I haven’t been back to my homeland in about ten years, but I knew I had to return soon because time was running out — I wanted to get my first tattoo by the legendary Apo Whang-Od who is nearly a hundred years old. Long story short, after about four months of living in the Philippines, I decided to dedicate the last two weeks of my staycation to make this pilgrimage happen.

A Little Background

Among the dying headhunter tribes scattered in the northern regions of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, Apo Whang-Od is the oldest and the last of her kind to practice the ancient art of tribal tattoo with traditional bamboo. There are plenty of bamboo tattoo artists out there, but she is the last living Mambabatok. Meaning, she tattooed people not just because it looked cool, she tattooed them because they earned it from battle or used it as a healing modality.

The Pilgrimage

It took a little convincing, but I was able to gather three of my friends to come — a Mexican gypsy, a sweet English girl, and her German-speaking Swiss boyfriend. From Manila, we made our way to Baguio then to Bontoc, and finally, Kalinga where after about 15 hours of bussing, we had to hike to the Buscalan Village nestled atop a mountainous region surrounded by rice terraces. We took a guide who made sure we didn’t slip from the narrow paths of the muddy terrain to our deaths. This is why they say not to come here during rainy season, but we welcomed the challenge.

The Village People

It was so relieving to finally have reached the village at dusk. I made sure to really appreciate the pure green and serene landscape around us. It was like getting a big, wet hug from Mother Nature herself. We stayed at our guide’s house where they provided coffee and cooked rice for us to eat the three days we unexpectedly planned to stay.

Our guide, Francis, his wife, and family were really sweet. He told us that there were only 180 houses in their small village. They live in close quarters with limited access to technology, but some had smartphones and I saw people tie their phones on a clothesline outside their houses because it was the only way to get reception. They speak a different language that isn’t at all familiar to my ears. The guides and tattoo artists, except Whang-OD, seem to be the only ones who knew English. We were told we would get our tattoos in the morning, which was convenient for us since we haven’t yet picked out what we wanted to have permanently chiseled onto our bodies. There were tons native pigs roaming freely and their snorts and whines kept us up at night.

Getting the Tattoo

It is advisable to bring gifts to the village. I brought some clay for the kids, sweet Filipino delicacies for our guide and his family, and chocolates for Apo Whang-Od. We also brought sardines, but our guide told us she doesn’t eat canned food. Thank goodness she didn’t because we didn’t bring food to eat, so we survived on those. She also needs baby wipes and trust me, you want her to have a good supply of it because she used to just use a single rag to wipe everyone’s blood off.

There was a line of people waiting to get their tattoos from Whang-Od and other much younger artists in the village. Whang-Od doesn’t have any children so she has trained her niece, Grace, with the art. Other girls in the village have also picked it up to earn income.

Warning, not for the Squeamish!

It helps to be realistic about the pain. The French guy who went before us turned pale and passed out while getting tattooed. I gave him a head massage and some chocolate.

I ended up getting a total of three tattoos, including her trademark signature of the three dots. I wanted to get a couple on the sides of my chest as well, but I’m glad I didn’t because the other arm where I got the other tattoo swelled to about double its size. That was all about my body could handle. Also, I’m not going to lie, it hurt like a motherf*cker, especially on the bone.  And I like to think I have a high tolerance for pain. We left early the next morning, extremely sore in many different places from our travel and tattoos, but happy.

As I am typing this over a month later, my tattoos are almost clear of scabs. The lines are not perfect and the skin isn’t smooth in some parts, but I prefer it this way. I didn’t go there for the tattoos, I went for the experience of a lifetime.