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It is something of a running joke among friends and family that I am a city person. Not for me the countryside, though its pleasures may be admittedly many. There are times however when a trip to the country side does a world of good especially when it is in response to the tug of familial bonds.
My parents’ hometown lies at the northernmost tip of Luzon island. My grandparents have always lived there and our visits, I’m afraid were never as frequent as they should’ve been. Aparri is a quiet little town that sits just at the mouth of the Cagayan river, which is the longest river in the Philippines. To reach Aparri, one must take a plane ride from Manila to Tuguegarao, the capital of the province and from there drive a good two and a half hours more. And if you think this is long, it used to be a great deal longer as travel used to be limited to land transportation. 12 hours by car in fact, 15 hours when the roads were still unpaved. The scenery is traditional rural landscape. There are paddies of rice where rice is still planted by hand and the carabao remains the farmer’s stalwart companion. Consequently the region derives much of its income from tobacco and rice harvests.

As we are in the northernmost tip of the island, one gets a good vista of the confluence of the river and the South China Sea. On clear days, the horizon stretches endlessly till one can almost see the beginnings of China. However unlike many of the Philippines’ other beaches, the waters of this region are fierce, strong and full of treacherous currents. Locals advise strangers not to brave the water as it is too strong for all but the strongest of swimmers. Despite that it is beautiful to behold the sun setting while the waters churn and crash against the shore. There is an ineffable sense of timelessness about the place.
Like many other old towns of the Philippines, Aparri is laid out in the classical Spanish style. The town hall is located in a central plaza along with the church and there is one Centro Commercial where merchants conduct their business much in the same manner as the olden times, albeit nowadays with a surplus of modern gadgets. Tricycles provide the main method of transportation despite the increasing number of cars speeding along the small roads. Riding a tricycle is probably not the fastest way to get around but it does allow you to catch a good glimpse of the school children with backpacks making their way to school or the fisherman coming in with their catch along the river. Life remains relatively slow paced compared to the big city yet the people are increasingly aware of the bigger world thanks to the influx of cable television and the internet. But before my grandparent’s little town becomes even more modernized, there is still time to spend in the little hut behind our house, eating merienda while listening to the coconut trees rustle in the tropical wind that can only be from my part of the world.