More than the surf's up beyond Baler

BALER, Aurora – Thanks to its “magnificent waves” this once somnolent town found itself etched in the world surfer’s map.

Seasonal though – November to February, when the waves crest to nine feet and even higher – surfing’s sustainability as top tourist draw for Baler made a valid question. So what is there in Baler, other than its waves, that shall lure even the unadventurous and less-sporty?

More. Much, much more. Pampanga mediamen discovered over a week back. At a time when the mighty Pacific Ocean is at its serene best, read: waves so gentle they would not even overturn a paper boat.

Purposely, the Department of Tourism Region 3 and the Aurora Tourism Office billeted us outside the surfers’ paradise that is the Sabang Beach area – at a boutique resort called SeaSta in Barangay Cemento, long ways from the town center.

But 100 arthritic steps from the resort is the Baler fish port, perfect site to view sunrise, though the early morning clouds deprived us of what is bruited about as one spectacular sight.

A short bird’s flight are the spectacular rock formations and tiny islets, with the well-paved road serving as the perfect viewing deck.

Why, the rock formations make a scenic constant along the stretch of the coastal highway leading to other Aurora towns, notably to Dipaculao with its 20-kilometer long beach in Dinadiawan with its white sand that approximates Boracay’s. A good thing though that Dinadiawan’s 23 hotels and resorts did not follow the bara-bara template of the country’s top beach attraction.

Besides the beaches, Baler’s agricultural base is now being pushed in the service of tourism too. At the Buenavista Farm, one can pick calamansi, pet the goats – the most photogenic ones, so it is blurbed – feed the native pigs, and thereafter refresh with fresh coco water, direct from the fruit, and calamansi jam on bread. Products that the farm sells too, wholesale or retail.

Herbs, guapples and pomelos, tilapia straight from the pond, and soon honey from its own apiary, plus upland rice – both in grains and as coffee, and turmeric powder are what Azbahaen Farm Resort offers.

Yes, products added to Baler’s staples of sabutan items, such as hats, fans, mats, slippers, table runner, place mats and bags. And food stuffs like suman, Nanay Pacing’s peanut butter and coco jam, pako salad, bukayo and pakumbo and banana chips.

The usual and more comes with tripping the past heroic through Baler’s historical trail, starting off at the San Luis Obispo de Talosa Church – we were privileged to have prayed at the wake of esteemed prelate Bishop Julio Xavier Labayen at the time of our visit, giving it a deep spiritual dimension – to the Maria Aurora Aragon Quezon house, to the marker of the Lt. Gilmore Rescue party (1899), to the Quezon Park and the Museo de Baler. 

Then, there’s Costa Pacifica – a destination on its own with its luxurious appointments, great food and location – right at Sabang Beach.

Rains prevented us from a host of other activities as a seaborne tour of the Dicasalarin Cove and the Artists’ Village thereabouts, plus the lighthouse; a trek up Ermita Hill and down the Dima-dimalangat Islets; and splash at the Ditumabo Falls in San Luis.

But then, as the seasoned traveler holds, “Don’t do overdo it the first time, so there’s some to come back for the next time around.”

Yes, sated as we are, for now, with Baler and Dipaculao, plus – on the way home to Pampanga – the Millennium Tree, purportedly Asia’s oldest and largest balete, in Maria Aurora town.