After the 12 days straight of nature interpretation training in Miniloc and Lagen, we moved to Apulit in Taytay for Batch 4 of the training. It wasn’t included in our original schedule but we reconfigured it once we found out that the Pangulasian “Shark Squad” would be in Apulit and available to take over for the regular guides.
August 9 marked my first trip to Taytay Poblacion. I visited Apulit back when it was still Club Noah Isabelle but I never got to see the town because we transferred directly to the resort from CLR Airport in Sandoval. The van ride from Taytay to El Nido took two hours. Since we had plenty of time to kill, Kring, Mavic, and I left our bags in our Taytay office so we could look around.
First stop was lunch in the Taytay branch of Sea Slugs. The waiter shouldn’t have bothered giving us menus since all they had available were fries and some sandwiches. Also didn’t help that we got two orders of fries and they took forever to serve. I’m sticking with the El Nido branch from now on. Our second stop was Casa Rosa café, where we drank juice (there was no electricity yet so no blender for shakes), played dominoes, and took photos of the fort.
Third stop was the Fuerza de Santa Isabel. Known in Taytay simply as “kuta” (fort, or hideout), the Fuerza de Santa Isabel (Fort of St. Isabel) was first built in 1667 using wood by forced laborers under the Augustinian Recollects. It was rebuilt using coral rock (again using forced labor) and completed on December 17, 1738 during the term of of Governor Fernando Manuel de Bustillo.
The Spanish built the fort to protect Taytay from Muslim pirates (hope they tried that line with the Taytayanos they forced to build it). There are bastions at the fort’s four corners, each with a statue of the fort’s patron saints: St. Toribio, St. Miguel, St. John, and St. Isabel. The story goes that when the Muslim pirates finally stormed the fort, they smashed the first three statues but left St. Isabel’s statue intact because they believed that women shouldn’t be dragged into warfare. This is also the reason the fort’s chapel is also intact.
My only complaint about the visit is that there was minimal interpretation around the fort. If you wanted to know the fort’s story, the only signage was the one in front by the National Historical Institute. There was no English translation for it so good luck to foreign tourists. There were no docents. The only reason I’m able to share the fort’s story now is because Mavic was with us and because of post-trip Googling. How do you expect to get people to donate for the fort’s upkeep if you don’t give them a reason to?
We spent the rest of the afternoon eating and eating and eating: dirty ice cream, pork barbeque, and some chicken barbeque as well. There was practically nothing else to do. We finally left the Poblacion at 4pm and headed to Apulit. More diving, hiking, and training to come!
Reference:
Taytay Tourism website