lasted 20 minutes. People were watching while Elyang is doing my design, and some were amazed how high tolerance with pain I have. 

The Buscalan coffee is the best.

View from Buscalan Village

Gracia, one of 3 dots, descendant of Apo Whang Od

With Elyang Wigan, one of the 3 dots, descendant of Apo Whang Od

With Apo Whang Od

At the terrace of our Accommodation

Our names were called, Lourdes Calisa, a girl from the US, a solo traveller also that I share the van with is with me in the accommodation. Up there, I met Scarlet, JP, Ferdie, Illy and Kordapya. She's fond of letting everyone call her Kordapya as her dad called her for endearment. That's what she said. We had a small talk like getting to know thing, they were very very nice to me. Kordapya is an athlete, obvious in the way she dresses, Scarlett is a vlogger, JP works in BPO and Lourdes is a Fil-Am on vacation for 3 weeks. Ferdie is a certified Hiker. I didn't know much of Illy. We homed our personal stuff in the room and went down to fall in line for Apo's signature 3 dots. We finished early like almost 10am. I had 2 sticks and slept for an hour and half. Scarlett waked me up to take our lunch. Food was delicious same goes with the rice, similar to coffee, rice in Buscalan tastes differently. It was a sumptuous lunch though. After 2 sticks, I went back to sleep. The others were talking in group. I had difficulties in sleeping at first as my right arm is still in slight pain. I don't even know how to position my right arm while on the bed. That moment, the pain and swelling started. I was awakened around 3:45 pm. They said that we will wander the Buscalan village. We went to the greenery, the rice fields and enjoyed the view. It was sunny but windy. The view was really really refreshing. It will let you forget all the stress and toxicity in the city. I am blessed to experience the simple life in their community. 

Traveller's compass and the signature 3 dots

The rice Terraces of Buscalan

The grass is greener here. 

Rice field

After taking memories in the greenery, we went back to the accommodation and bought some souvenirs and pasalubong. I bought ref magnets, a shirt for my 4 years old nephew and a pack of buscalan coffee. It was expensive up there. As the place started to get dark, the group decided to take a bath and wait for dinner time. There was no signal. Comparing the provincial life, time seems to be running very slow there. After dinner, we discovered that the souvenir shop in front of us have Pisonet wifi. P50 per hour. I did not hesitate to spend P150 to respond to some important messages from people and also to kill the time. The group had some booze till 10PM. We turned off the lights 10Pm and slept. 

By the next morning, we woke up, 4:30 am. Little did we know, 3 of us in the room set our alarm at 4:30. Everyone in the room was awakened by the 3 phones that alarmed at the same time. We prep up for breakfast by 5:30am. The water was very very cold. I still took a bath. At 6 am, we left Buscalan and head back to the Jump off point. 

view from Apo Whang Od Signage

My experience in Buscalan is a one of a kind I would say. It was unforgettable for me. Imagine having a house up there and have to take the trail daily to get home. It'll take a lot of efforts to do it. Aside from having an exposed art in my arm, I also discovered that some locals are a blacksmith of knives. They stopped during the outrage of pandemic. It was also beaten by the tourism in the place. Handmade knives have its own potential of business. If this will be highlighted and promoted well, Buscalan will be known not just for the traditional body art but also for the handmade knives. It will be an added income for the locals and a big help to develop the village. I asked one local out of curiosity; how did the whole community was able to build a modern house considering the way up the village was too hard. The local said and shown me an electric tram that cross the entire cliff going to the jump off point. All materials for building a house are being lifted in the tram across to the village. Doing business with Buscalan people is not difficult nowadays. The rice, the coffee and the knives can be distributed to some cities to do business with. Just the thought of sharing here. 

You? Would you like to be part of the history of Kalinga and tattooed by the Legend? Visit Buscalan and experience living a simple life up there even for a day.