DAET, Philippines--Wind and rain greeted us even while we were on our way to this capital of Camarines Norte. On the Seair flight from Manila we could glimpse raindrops lashing the windows and even the windshield of the cockpit, and just a few minutes after takeoff, the plane began to rise and fall through air pockets, setting off squeals of fright not from the toddler and babies on board but from their mothers.
Typhoon "Frank" (international code name: Fengshen) led the news in TV broadcasts the night before and we had in fact wondered if this trip was pushing through. But greeting us at the airport was no less than Daet Mayor Tito Sarion, telling us that typhoon or no typhoon, the "Pinyasan Festival" was pushing through.
The Festival, scheduled Sunday, is in honor of one of the province's fabled products, the Formosa pineapple, smaller than the standard-size pineapple, bright yellow and very sweet. I told Mayor Sarion that I had tasted such sweet, small pineapples many years ago in Ormoc City in Leyte, so sweet that they only needed to put slices through a juicer and serve the drink straight up, no need for sugar or other additives. "Yes, I know about the pineapples in Ormoc," the mayor said, smiling. "In fact, we're still disputing which of our pineapples is sweeter."
We had the chance to taste Daet's pineapples ourselves over lunch at Kusina ni Angel, a short drive from the airport. While I was disappointed that they didn't serve fresh pineapple juice, they did serve the fruit as dessert, the sunny yellow slices brightening up the table. The small spears were sweet, succulent and juicy, and soon we each had quite a pile of cores on our plates. Truly, a product worth naming a festival for!
* * *
TOURISM, said Mayor Sarion, is a thrust of his administration, recalling how he had long wondered why Camarines Norte was little known internationally, and even nationally. His thrust has been to put Daet and the province "on the map," in the same way neighboring Camarines Sur now draws hordes of local and foreign tourists for wakeboarding, particularly in its many islands and beaches, so much so that CamSur has now been dubbed "the next Boracay."
Daet's hopes for attracting the surfer crowd center on Bagasbas Beach, its swells--so the more knowledgeable among our media group say--ideal for beginners. At the same time, the city government is in talks with a surfing entrepreneur by the name of Mike Gambrill whose shop for surfing, kite surfing and skim boarding was one of the first in Boracay, to bring in similar equipment and turn Daet into a major surfing destination.
The city tourism office has also initiated plans for new infrastructure, particularly lodging houses and restaurants, in the area of Bagasbas Beach, to give tourists and surfers other reasons not just to visit but to stay and enjoy the sights of Daet.
We had a chance to see Bagasbas Beach ourselves the evening of our arrival Friday. Standing on the esplanade off the beach, filled with eateries and bars, we glimpsed dark sand (actually, light, fine gray sand) and the white caps of high swells crashing ashore. The next day, the mayor promised, we would all be treated to a course in "Surfing 101."
* * *
THERE'S more to Daet than just the beach, of course.
One of the prime attractions is the country's first Rizal Monument, which may sound unremarkable today with monuments to the national hero dotting every town plaza and school yard around the country. But the monument--a simple structure consisting of a stone pylon topped off by a short obelisk tapering off to a point--is historic given the context of its construction. The cornerstone of the monument to Rizal was laid in 1898, two years after Rizal's death and shortly after the cessation of hostilities in the revolution against Spain. Imagine how much daring it took to pay homage to a man who had been executed by the colonizers, long before Jose Rizal had gained "official" recognition as the national hero.
The late great Fernando Amorsolo, the country's first National Artist, while not born in Daet, spent much of his childhood in this capital town and indeed many of his relatives still live here. As a boy, said Mayor Sarion, he would gaze up at the ceiling frescoes which, so his elders said, had been painted by no less than Amorsolo himself. "But we didn't know any better then, and after the church was renovated, the ceiling paintings disappeared." Still, Daet is determined to pay homage to its adopted son, with the construction of an Amorsolo Museum.
* * *
SURELY a big boost to Daet's tourism program is the resumption of flights to the province, via twice-weekly (Tuesday and Friday) Seair flights of the LET 410, a 19-seater plane ideal for short runways, such as that in Daet.
Mayor Sarion, ever in search of "brag points" about the town, says the Daet airport is actually the oldest airport in the Philippines, outside of Manila. The airport, he said, was established here for planes loading gold and other minerals from the famous Paracale mines. But with the decline of the mines, the airport was used less and less frequently until it was shut down 15 years ago.
Today, the Seair flights ferry mainly returning residents who do not wish to go through the approximately seven-hour land trip, such as the families with babies who joined us on our flight. One surfer, recalls Pia de Villa of Seair, boarded the small plane for Daet and his surfboard had to be laid on the aisle, its tip intruding into the cockpit.
The Daet route is just one of four new destinations opened by Seair--including Basco (Batanes), Baler (Quezon) and Tablas (Romblon)--to bring more exotic and exciting locales within reach of the curious and adventurous.
