it was like going up the heavens | 📍 bagalangit, mabini, batangas

When I told my mother, Nanay, that I was going to a resort in Bagalangit, Mabini, Batangas with some of my work friends, she immediately wasn't a fan of the idea. Here's what she had to say—"Sa Bagalangit? Kaya Bagalangit ang tawag doon, dahil para kang papa-langit." ("To Bagalangit? It's called Bagalangit because it's like going up the heavens.") The roads were too steep for their own good. All corners really curved, and all heights are really high. It's difficult to drive around, and might be unsafe for non-locals.

In Batangas Tagalog (at least, that I know of), adding the prefix "baga-" to some words make them mean "almost like." (I believe it's also a contraction of the phrase "kung bagá"—which may mean "so to speak" or "in a way".) In this context, the place's name starts with "Baga-" and is followed by "langit", which can mean the skies or heavens. To Nanay, the place Bagalangit wasn't called that without any reasons—it definitely is a place at such great heights, that being there would feel like you're reaching the heavens.

up and down the heavens

When my friends and I went to Mabini, Batangas, the first place in our itinerary was a small mountain called Mt. Gulugod Baboy, which was a minor hike. This was an experience for another story, so I'll proceed with the next goal of the day.

Almost anti-climactic, we got down from the heavens and into the sea. And I'm telling you—it was so worth it! We booked an Airbnb called Anahaw Marine Beach Retreat, which was so lovely, with equally amazing caretakers. (You can book them here.)

📍 Anahaw Marine Beach Retreat, Bagalangit, Mabini, Batangas

I was so in love with it and I knew I wasn't alone when I thought about how cozy and pretty the whole place was! After a quick rest, we almost immediately went down to the nearby seashore. There was a dedicated walkway from the beach house to the sea, which was honestly awesome!

The weather wasn't really great all morning, and it unfortunately was just as bad in the afternoon. Still, the view that greeted us was breathtaking.

The area wasn't known for swimming—it was, however, known for snorkeling and diving. The caretakers offered us some snorkeling gears and they could also hire boats to take us to the farther side of the sea, but we decided to do other activities on Day 2 instead.

There were also tiny creatures lurking across the rocky terrain of the shore. We found lots of cute, mini crabs quickly crawling about. They were so small, I could almost not take photos of them.

Can you spot the tiny crab?

We ended up finding other creatures, like sea urchins and sea snails. Some of the rocks were pretty slippery, too, so we definitely had to tread around carefully while turning stones.

Soon, it began pouring even harder, so we decided to go back to the beach house. We had some dinner to prepare, after all.

Oh, did I mention that the beach house came with a pool? It was a small one, but enough for all eight of us to gather in to make idle chitchats. We swam and played around while it rained. Here and there, we couldn't help but talk about some work, too. (We were so conditioned to do work—we couldn't help it!)

After pouring for a while, the rain suddenly stopped. The silence was comforting, and sitting in the second-floor veranda, the sunset's colors were almost charming.

so they snorkeled, while i stayed dry

OK, hear me out. I'm not a party-pooper, or so I think. But for the life of me—even if I wanted to!—I really couldn't float. So I couldn't swim. And if I can't do that in a calm small pool, then no one can expect me to try anything in the not-so-calm, rocky sea.

The next morning, the caretakers knocked on the door bringing with them a tray of suman, which is sweet, glutinous rice with coconut milk, wrapped in banana leaves and then steamed. It was sooo tasty! I've always had Batangas suman, but it was the first for some of my friends. The caretakers also brought 6 huge ripe mangoes and a pitcher of hot, cacao chocolate. All these for free! It definitely made our morning better.

Our morning started great, and it even got better as we explored the rest of the shore, with my friends taking a small dive and snorkel.

There was just so much to see, they said. But really, even for myself who stayed in the sidelines, I had way too much fun, too!

solo walk

They seemed to be having real great fun identifying creature after creature—one of my friends is a marine scientist, and knows quite a lot! She'd describe to us what she'd see in the snorkeling activity, and tell us random trivia about them.

Soon, I decided to walk back to the beach house and left them to themselves. And the walk back was nothing short of scenic (and giant rocks).

why Anahaw Marine Beach is called such

Idle chitchat among me and my friends spurred the question, "Is it called Anahaw Marine Retreat because there are a lot of anahaws?" Anahaw are apparently called footstool palms in english. Their leaves are usually large and round in shape.

On my walk back, I stopped upon the steps that I didn't really pay more heed before. Indeed, surrounding the garden, were quite a number of anahaw. And it was this curiosity about anahaw that led me to this scene—and even just for this one set of stairs and foliage, I wish to come back.