IMHO

Fiestas and Five-Star Resorts

Just sent in my Editor's Note for the second quarter issue of Colors. I just realized that I've done more traveling than writing these last six months...which is absolutely fantastic. Lord Byron once spoke about the "advantages of looking at mankind instead of reading about them, and of the bitter effects of staying at home with all the narrow prejudices of an Islander," and I couldn't agree with him more. I suppose I got so sick and tired of vicarious travel through reading and editing contributors' submissions and not being able to travel as much as I wanted, that these last several months have been such a welcome relief. Thank God for His blessings!

I’ve never logged more domestic travel miles than I’ve had over the last six months…and never written so little about all these many journeys. Everything is still tucked away in the journals of my mind or scribbled down in notes that will soon take the form of lengthy essays after they’ve “aged” properly through the passage of a certain amount of time.

In the first half of this year alone, I’ve gone as far south as Zamboanga del Sur to as far north as the Babuyan Islands, to Kabayan in Benguet, Malaybalay and Musuan in Bukidnon, and through the nooks and crannies of Bacolod, Baguio, Bangued. And as far away as possible from the beaten-to-death commercialism of over-trumpeted destinations that limit the Philippine experience to fiestas and five-star resorts. There are 7,107 islands that make up the archipelago, for goodness’ sake.

I suppose this series of trips has confirmed the basic premise that, indeed, I am a traveler who writes, rather than a writer who travels. The difference between the two is immense, and the space for discourse about the fundamental distinction is way too inadequate, so I’ll save it for another time. But I do have a few thoughts, culled over the course of my 2005 expeditions thus far, about travel and travelers and, erm, tourists.

A traveler – or should I say a true traveler the likes of whom I will always regard with the highest degree of respect – must have a certain amount of commitment, which cannot be compromised by the lack of amenities of comfort. For, indeed, it takes a whole lot of commitment to brave five-hour outrigger boat rides in the scorching sun, upon two-storey swells, just to get to an island with no electricity, where the most comfortable sleeping arrangement is under the stars, beside sneezing dogs on a basketball court. Or to willingly undertake death-defying cliff-hugging bus rides to the edge of who-knows-where. And yet, for the traveler, the journey – not to mention the destination and all the many discoveries one makes there – is always, always worth it. This, sadly, is what tourists miss out on.

A traveler refuses to believe silly guidebooks which peremptorily declare that “there is not much to see in so-and-so.” Authors of such books tend to be tourists in the guise of backpacking travelers; they may wear the right outfits, carry the same gear, and even have the same tight budget…and yet they lack the inquisitive spirit characteristic of a true traveler. There is always something to see anywhere – perhaps not a white beach or a majestic mountain, unless those are the tourist-y sights you’ve set your heart upon. As the great G.K. Chesterton once declared, “The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”

And finally, a true traveler travels light – both literally and figuratively. He leaves behind the excess baggage of a closed mind and spirit, preconceived notions, unfair biases and unreasonable expectations, thereby creating enough space within himself to embrace new experiences, cultures, ideas, a whole new weltenschaung. Travel should always broaden, and never limit. Fiestas and five-star resorts have a tendency to do just that.

Needless to say, while I have no quarrel against the efforts to drum up domestic tourism, I maintain that honest-to-goodness travel should be encouraged. Otherwise, very few committed individuals will be able to witness God’s glory in the hour-long spectacular lightning storms over Pasaleng Bay, or the delight of spotting a pod of pilot whales off the coast of Aparri, or discovering the cultural differences and similarities of the locals, be they from Southern Mindanao or the Cordilleras.

And so, dear reader, no matter what all others may tell you, get off the beaten tourist track and find out what it is to really travel – in the classic words of Emerson, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail!”

See you on the trail –

Honey Balbin Oliveros
9 June 2005

posted by Honey Oliveros @ 11:26 AM