Being romantic in Batanes : A time to celebrate the beauty, gift, and the blessing of enduring love.

View my Batanes photo gallery.

Each wedding anniversary that my husband and I face every year deserves to be celebrated in any memorable way.

Every celebration symbolizes our annual renewal of our vows to each other —

“to have and to hold

from this day forward;

for better, for worse,

for richer, for poorer,

in sickness and in health,

to love and to cherish,

till death do us part”

windswept hair atop one of the rolling hills in Racuh A Payaman also known as Marlboro country

So when Andrea invited me to a media tour of the chartered flights from Batanes Cultural Travel Agency (BCTA) I couldn’t say no. When SEAIR invited me in 2008, I kept putting Batanes on hold for some reason. This time , I had a reason to say “YES Batanes, I want to celebrate our love there”… but asked Andres if I could pay for my husband’s fare just so we could celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary in Batanes. Good thing she allowed me to bring Butch along.

Mount Carmel Chapel in Tukon modeled after the traditional Ivatan stone houses.

Spending our 27th wedding anniversary in romantic Batanes is one gift we gave to ourselves. Being close to such a beautiful and peaceful place gave us the time to reflect and be thankful for all the blessings in our life. If you know us personally, you will know that our married life was filled with drama for most of our 27 years. It is only recently (perhaps 2005) that we reaffirmed our commitment to each other. Like many marriages perhaps, it was a rough journey.. but then as my friend , Bernie reminds me “marriage is always a work in progress and that is what keeps it going.”

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