It is said that Uyugan got is name from the Ivatan term for where the water flows, owing to the internal bodies of water that flows to the town. As a Tagalog speaker though, the term uyugan rings to me differently. Whenever I encounter the word, I almost immediately associate it with the Tagalog word ugoy, which roughly translates to swing, as in a baby in a cradle or hammock.

I think it is equally appropriate. When we were in Uyugan, it was as if we were cradled in awe: the rock formation in Alapad, the view of the sea, the scenic roads, the hills around us. Wherever we turned our eyes, there is always a natural wonder for the senses to experience.

A little before 10:00 AM, we reached the Mutchong View Point, which is located on a hilltop in Uyugan. The view point was made even more popular by the I ♡ UYUGAN signage that is usually flanked by tourists for photos.

Despite the sun already well high above in the sky, it was not scorching. For one, it gave the grass on the hilltop a tint of gold. The major challenge we encountered, however, was its position relative to the signage. It was behind the sign, hence our photos were against the light.

One could imagine that for a site like the Mutchong View Point, tourists would normally crowd the area. I ♡ signages are rather pretty common in the Philippines, and with the dawn of the selfie era came a seemingly irresistible impulse to take one’s photo in front of such signages. For some reasons though, despite the fact that we were not the only tourists in Batanes during our visit, our guides from Naidi Hills managed to organize our tour such that we would be with no one else at any given time. Walang kuyugan sa Uyugan! It was probably a matter of coordination with other tour operators in the island, but regardless, they really nailed it!

Apart from the hilltop signage, the golden hills and the sea evoke some sense of the profound: a greater power worked on the wonders around us.

After just a few minutes in Mutchong View Point, we carried on with our journey. Our stop in the Uyugan signage would actually be our last stop in Uyugan itself as we ventured to Ivana, the last town in Batan Island that we haven’t visited yet.

Back then, whatever could be waiting for us in the next town is something that we had no idea of, but as we moved towards the end of our organized tour, it dawned on us that the best ones were being saved for last.