Surviving this first boat ride across the Abra River without mental distress meant that I may have processed my near-death childhood trauma of drowning in a small creek in Vigan which was caused by the evil instinct of my own relative.
» This experience opened my eyes to the reality that the people in this part of San Quintin have to deal with this situation everyday. They needed to cross this river with their goods, their sack of rice, their whole family in tow, during medical emergency, and in some other difficult situations.
» Hearing the noisy engine of the boat was poignant. It implied to me that the residents needed to get used of this difficult (in my POV) situation daily.
🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » ABRA
I thought that it was already the end of the journey as we reached the end of the road in Barangay Poblacion. This great river seemed like a predicament in pursuing this ride adventure in 2012. It was a peaceful place, yet it's also a beautiful obstacle in our pursuit to explore this town. This great river appeared like it wanted to curtail our freedom to explore each corner of the town of San Quintin.
I stood up for a moment, then I walked along the river shore savoring the perception of freedom it gave me. Meanwhile, a lady wearing a fitted white tank tops came close to us. I learned later that she'd be crossing the river, and I wondered how. I got surprised to learn that a boat would be fetching her. I didn't immediately notice that a boat docked at the other side of the river.
I wanted to understand why she had to cross the river, until I suddenly learned the answer for myself. I didn't learn sooner that at the other side of the river is another barangay. I thought before that reaching this barangay would require us to use another road network that has access to a bridge. With this encounter, I learned that that such detour would be very far and impractical. So the easiest way to reach Barangay Palang is to cross this segment of the Abra River.
► Backstory
This town exploration in San Quintin is part of a larger scheme of things in 2012. From Vigan, my brother and I rode our Honda Beat 2009 model to Abra, and this moment forms a portion of that scooter adventure.
As I entered Abra, we visited several locations before arriving to this area—the Abra River.
► Everything Started to Make Sense
After several minutes, more people came to cross the river. I asked the lady-in-white if I could join them; because as far as I remember, the first man who conversed with me at the town hall told me that I have to cross the river to see the giant footprint of Angalo.
It's big deal for me to see this because of its value in our Ilocano folklore, and the stories from our elders would be personified by seeing this footprint in person. They say that a giant named Angalo once roamed in this part of Northern Luzon, leaving giant footprints in different towns. I have seen one of his footprints in Sudipen (a town in La union), and this would be my second footprint encounter.
It was said that several years ago, there was no boat like this to help the residents of San Quintin in crossing the river. Instead, they use rakes to cross it.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » Before the boat era of this side of the Abra River, the residents used rakes like this to cross the river and to transport goods. |
The people clamored for the construction of a bridge. However, there was no enough funding to finance the construction of a bridge. Considering the width of the river in this part of Abra, this would mean hundreds of million in peso.
Abra River is the 7th longest river system in the Philippines, and its stream starts in ▼ BENGUET. It floods the Abra Valley, then opens its mouth in ▼ ILOCOS SUR. So there are several towns situated along the Abra River, and San Quintin is one of them. Each town has a story to tell about the Abra River.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » My brother posed for a photo at the Abra River. |
For the situation of Barangay Palang, it would be very impractical to rush the construction of a bridge here because there are more places in Abra listed higher in the priority list. Constructing a bridge here worth hundreds of million pesos to practically serve only one small village would be helpful but impractical at this point in time. There are more places in Abra that need more strategic bridges compared to Palang.
At that point, it made sense why this place has no bridge yet. The solution given by the local government unit of Abra is to employ 2 boatmen to assist the residents in crossing the river from morning until afternoon for free. Cool idea, isn't it? I'm glad that I was one of the beneficiaries of this free boat service athough I am not from Abra. This would mean that anyone is entitled to have a free boat ride.
► My Childhood Trauma of Drowning
Finally, I would be crossing this river for the very first time on a boat. It was not the touristy river cruise that entices you to relax. This river crossing wracked the nerve out of me, although I also enjoyed the thrill it gave me. Crossing the river lasted for about 1 minute.
I grew up in ▼ VIGAN with a traumatic experience from drowning in a creek when my second-degree cousin deliberately caused my struggle. I felt so helpless at that time. When I was able to have a grip on the soil above my head, my cousin pushed me back to that part of the creek with depth more than my height. As a child, I still didn't know how to swim back then. That become very traumatic to me.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » Surviving this first boat ride across the Abra River without mental distress meant that I may have processed my near-death childhood trauma of drowning in a small creek in Vigan which was caused by the evil instinct of my own relative. |
This river crossing, surprisingly, did not trigger that PTSD from that childhood trauma. I think that I managed it well because I didn't feel any evil aura among the people who were with me in that boat ride. I felt secured that none of them would cause me to drown in the river.
This river crossing required me to adjust to the situation. It was not just about the fun and adventure. It was also about trying to live like what the local residents do.
► Lessons from my First River Crossing
This experience opened my eyes to the reality that the people in this part of San Quintin have to deal with this situation everyday. They needed to cross this river with their goods, their sack of rice, their whole family in town, during medical emeergency, and in some other difficult situations.
The people have been practically deprived to seamlessly drive their own vehicles to and from their isolated village. If the river is harsh, they have to stay at home, so the people here know where and when to hoard goods as contingency plan in difficult times. Typhoon season would be an example of this difficult time.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » For the very first time, I captured my first photo of the Abra river right on its water. |
This encounter became more meaningful than my search for freedom, more liberating than my desire to have a great escape from my daily routines, and more delightful than my quest for adventure.
As I felt the cool river breeze that masked the presence of the scorching heat of the sun, I could feel the pain (the emotion, not the sun burn). I could not resist it. It was that pain of knowing the reason why the people had to endure this kind of situation everyday, while other people would just enjoy the luxury of life in their gated villages or in their mansions with well-manicured gardens.
I also captured a short video clip while I crossed the Abra River. It should have been more than a minute video, but I used some parts of the crossing time to capture photos.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » My brother joined me in crossing this river. |
Hearing the noisy engine of the boat was poignant. It implied to me that the residents needed to get used of this situation daily.
Despite of this, I could not see any hints of complain from the people I met. They were so warm and welcoming when I had a boat ride with them. One of them even made a joke that Jing-Jing—the name of the lady in white who I talked with—has suitors, and we apparently rode the boat to visit her house and propose a marriage. Everyone elevated the energy inside the boat with genuine laughter.
She said in their native Itneg language: "Umali da danunen si Jing-Jinge'n (I hope I said it right)." Danunen, or Dumanon is a tradition by which a man visits the family of his woman to manifest his intention of marrying her. Well, it was just a joke! Those people were just happy considering their daily situation. They still had time for fun.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » This is our photo with Jing-Jing, the lady-in-white I have been talking about in the previous parts of this series. |
In 2012, I tried to be a local resident, and doing such made me think of their daily difficulties. Well, this blog isn't all about the great and famous places; but it is also about the travel experiences that money can't buy.
This river crossing was a new learning ground for a person like me who loves exploring places. The word "exploring" and "adventure" are "cliches," but there's no other word to replace the very essence of those words.
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » My brother took this photo while I was crossing the river. |
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » My brother posed for a photo after we crossed this river. |
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🇵🇭 SAN QUINTIN » We reached the other side of the river (Barangay Palang), and a new set of passengers waited at the docking area with their goods and bottles of softdrinks. |
After crossing the river, the coming of another mission has arisen. They said it was hard to go to the actual site, but they also said that I could aleady see that mythical landmark at the other side of the river which I am now.
That mountain appeared too far, and that would be another story. Where is the footprint? To be continued...
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 2 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
LATEST STORIES COVERING SAN QUINTIN • SEE ALL IN A SEPARATE WINDOW
MORE BLOGS YOU MIGHT LIKE. SEE TABS BELOW.
▼ ABRA
▼ TRAVEL DIARIES
▼ ADVENTURE
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UPDATE HISTORY FOR THIS BLOG POST
2025-August-18:
• The article was rewritten, proofread, and revised (injecting both 2012 and 2025 perspectives). 2025 lay-out update applied.
2012-October-05:
• This post was published.
ganda .. gusto ko mag visit ng abra...soooon ... hihihi
ReplyDeletelovemindanao | Visit na! Tara soon! :)
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