It was my second time to go to Batangas but my first in Balagtas, Batangas and I was amazed on how laid back the place was. Most of the people there are farmers (well at least to the place where I went). Balagtas is actually part of the city of Batangas where you can see malls, fast food restaurants and the public market. One thing I noticed in Batangas city is the cleanliness of the city, they said that it’s illegal to litter there. If caught littering, you’ll pay a fine of 200 pesos. Hard to believe that less than 20 minutes away is a place so simple, serene and pastoral. Getting to Balagtas is an adventure in itself. The air quality there in Balagtas is amazing, just don’t go downtown.
My first and second night in Balagtas revolves around Beer and lots of it. We cooked “Pulutan”, an appetizer ( like the Tapas of Spain), these are food that goes well with beer. And on that night (the second night) hours before our get together, I cooked a pulutan called “Culao”, it’s a Caviteno – Chavaqueno appetizer, it’s pork (part of a pig’s face and ears), cut in small pieces, boiled in water, soy sauce and garlic with local vinegar, onions, chilis (labuyo) and fried tofu( served cool, not cold). And after we got drunk a little bit later that night, we decided to cook a simple chicken soup called “Tinola” , it’s just chicken boiled in water with lots 0f ginger, green papaya and chili leaves. By the way, the chicken came from the mango tree where they were roosting. Poor chicken. But it was delicious!
Drinking on my first night in the province of Batangas
Drunk again on the second night
My third and last day (May 16, 2009).
Pepe In Saudi Arabia 