Tired of Boracay? Go to Pandan and Sebaste in Antique, and savor nature at its best.
Pandan is a northerly town of Antique province. It is about 4 hours drive from Iloilo City and 30 minutes drive from Caticlan, the jump-off point to the island of Boracay. The roads are safe, and the scenery is bucolic.
Tourism in the town is not on the level of Boracay. Not even a fraction. Pandan is a languid coastal town still untouched by developers. And that’s the catch. You can have the town to yourself for the rest of your visit.
Try to arrange for a local guide to accompany you in the town. I recommend Rex Zaldivar (cellphone# will be given those interested), nephew of the incumbent Antique governor, and a native of the place. He can arrange for all the excursions, resort accommodations, courtesy calls to retired national government bigwigs who reside in Pandan (all are his relatives; his surname is only Zaldivar.); tell you the folklores, and accompany you to the market for fresh food.
Must-visit is the Malumpati Spring Resort. The resort is a dammed portion of a river. The water is cold, clean, and medicinal as many believed. There are shallow portions suitable for kids and deep portions for diving. What was unique in the waters was the presence of fishes not found in other places. Malumpati also provides unchlorinated natural drinking water to the whole of Pandan.
The Malumpati Spring Resort
The resort asks for a nominal entrance fee, for the upkeep. Sheds and sitting areas are available. The restrooms are clean. The resort has some air-conditioned bungalows for rent if you decide to stay for the night, or for the long term.
A 30-minutes walk upstream to the source of the river is also allowed to few visitors. According to Rex, access to the source is strictly curtailed in order not to upset the ecosystem and also not to pollute the waters. As we entered the restricted area, we noticed that the only hint of visitors was the barely perceptible footpath. There were no plastic cans nor wrappers, no carabao droppings, no other noise but our own and those of the birds, the insects, and the splashing river. The water is so clean you can drink from beneath your feet.
The Malumpati head water.
Picture this - lush, craggy mountainsides; orchids and vines embracing tall trees; fern-covered boulders seemingly lost in mist; smoky glens dappled with wild flowers; the absence of city sounds. This picture makes this place ethereal, enchanting. After we crossed a bamboo hanging bridge, Rex asked us to observe silence as we neared the head water. The silence made audible muted sounds like some unseen people whispering the rosary. But, aside from the fishes, we were the only visible animalia in this eerie expanse. Could it be that this place was restricted because this really is a place of enkantos? The river source is a blue, silent waterhole, barely the size of a basketball court, at the foot of the mountain. Yes silent water is really deep. We were informed that the source is an underground river from another town. We could not imagine that this quiet hole is transformed into a noisy raging current about 50 meters away.
Malumpati has fresh waters, a welcome change from the salty waters of the sea. But if you are not tired of the beach, Pandan has kilometers of sandy uncrowded beaches to offer. You can light bonfires at night. Rex can book you in a beach resort, whatever is your budget.
A pumpboat cruise through Bugang River, recipient of the “Gawad Pangulo sa Kapaligiran” award as the cleanest river in the Philippines, can also be arranged. Gush as village women and children give you a send off with calachuchi flowers (frangiapani).
Bugang River is indeed redundantly clean. There are no floating plastics and other human trash. Its banks of mangroves, nipa, exotic flowers and centennial trees are undisturbed. Dangle your feet unto the water, and let the current soothe your soles as the boatmen assure you that no crocodile can possibly live in such a sterile environment. Greet the few locals swimming and washing clothes ashore. Marvel at the absence of houses straddling the banks. Get down the pump boat at the far reaches upstream, and wade where the pebbles are all hues of yellow, orange, cream, and green. Eat budol-style where everybody stands around a small bamboo table where rice, and grilled fish and pork are all heaped over banana leaves; each one takes and eats from the heap with bare hands. No plates and spoons to wash. Saves on soap and water. Neat. After lunch, wonder at the likelihood of crocodiles courting humans. Because at the far bank is a lifesize tableau with two crocodile statues fighting over a maiden. With prior notice, a local elder can come and recite in Kiniray-a the legend that gave rise to the tableau.
(2nd L – R) Flower or fruit? What looks like a man-made floral arrangement is actually a bunch of flowers, or fruits, on a single stem. The inner globe is made up of tiny clusters of black berries, while the yellow globules are protruding clusters of yellow berry-like flowers. Locals call it lapad. (2nd R – L) Eating budol-style)
Next town to Pandan is Sebaste, another coastal town with a lot to offer inland. Its best attraction is Igpasungaw Falls.
We headed to the falls with two guides, courtesy of the Office of the Sebaste Municipal Mayor. In this seemingly uncharted destination, a local guide is a must. We picked up the guides, bought some fresh fish from the local market, and drove for about three kilometers off the national highway. We left our cars where the dirt road turned into a footpath.
The way to the falls was curved along the sides of the river, which was good and bad at the same time. It was good because the river and the scenery were breathtaking; and the sounds of the plunging waters lulled us to believe that the falls was just around the bend, although the 30-minutes walk said otherwise. It was bad because river mists made the rocks constantly wet. But we learned our lessons, such as: 1) Don’t step on wet rocks. They are bound to be slippery. 2) If all rocks are wet, don’t step on those covered with moss. They are more slippery. 3) If you see your children balancing precariously on obviously slippery boulders, where a misstep means a 5-meter drop to the next watery ledge, don’t shout. Instead, be stoic. Hyperventilate. And pray. You don’t have to go this far to have a heart attack. 4) Of course, the place needs to be visited during the summer months when there are no rains. But, what the heck! It rains even during summer!
If Malumpati is an enchanted eden, the way to Igpasungaw is a jurrassic jungle, we can easily bump into Tarzan. Boulders, not pebbles, rule the riverbed. The trail is, at many instances, only a foot wide with the rampaging river down one side, and the twisting roots of trees up the other side. The vegetation appears lavish you will feel guilty to tear a leaf as the plant may cost thousands in the mall. The air is littered with confettis of iridescent butterflies. For us who were new to mountain climbing, and with kids in tow, this was a good practice. No rappelling required. And the bends and the thick vegetation somehow screen from view the vertiginous heights and the dangerous miscues.
This is Igpasungaw Falls.
Halfway atop the mountain was the Igpasungaw Falls. It was a refreshing sight. It was worth the hard climb. Only a few of us adults reached the main falls. We left the kids swimming in a waterhole about 50 meters downstream because the way up was very slippery. We were told that, if we continue climbing to the source, we would encounter more minor falls.
Back in the poblacion of Sebaste, our guides brought us to the parish church and introduced us to the original statue of St. Blas, their patron saint. The guides informed us that, a long time ago, the statue was brought to Pandan town for safekeeping. Then, the statue disappeared and was later found back in Sebaste, in the exact place where it used to stand. The statue’s shoes were covered with mud, its long robes prickled with weeds, as if it walked from afar. Since then, the statue was deemed miraculous and is visited by thousands of devotees.
We, adults, were dead tired as we drove back to Iloilo City. But the kids were unperturbed. They talked about their experiences and the sceneries. They loved the places we visited. But they thought they might not return back because the places were not yet developed. In my mind, I just thought that they were lucky. They were lucky because they saw and experienced Pandan and Sebaste before the towns are turned into another commercial and ravaged Boracay. @
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