Itbud, Batanes - Some may know this, and others may not, but I have moved back to the island. Yes, that crazy American has gone and done the impossible to even think about: Returned to Batanes Island to live out his retirement, and not even in Basco.
So the first questions that most have is: How did you do it? Well to tell the truth, it all started after my last visit to the island in 1999. I found that I kept asking why am I going back to a place I don't even like, and a way of life that I don't even enjoy. Here, as most of you know, a friendly smile will be found on all faces, and a warm heartfelt greeting is the norm, not something that is forced, and faked.
or what to do. I knew that I had some medical issues so I started there. I talked to my doctor, and we found ways to get around most of my problems medically.
Passport, well yes, I had one but it would expire in a few years, so that was my next step. As the time approached for the expiration I resubmitted and got the longest lasting one I could get. Passport in hand, I now turned my attention to the type of visa that would grant me a longer than 60 days visit. The answer is in the web page of the Philippine Government web site, and the Philippine Embassy in the country where you reside. As for my particular requirements a 13A visa was required. A word of caution to those of you with a military background, don't refer to the visa as a 13 Alpha (Phonic expression for A), that's a whole different story I'll tell some other time.
The visa has many steps and there are many long waiting periods, so be forewarned, I told you so! The process will not finish until you have arrived in Manila and expect about a two-week delay to accompany the process. Patience is going to be your watchword, and humor will get you through the day. Kindness and thoughtfulness will get you a lot quicker response than anger and brash statements about how much better it is where ever you come from. You may even find that your paper work was lost over night and can't be found. I saw this happen to more than one uppity person at different stations where I was sent. I even wanted to start yelling at the clerk that told me just at the end of my working the papers, "You have the wrong size photos, so you have to go and get the right size." Instead I quietly asked where to go, and was done in a short time. The people behind me ended up starting over because they started yelling. You have to understand that in the beginning I had to get 1½" square photos, and then they wanted 2" square. When you arrive, get both sizes (12) no matter what everybody said.
Ok, passport and visa are done, now household goods. We brought a lot! We have brought everything that we had with the following exceptions. No car - you bring a car and the tax will put you in the poor house in a heartbeat. I had a 1994 Chevy P/Up step side half ton. Value today was around 7,000 US dollars, but original value was $34,800.00, and the tax is based on "Original" value and is 250% of that value. I don't pay 87,000 dollars for a new car, let alone a 10-year-old 110,000+ miles P/Up truck. If you want a car get one here they have a good selection plus handmade if you want that.
Appliances; well get them here if you can. American electricity is 115V 60 cycles. On the island the power is 220V 60 cycles (sometimes) if you are an engineer or know about electricity, you know that maintaining cycles is a big deal. Fluctuation by as much as a full cycle is harmful to electrical equipment and on the island the electricity moves across the entire cycle meter 10 points either way constantly. So what to do! Well, help is on the way. There is a company that makes all types of electrical equipment and that equipment doesn't care what kind of electricity it gets just as long as it's electricity! The name is LG, and they are from Korea. We got our TV, washing machine, DVD player, and refrigerator in that brand name.
Our container was delayed getting here - small typhoon. So a week delay getting here, and Customs doesn't work on weekends or holidays, another week, now they are at the movers that have been contracted to move us "Door to Door." At first things were going along smoothly until we came to the part where realization of where Batanes Is. is and what was required to get there. An additional fee of over two thousand dollars was requested and the payment was requested in cash. Alarm bells, whistles, and gongs are now going off in my head. Eventually I was able to get the origin bid that this company bid on from here and the stateside company screwed the contract up so I paid.
Even though I had gone through the trouble of giving all of the information to my stateside company as to the requirements to get to the island, they chose to ignore the information and proceed on their own. I'm exploring court restitution, but I'm happy things worked as well as they did. Batanes is not in the main stream of the moving world, and even when you tell them it's a sure thing that they won't know what you are talking about. There is a company in LA that submitted a bid for door-to-door service but I didn't think too much of the bid until all of the problems started and I could hear his warnings in my ears. Manila Freight Forwarders probably has a better handle on getting here. Their bid was high when compared to the other companies, but was in the ballpark when all of the smoke cleared.
As of this writing, cargo has to be in small crates that can be lifted by a small crane (10-ton I think I heard someone say). Once the cargo arrives in Basco it has to be transported to your location. If the boxes are too big they will be dumped from the back of whatever truck the company rented, and that's a heart breaker knowing that your good china is in there. Some of the new agencies are using forklifts now so you need to make sure that's what you will end up with.
Well I didn't tell you all, but I am available through this Uyugan site and will be happy to answer questions you might have. I would like to encourage you all to return and see how beautiful things are here and with the new hotels you have many choices to make now.
Come see Beautiful Batanes Is. - William M. Griffin, September 2004. |
