Exploring Philippines 14 - Tibiao, Antique (Post 5 - Kawa Bath)

After an awesome, fun, relaxing, and memorable visit to Bugtong Bato falls, we had to return because I wanted to try another adventure. I saw this one on tv and since it is along the way, I had to experience it. The Kawa  bath looks exciting and fun.

Kawa (a large vat) is used in preparing muscovado. Muscovado is a raw sugar obtained from the juice of sugar cane by evaporating the molasses. Maintaining a sugar cane plantation is quite expensive and it takes several months before it can be harvested. Farmers are shifting from planting sugar cane to rice. In this manner, the kawas are left alone with little use.

In this part of the province, kawas are converted to a bath tub with a twist. For a fee of 100 pesos, you can enjoy a lukewarm to a hot bath all day long. The caretaker of the place will heat the kawa for you and you may request for some leaves to add aroma for your bath. And you can enjoy this one under the shades of the trees.

I really enjoyed this experience and I dozed off for a while. Such a relaxing moment made me embrace the serenity of the place and simply feel the nature around me. It was indeed an awesome moment.

When people learn that I am from Antique, the name of my province would normally scare them. The Panay island is composed of four provinces: Iloilo, Antique, Aklan, and Capiz. Antique, Capiz, and a portion of Iloilo are normally associated with aswangs (witches that prey on people). Though there are no solid proofs about the existence of aswangs nor their victims, the stigma is still there. At times, it works to my advantage. Hehe

Anyway, just to make fun of this aswang thing, I brought along some tomatoes and onions.  Together with some leaves that were provided by the caretaker, I placed them in my kawa bath. I want to tell other tourists that the aswangs in our province are now civilized and this is the way how they prepare a "human meal." Hehe

Scary? I guess if the folklore is true, then, we would be hearing about their activities and the news about them will spread like wildfire. Even this whole thing is not true, I still exercise some caution. Since I am not familiar about the place nor the people in a particular place, I have to bring my own food and water. I guess it is much safer this way.

Well, enough of the scary thing. It is just a folklore. What is real was this bath and I still live to tell this experience. I hope you'll be able to experience this one once you set foot in my province.

more Kawa bath pics