Life in Batanes is slow and relaxing. The people, called Ivatans, are very friendly. If you’re not from around there, you can expect that they’ll give you a welcoming smile as you pass by. This friendliness, it seems, is a trait that even their dogs share.

The dogs we met in Sabtang, one of the islands of Batanes which can be reached by a 35-minute boat ride from the main town of Basco in Batan, are unleashed and roam freely around town. Now, before lecturing the people on responsible dog care, you must first understand the Ivatan’s culture. Friendliness isn’t the only trait that you’ll see common in them, but honesty is greatly valued as well.

You can leave your things lying around and not worry about it getting lost. If you misplaced something, you simply go to their radio station and describe your item. If your stuff is found, a local will no doubt bring it to the station for you to claim. Something like this is probably a big deal in the city (taxi drivers returning tourist’s forgotten baggage even makes the news), but for the Ivatans, it’s a normal part of life.

When it comes to dogs, it’s the same thing. Kidnapping dogs is unheard of in this province. Every dog in the town of Chavayan is everyone’s responsibility. Your dog can wander into the neighbor’s stone house and you can be assured that he will come home full and happy.

The towns in Sabtang are quite far apart, which is probably another reason why dogs don’t just wander about. Each town can be reached by going through single-car, cliff-side roads, and can be quite dangerous to navigate at night (seriously, falling off the road is a long and treacherous drop to a rocky shore). The remoteness of the towns and the isolation of the islands (not to mention the untouched greens and wildlife) have kept the dogs near or within human settlement—for both safety and survival.

It was pretty interesting to see how the Ivatans bond with their dogs. Lazy mornings are spent chatting with neighbors (a town can be as small as one long street; everyone knew every person in town), which is also a time when the town dogs congregate. People walking to another town are accompanied by their dogs (the man in the first photo said he and his dog were off to the neighboring town). Their canine buddies are not only companions in those journeys, but also protectors from wild animals they might encounter along the way.

Among the places I’ve visited for this year, Batanes is probably the province where the dogs are very much integrated into the townsfolk’s life and culture.

This, apart from its breath-taking beauty, makes Batanes worth another visit.

Thank you very much to SEAIR for making this trip possible.

Advertisement: SEAIR flies from Manila to Batanes and vice versa every Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. The flights from Manila to Batanes are from 0550 to 0725 and the flights from Batanes to Manila are from 0755 to 0930. One-way airfares start at P35++ (as low as 2895.20 one-way all-in fare). For flight reservations, call SEAIR at 8490100 or visit www.flyseair.com for more details.

We didn’t meet too many canines during our trip (just a few wide-eyed primates), but we did make friends with a couple friendly dogs at the Dimaluan Beach Resort in Bohol.

This uberly-friendly guy joined us for a couple of beers while hanging out by the beach (no, he wasn’t a beer drinker). Abe chastised him for being too friendly—his friendliness might get him stolen:

This pretty Labrador was the first dog we saw upon checking in at the resort:

We saw her wet and covered in sand, then climbed up the stairs to meet up with a Japanese Spitz. A few minutes later, we saw them go down and head to the beach! Our room had a spectacular view of the Bohol beach, and Marc was able to capture the dogs playing in the surf (apparently, these dogs play on the surf each and every afternoon and particularly liked low-tides) on video. Any chance of getting a copy of that shot, Marc?

Ahh. Talk about the life: this mutt is having a vacation every single day. He sleeps on the sea shore (the dogs in Puerto Galera seem to particularly prefer sleeping on the shore, close enough to hear the waves but far enough not to get swept away into the sea), while enjoying the smell of grilling pork chops and kebab.

This dog on the picture is owned by a massage therapist servicing a lady nearby. The dogs in Puerto Galera are owned by the vendors and bar owners. We saw one “guarding” the guy grilling the porks and kebab. Another accompanied his ice cream vendor master, waiting patiently while she tried to sell ice drops.