The van's wipers were working double time as we rolled into Balanga. The rain was coming down in sheets, the kind of monsoon deluge that turns the Roman Highway into a river for a few hours. I pressed my face to the cold glass, watching the city materialize out of the grey: a cathedral spire, a plaza with arcades, the green smudge of the Bataan Peninsula State University campus. Three hours. That's all it took to leave the manic energy of Manila behind and land in a place that breathes at a different pace.
I stepped out of the van at the Balanga Transport Mall, my sneakers immediately squelching in a puddle that had already claimed half the sidewalk. A tricycle driver, bundled in a yellow raincoat, waved me over with a grin. 'Kumusta!' he shouted over the downpour. I gave him the name of my guesthouse, and we were off, weaving through streets that were emptying as the rain intensified. The air smelled of wet earth and fried food from a nearby carinderia. This was already a different Philippines.
My home for the next few nights is a modest place near the edge of Poblacion, a guesthouse that costs around ₱1,500 a night — about twenty-six dollars. It's clean, has a fan that hums louder than the aircon, and a window that frames the cathedral bell tower. The owner, a retired schoolteacher named Aling Nena, insisted I try the 'adobong dilaw' from the corner stall before I even unpacked. 'You can't say you've been to Bataan without tasting it,' she said, handing me a steaming plate. The chicken was stained a deep turmeric yellow, tangy and rich, and it cost just over a hundred pesos — under two dollars. I ate it standing in her doorway, watching the rain bounce off the street.
After lunch, I stepped out into the storm. My plan was simple: walk the historic core, get my bearings, and find the Bataan World War II Museum before the afternoon got any wetter. The rain has a way of clearing the streets here — the Plaza Mayor was almost empty, the arcades giving shelter to a few tricycle drivers playing checkers on a cardboard box. I ducked into the cathedral, the Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph. It's a solid, unassuming baroque structure from 1793, but the guide, a volunteer who looked like he'd been there since the war itself, told me it was used as an artillery embattlement during the Battle of Bataan. Pockmarks from shrapnel are still visible in the stonework near the altar. I stood there, the storm thundering outside, and tried to imagine it as a fortress.
From the cathedral, it's a short walk to the Bataan World War II Museum, tucked beside an elementary school. The entrance fee is about fifty pesos, less than a dollar. Inside, the rooms are a raw, unflinching archive of the Death March: dioramas of exhausted prisoners, a replica of the torture chamber, photos of the surrender at Talisay. There's a section dedicated to Luz Banzon Magsaysay, a native daughter who later became a First Lady. I walked through slowly, the hum of the fluorescent lights the only sound. The History here isn't a footnote; it's the ground you're standing on. The Zero Kilometer marker in this city didn't just witness the war — it was the starting line of one of its most brutal episodes.
Between the museum and the old city hall, I found a stall selling pancit Bato, the dry, smoky noodle dish that Bataan is known for. I grabbed a plate for about ₱150 — two and a half dollars — and sat under a tin awning while the rain hammered above me. A jeepney splashed past, packed with schoolkids in uniforms, their laughter carrying through the wet air. A couple of workers from the city hall were arguing good-naturedly about the upcoming Ninoy Aquino Day holiday, thirteen days away. The place has a rhythm, a pulse that feels slower, more deliberate than Manila's. It's the kind of calm that makes you want to stay a while.
The rain let up around four, and I decided to check out the Balanga Wetland & Nature Park, in the coastal barangay of Puerto Rivas Ibaba. It's a short tricycle ride away, maybe fifteen pesos — a little over twenty cents. The park is a network of boardwalks over a mangrove wetland that stretches to Manila Bay. In February, it hosts the Ibong Dayo Festival, drawing thousands of migratory birds, but in August, during the heart of the monsoon, it's quieter. The water was high, lapping at the boardwalk. I saw a few egrets standing like white sentinels on the mudflats, and a pair of herons that took off as I approached. The wind picked up, carrying the smell of salt and wet mangrove. I stood there until the first drops of an evening shower warned me back to the main road.
The evening found me at a small café near the Plaza Mayor, a place called Hanan Coffee Brewers. I ordered a Spanish latte, about a hundred and thirty pesos, and sat by the window, watching the streetlights flicker on. The barista, a young woman with a sleeve of tattoos, told me about the city's name — 'balanga,' the clay pot that the town used to be famous for. She pointed across the plaza to the City Hall. 'There's a Banga Festival every April,' she said, 'street dancing with pots on your head.' I asked her about the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the mothballed one just up the coast in Morong. She laughed. 'My generation says no. My grandma says it was a mistake. The whole province is pretty much against it.' I finished my coffee, the caffeine mixing with the day's history in a strange brew.
The next morning, I woke to a clear, bright sky. The storm had moved off, leaving the air washed clean. I hired a tricycle for the day — an old, rattling machine with a horn that sounded like a sick goat — for the trip to Mount Samat. The shrine, the Dambana ng Kagitingan, is about seventeen kilometers from town, on the road to Pilar. The ride took us through green, rain-soaked countryside, past carabao grazing in flooded paddies. The shrine itself is impossible to miss: a massive cross, 92 meters tall, rising from the summit. The elevator to the top is not working today, so I climbed the internal stairs, my legs burning, my heart pounding. At the top, the view was worth every step: Corregidor Island a faint smudge on the horizon, Manila Bay glinting in the afternoon sun. It's a somber place, a monument to the thousands who died here. I sat on the steps for a long time, letting the silence of the place settle in my bones.
Back in Balanga, I stopped by the Bataan Provincial Capitol in San Jose to pick up some info from the tourism office. On the way, I noticed a poster for a measles-rubella immunization drive starting August 10th, free shots for kids at the barangay health centers. It's a reminder that this city runs on a different clock, one where public health and community events still matter in a tangible way. Across the street, at the Bataan Tourism Center, they had a diorama of the Fall of Bataan, a scene from that April 1942 surrender. I learned about the UPLIFT cash assistance program, a monthly ₱2,000 payout for some vulnerable families, running through December. It's the kind of thing you don't see in a travel brochure.
For my last dinner in Balanga, I treated myself to a proper meal. I walked to a spot I'd seen earlier, a restaurant called Mesa Feliz, near the Plaza Mayor. I ordered the adobo — the turmeric version, again, because it's that good — plus a local beer, a Red Horse, which is about ₱90 a bottle. The bill came to around ₱400, maybe seven dollars. I lingered over the meal, listening to the evening sounds of the city: a vendor calling out his wares, the TV blaring from a sari-sari store, the low rumble of thunder in the distance. This is the wet season, the heart of the southwest monsoon. It brings storms and floods, but it also brings a certain intimacy to daily life, a shared rhythm of dashing through the rain and waiting for the sky to clear.
As I walked back to the guesthouse, I felt a sense of quiet contentment. This is the start of something, a move that's about building a life, not just visiting. The plan was always to drift west, to Mindoro, and then out to Palawan. But sitting here in Balanga, watching the rain return, I'm already feeling the pull of this place, its history, its slow pulse. Adobo, pancit, the smell of wet mangrove — this is the fabric. Tomorrow, I'll explore more of the coast. For now, the night belongs to the monsoon. I fall asleep to the drumming on the rooftop, and I'm grateful.
I woke a little before light the next day. The rain had stopped, and the air was cool. I decided to take one more walk before packing, down toward the city's edge, where the paved road gives way to a dirt path that winds along the coast. A fisherman was mending his net, his bangka pulled up on the muddy shore. He nodded as I passed, not a word exchanged. I've learned that here, a nod can be a whole conversation. I watched the sky turn from grey to pink over the bay, the first ships appearing on the horizon. Balanga is a city that wears its past on its surface, but it has a future, too. I'm just at the beginning of understanding it. The plan remains: Mindoro next, weather permitting, and then Palawan by the end of the month. But I'm learning to let the monsoon decide my pace. That, I think, is the only way to truly live in this country.
I'm Miguel Santos, and this has been a glimpse of my first days in Balanga, Bataan. The trip here took three hours, but the journey into this story is just beginning. Till the next step on this road — wherever the rain takes me.