The Antique Kawa Bath
While there were other things to do in Antique such as the Tibiao fish spa & river tubing, the most novel and the one that we had to definitely do was the Kawa Bath. Now, the Kawa Bath is basically you taking a fancy bath in a large Kawa or cauldron said to be originally used by aswangs (witches). I don’t know about aswangs but they are also known to be used to make caramel in sugar mill factores, and I don’t mind being cooked in something that’s known for sweet things!
From Iloilo, you can ride a 3 hour UV or 5 hour bus going to Tibiao, Antique, and get dropped off to the entrance of the baranggay Tibiao. The drivers will tell you when you’re in Tibiao already and you can hire a habal-habal or motorcyle drivers that can have a maximum of 2 people on board to take you to whatever place you choose. From Caticlan, you can ride a van/ tricycle to the nearest Ceres Bus Terminal at Pueblo de Panay that drops you off in Kalibo. From there, you can ride a bus going to San Jose, Antique and ask the driver to let you know when you’re at Baranggay Importante. Take note, there’s no signal in the area so you better get all your affairs in order before you get there!
Bus from Iloilo to Antique
While there are many places in Tibiao where you can have a Kawa Bath, we choose to have ours in Blue Wave. This is because among all the Kawa Baths in the area, this one had a great view of the river and allowed you to combine other activities such as river tubing or having lunch on their bamboo rafts which can float to the middle of the river.
We were charged Php250 per person for 30 minutes, but they’re likely to let you soak longer if there are no other tourists in the area. They’re lenient when it’s not peak season. When we came, there was a storm in Panay so a lot of tourists got stuck in either Caticlan or Iloilo. I felt so extra with all the flowers in the bath and the view of the flowing river in front of me. It was relaxing and I smelled like lemon grass and flowers after!
Be sure to drop by the Bugtong Bato Falls as well! It’s a 5 minute walk from here, a quick 20-30 minute trek through some beautiful rice fields and has 7 tiers of waterfalls to look at.
If you’re passing traveler in Panay, do make this part of your list! It’s an unusual experience that will surely bring chuckles when you show you fun travel photos.
