Buscalan: Inside the Philippines' 100-Year-Old Tattoo Village

This dispatch comes from Buscalan, a remote mountain village in Kalinga, in the northern Philippines — home to a hand-tapped tattoo tradition that's a hundred years old and was made famous by Whang-Od and her community. Getting there took a two-day adventure and no shortage of steep mountain paths. The way in was as memorable as the destination: hidden waterfalls, caves, rice terraces, and mountain roads carved through Kalinga's highlands. Once in the village, the trip centered on the traditional hand-tapped tattoo process itself, still practiced much as it has been for a century. But the visit wasn't only about the tattoos. It was local food, village life, and unforgettable moments with the people of Kalinga — a side of the Philippines that few travelers ever get to see. Two days in Buscalan is a reminder that some of the most interesting places are also the hardest to reach, and that the climb is usually worth it.