tag banua

When we were in Coron, our tour guide brought us to this islet at the middle of the sea. This is where Beb and I had our most delicious lunch ever! But what made this particular lunch even more special was the caretaker of this little piece of heaven. He is a tag-banua, a taong bato.

Our tour guide told us that the tag-banua are the original inhabitants of Coron.

As Coron's beauty slowly sipped into the tourist's consciousness as a place one should visit, the tag-banua slowly went deeper into the forests. Upon seeing this, the past Philippine governments had the sensitivity to reach out to them to socially integrate them to the ways of the world by training them to become tourist-friendly caretakers of this piece of paradise.

Manong knows how to speak Tagalog. With him in this islet are his two rumbustious sons, maybe a 4 year old and a 6 year old, who I would swear are seasoned scullers = ) For here we are at the middle of the sea and I witnessed them take out their little boat to sea. Apparently, to fetch their Mom from the other islet = )

As we left, our tour guide shared that the tag-banuas have it made. When I pressed for her reason in sharing this sentiment, she said that it is because the tag-banua spend there days seated in a beautiful place. When visitors, who arrives almost everyday, do visit, they shell out PhP 100/head to have this experience of being engulfed with so much beauty. And when there are lean seasons, the tag-banuas make a living by simply harvesting the "bird nests" high up on the ceilings of caves. Yes, the most important ingredient in a bird's nest soup. Our tour guide even shared the price per kilo of the bird nests, and it is a whopping one hundred thousand pesos per kilo. Now, if only I can learn how to go up and reach the ceilings of caves = )

As our boat danced to the waves and the islet became smaller and smaller, I have to agree to what our tour guide said. Manong had indeed have it made. Spending a day in a beautiful place. Enjoying the noise his sons are making and having money in the bank. Though this money may not be much in urban standards but who needs much if one lives in heaven's reminder of paradise = )

"... why think like mere men?"