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Batan Grande is a sprawling archaeological site where weather-beaten adobe pyramids tower over a forest of algarrobo (carob) trees. The gold, spondylus shells, pottery, breastplates and masks from the tombs continuously being excavated at Batan Grande are on display in the Museo Nacional Sican in Ferrenafe. There is very little interpretation at the site itself, but it is exciting to climb the pyramids and see archaeologists at work. I got lost in the forest and encountered an adorable fox. The site is remote and best reached by taxi. Make a day of it from Chiclayo - visit the Museo Nacional Sican (on the way in Ferrenafe), then take a taxi to Batan Grande.

At Sabtang in Batanes, the northernmost province of the Philippine, you’ll find yourself brought back in town. A short 30-minute boat ride from Batan where the airport is, you’ll arrive at a quaint town where you can immediately see a lighthouse and a church. And as you walk through the different barangays (towns), you will see lots of stone houses made from limestone and roofings made of hay, friendly locals that treat you like family and who know each other by name, locals still wearing the traditional Vakul clothings made of hay that shield them from the harsh sun and rain. We also got to meet the oldest man in Batanes, who was 105 years old at the time we visited early this year. Unfortunately, we have heard news recently that he had passed away a couple of months ago. It is nice that everything in this island is preserved and more importantly, it reminds us that life can be simple.

Ferreñafe is not the town you imagined yourself visiting in Peru. Far from the Andes and the Amazon, on the northern desert coast, Ferreñafe is a small provincial town with one tourist draw, the Museo Nacional Sican, where elaborate gold funerary masks, pristine ceramics, impossibly pink Spondylus shells and jewelry of semi-precious stones from the pre-Colombian Sican culture are on display. Archaeologists continue to discover burial sites full of gold at the nearby Batan Grande dig site. Most visitors view the museum and simply leave Ferreñafe. Spend another hour or two to gain some insight on more modern rural Peruvian funerary practices. Located a ten minute walk from the Sican Museum, the Ferreñafe Cemetery is a free attraction that will leave an impression. The cemetery is made up of hundreds of outdoor stacked brick sarcophagi, plastered and painted turquoise and white. Each features an alcove dedicated to the departed. The alcoves are precious jewel box art pieces, with original paintings, dolls, decorative gates, and fresh and plastic flowers (mostly in plastic Inca Kola bottles). Older sarcophagi have crumbled into piles of bricks, while some newer alcoves sit waiting to be decorated, with new cement with a name scratched into it. To reach the cemetery from the Museo Nacional Sican, walk towards the cathedral and plaza on calle Batan Grande. The unmissable white cemetery gate will be on your left. Be sure to bring your camera!

This is the saying on one of the signs inside the Honesty Cafe, a small little cafe near the port in Ivana, Batanes. Joe and Elena own this place and because they were so busy with many other chores elsewhere, they often had to leave their little cafe which eventually turned into a self-service cafe, where even the payment for the food, drinks or souvenir items you want to get are done by dropping them into a box just sitting on the countertop. Thus, the birth of Honesty Coffee Shop where Honesty is the Best Policy. Some of the other interesting reminders posted inside the cafe :) 1) Get what you need 2) Please pay for whatever you get 3) If you have no change, knock at the next door. If no one answers, sorry, so you give more than the price. But the Lord will give you more later on. May your tribe increase!

I can never forget our adventure to the northernmost inhabited island of the Philippines, called Itbayat Island, in Batanes. The weather is cooler than the rest of the Philippines and the surrounding terrain is just so different, I feel like I’m in another country. First of the adventure was the 3-hour boat ride across the rough seas in a Noah’s Ark-like 30 capacity boat. For a moment there, you will feel the vastness of the world enveloping you, and you can just surrender everything to God and Mother Nature. It’s definitely not for the weak at heart. Upon docking, you’d have to time yourself with the waves as you jump off, so as not to fall off into the water. Then a uphill trek along a very narrow pathway of 14 zigzag sections, up the steep mountain to await the open dump truck that served as our transport in the island. For the night, we stayed in one of the homestays in the island and was taken care of by the locals, who were very friendly and caring people. At Itbayat, you can really experience the outdoors as you catch your breath with all the beautiful sceneries around you. We started our 3-hour hike to the cave underneath the Torongan Hills (shown in the left middle area of the photo) and emerged into this beautiful sight as we circle our way to see the traditional boat-shaped burial markers (dark gray rocks at the lower left of photo) which were believed to belong to the ancient settlers here called Austronesians.