Since 2004, I have always promised myself that before I go
abroad (whenever that will be), I will visit Sagada by hook or by crook. My
ultimate vacation adventure. A place I‘ve always dreamt of going, kahit na di
ako mag-Palawan o 
Batanes, basta lang makatapak ako ng Sagada. Haha. Panay urong–sulong ako sa plans na maka-akyat, kasi
walang travelmate. Hehe. Sa desperation, gumawa pa ako ng open invitation sa
friendster bulletin hehehe. (“Wanna go to mystic Sagada? Everyone (and I mean
everyone) is welcome! Contact me at.. etc..”) At ang pumayag lang ay si Bec,
ang loka-loka (at ever-supportive) kong nurse-migranteng friend na nasa Texas. hehe.
Huhu. Sabi ko sa sarili ko.. “Pucha, AKO na nga lang mag-isa
aakyat!”
Well, in the nick of time, and because God is such a comic,
Mahal wanted to go too. She told Gayle, and Gayle coincidentally had plans to
go there as well! And Ava, their dormmate, does too! And Ate Pam wants to get
out of the
Manila heat. So there! Five bright
and pretty young ladies to trek the mountains of the Cordillera – Ate Pam (my
elder sister, age 24), Gayle and Mahal (my friends slash colleagues slash upper
batchmates, ages 25 and 27 respectively) Ava (Gayle’s dormmate, age 26) and
yours truly.
Pinaka-bata ang lola nyo.
Eto na talaga! Tuloy na tuloy na talaga ako! YES YES YES ! ! !
Sagada here I come! Hehe.
Day 1 Victory Liner, Pasay (9:15p / Apr 4)
Bus bound for Baguio - a 6 hour ride
Ticket price P390.00
Snacks: P42.00
Hala, naiwan kami ng bus.
At bakit???
Kasi mali ang pinagpilahan namin. Turned out we were lining up at the chance passengers
queue. Tanga tanga nung dispatcher. Hehe. But all’s well, coz the manager
“managed” to squeeze us in on the 9:30 bus.
What a night!
Day 2 Baguio City (4:30a / Apr 5)
Expected time of
arrival: 3:30a
Actual time of
arrival: 4:30a
Chowking Classic
Wanton: P65.00
Tourguide: P1000.00
per group per day
We had no more time to stop by at our house in since it was too
far from the station that will take us to Sagada. The bus’ departure was not
until 6am (and hourly thereafter),
giving us enough time to crash at Chowking (open 24 hrs) along Session Road to
fill ourselves with breakfast and meet our tour guide, the great Lito Manansala
- a Department of Tourism-accredited tour guide and mountaineer with a very
impressive resume. He was with Kuya Ernie “Totoy” Quijano, a fellow mountaineer
and Greenpeace activist who is as skillful and funny as Kuya Lito. =)
Dangwa Station 9:30a
Ticket price: P240.00
After what seemed like eternity (There were just too many
travelers 
since it was peak time, and quite frankly, a poor system of managing
the ticket numbers.), we were finally able to ride the Lizardo bus bound for
Sagada. A 6-hour windy, foggy, edge-of-your-seat ride along the treacherous
Cordillera trails.
Mahangin sa labas! =)
Sagada, Mt Province 3:00p
Oh wow.. We were dropped off in front of the Sagada
Municipal 
Hall. The town proper was quaint and rural, reminding me of the Liliw
municipality in Laguna, only much much colder
and rustic.
Igorot Inn
P200 per head per
night at the private house
Ava reserved one room at this inn months ago, but the
snobbish receptionist told us we were reserved for a small private house.
Nakakainis! 
All along we thought we were staying at the inn. But since there
were no more vacancies and we had to have a place to stay because of the many
tourists competing for it, we had no choice but to unpack at the private house.
It was located within walking distance from the inn, and housed 4 big and dark
native pigs. Batalan ang bathroom. There was no electricity in the socket. And
we were missing one mattress and one lightbulb. Hehehe. Naku po. For us city
dwellers, this was a first. Mainit na ang ulo ng aking mga kasama. Hehehe. Frankly
okay lang sakin yun because I’ve been into worse situations than that. =)
There was nothing else left that can be done anyway. We had
no more options and the day was passing fast.
Sumaguing Cave 5p
Total spelunking time
: 2 hours
Cave Guide fee: P110
Sumaguing is the most accessible and
widely visited cave in Sagada. I love the trail going there. It was like John
Hay. Minus the irritating commercialization. The best thing about it was the
view of the Sagada terraces which, for a first-timer like me, was a 
sight to
behold. It’s a great trail to jog any time of the day.
Sumaging Cave is found down deep from the side of
the road. There was not much grandeur to tell you that you have arrived at your
destination. Nothing but a manmade stone sign that reads Caving Rules. Down the
stairs, there was a viewpoint near the cave’s opening that felt so Lord of the
Rings, or Encantadia at the very least. It exudes mystery, mystic creatures and
magical battles. I couldn’t help but wonder what was waiting for me inside.
Also known as the Big Cave, it gave me that
feeling of how little I was between those big rocks. I felt like they were
ganging up on me, telling me to pack up
and go home you lil chicken. Inside there were more rocks. We were trudging
on them. Big, pointed, sharp, deadly rocks. Your life suddenly depended on your
feet and slippers, and the minimal amount of daylight peeking in from the cave
opening. Swear! One slip, one wrong step… and your life is as good as a bet!
You could easily get lost in there.
Inside, it was pitch black, there were deep gorges and limestone formations.
Near the cave entrance and ceiling were lots and lots and lots of bats, and of
course, lots and lots and lots of bat dung (or “guano”). Hehe. In fact, the
rocks were awfully slippery due to bat dung. 
It was a test of our strength,
balance, flexibility, endurance and sense of adventure. We had doubts whether
our Dupes and Havianases had enough traction to keep us from slipping. Grabe.
Nakakakaba ang kwebang yan. Madulas ang mga bato.
Panay
ang tawa at tili. Kapit lang nang kapit kahit pupu na ng paniki ang kinakapitan
mo. Wag ka lang mahulog!!
We managed. Our tourguides, the unbreakable Kuya Eddie and
the 
indestructible (and quite a cutie) Kuya Sam, were amazing, almost non-human
in their capacities. They are very well-trained. They stopped us at some point
and said that it was at that point that we shall be needing artificial light
because the rest of the cave was going to be pitch dark. They lighted our lamp.
Prior to becoming licensed guides, they were required to
train on BASIC (basic lang daw yun?!) spelunking and caving technical 
skills
for six whole months. They had to memorize the labyrinthine ins and outs
of the cave, keep in mind what is slippery, what’s a goodluck-where-it-leads
well, what’s fatal, what’s knee-deep, what’s waist-deep, what’s everything. “Highway nalang sa amin
ito e..”, Kuya Eddie said when asked if he finds Sumaguing a hard cave to
explore. Highway lang???? Highway??? Sure??
All the fright subsided upon gazing
at the beauty that our lamp revealed: stunning rock formations, stalagmites,
stalactites, pillars and limestones. Ang ganda! Wala akong masabi kundi.. Ang
galing ni Lord! Iba’t ibang shapes, merong elepante, buntis, curtains, mini-terraces,
at mapa ng Quezon City! (joke)
There was cold, running water, and clear bottomless
pools everywhere. This was why we endured the trek.. and it was too spectacular
for words..
Further on, Kuya Eddie told us to be
prepared to get wet. And get wet we did! At some points, we had to glide and
rapel up and down a 4-meter high wall, crawl through tight spaces, hug rocks to
keep from falling and wade through waist-deep freezing water. Muntikan na
talaga ako ma-tepok nung di ko maabot yung isang lubid dahil sa aking short
wingspan. Hehe. Buti andun si SuperCaveman Kuya Sam to save the day!!
Pag ahon sa kweba.. kamusta naman
ang heart/pulse/respiratory rate at BP namin? Kailangan namin ng Valium para
lang makapag-normalize. Hehe.
But it was amazing.
Imagine your life hanging by how
tight you grip the rope, how firm you grab the rock, how low you bend your
knees, and how much you trust your cave guide…
This is one of the things I’ll
forever be proud to have done.
I’m very happy I did it.
And I’m very happy I came out alive.
Day 3 Apr 6 Yoghurt House 7am
Robust Tuna – P80
Hitchhiker’s – P110
Banana-Strawberry-Granola Yoghurt - P90
Hot Choco – P40
Ordered Robust Tune Sandwich- a triple-decker whole wheat bread generously filled
with tuna, onion, celery, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce. Perfect for the health
conscious. Hehe. And very very 
good. And who would eat here without ordering
their famous yoghurt? I don’t like yoghurt that much (because the only yoghurt
I’ve tasted came from Ate Pam’s bland home-made concoction of plain sour yucky
yoghurt hehe) but Yoghurt House made a convert out of me. Masarap talaga timpla
nila. (Try the Hitchhiker’s Delight for
the best combi of pancake, yoghurt and strawberry syrup.) Yum
yum! We all over-ordered
and had to takeout our yoghurts and just ate them along our hike. Hehe. Grabe
sa bundat! The long wait at the queue was worth it.
Sidecomment:
Be courteous to diners. Being such a
small restaurant, Yoghurt House can only accommodate a small number of diners
at a time. So be prepared to wait in line. We waited outside for around half an
hour, an ample time to make friends with the others in line. Hehe. A bunch of
Koreans lined up behind us. And you know how noisy they can get. Anyway, amidst
the racket they were making, we were finally told of an available table for us
(table for 7 – including Argon and his girlfriend - Mahal’s friends that we
accidentally met on the Dangwa bus).
Mahal and I were standing in the
middle of the restaurant, near our table, when a gorgeous Manileño came up to
me and smiled. I was about to smile back when he asked, “Miss, pwede
magpa-reserve ng table for two?”
Walangya!
Me (stunned): I don’t work here. I’m
sorry.
Him (stunned too): Oh. I’m so sorry! (raising both palms up
as if shielding himself from my inevitable physical attack)
Me (stunned still): It’s okay.
(smiles pretentiously)
Walangya!! Oh please guys, laugh all
you want. But if you were in my situation, you’d simmer for your hurt ego.
Hehehe.
Anyway, all of us sat down the
table, ordered yummy food, and waited an eternity for it to be served. While
waiting, Mr. Cocky (He deserves the name, anyway) was able to get past the
Koreans and sat at a table presumably reserved 
for the Koreans. Mr. Cocky
called out to his bunch of friends and they all sat there, comfortable and cozy,
unmindful of the fact that they sneaked past the Koreans. Filipino that he is,
his behavior incited greater irritation from us than the behavior of those
Koreans. And because we love to avenge ourselves, we chided Mahal to go up to
the counter and make sumbong. Hehehehe. Ayun pinaalis si Mr. Cocky and company.
Buti nga sa kanila. Disprespectful na, mandurugas pa. Bwahahahahaaha!!!
Ohlabinan Inn 10a
P350 per head per night
Checked in at Ohlabinan Inn.
Dorm-type rooms. 2 beds. We added one 
mattress for one of us (yes, ME) to sleep
on the floor with. (I chose to sleep on the floor than on the bed because I
don’t want to be squeezed between my snoring friends. Hehe. It’s much
comfortable!) Relatively better sleeping quarters than the private house the
night before. But its bathroom was communal so we had to constantly be on the
lookout for cubicle vacancy. Naligo na nga ako sa men’s bathroom kasi there
were no male guests. That was a first! Hehe. All in all, it was a bit pricey
for its accommodations.
Sagada Pottery 11a
To make your own pot – P100
One jigger of ricewine – P10
Purchased stoneware mug – P250
I nagged Kuya Lito to take us to
pottery lessons. Making my own pot has always been one of the things I’d dream
of doing before I die.
For an hour’s hike (umambon kaunti) and
a hundred bucks, one can be able to experience the brutal haughtiness of Tessie,
our middle-aged 
call-center-accentish
English-speaking pottery instructor. “Oh
I’m sure you will not be able to make a pot today. Anyway, holding the clay is
an experience. But you’ll never be able to finish your pot today. It will take
you years to perfect it”, she unceremoniously and condescendingly said
after hearing my gush of “Yehey! I’ll
make my dream pot today! Wiheee!”
How discouraging can you get, huh?
But anyway, I still made a go at it. And I can proudly say I did a damn good
job!
** According to wikipedia:
During the process, the solid ball of soft clay is pressed,
squeezed, and pulled gently upwards and outwards into a hollow shape. The first
step, of pressing the rough ball of clay downward and inward into perfect rotational symmetry, is called centering
the clay, a most important (and often most difficult) skill to master before
the next steps: opening (making a centered hollow into the solid ball of
clay), flooring (making the flat or rounded bottom inside the pot), throwing
(drawing up and shaping the walls to an even thickness), and trimming or
turning (removing excess clay to refine the shape or to create a foot).
**
Oh well, okay, so Tessie (“The
Witch”) was right when she exclaimed, “You
cannot center the wheel today. Take it from me. I took years to master it and
all I can tell you is YOU WILL FAIL. Bwahahahaha!!”
So she centered the clay for me, and
guided my hands through the next steps. Much like that scene in “Ghost”, but
without the arousal. Hehe.
After I made my bowl, she said, “Oh you’re 
actually very good in handling the
clay the first time. You have good control of your hands..” — Wow. Now
that’s more like it, Manang Tessie! Dahil diyan, bibili ako ng mug nyo hehe.
**
An automatic potter’s wheel costs
around 70,oooPHP.
A Nikon d80 DSLR costs around
80,oooPHP.
Someday I’ll be able to afford
those. And then I’ll make my own pots. And I’ll have my own travel photography
company!!
Lunch at Cafe St Joe’s 12:30p
Big combo meal of red rice, fresh veggies, barbecue chicken and lemon
chicken – P120
For P150, you can be able to get the
combo meal with the mixed vegetable rice. I didn’t buy it, since I already had
a good fill of veggies.
The place was really nice, situated
atop a hill overlooking Sagada. And the food was really good. The place has a
cute resident dog whose favorite hobby was to sit beside the diners and wait
for delectable foodscraps. Hehe. Good boy.
The Road to Echo Valley / Hanging Coffins 2p
It is best
to take a guide to Echo Valley because it’s 
easy
to get lost. We were separated into 2 groups – Kuya Lito with Ava and Gayle.
Kuya Totoy with me, Mahal and Ate Pam. Kuya Lito’s group was walking too fast.
So our group was left behind and got lost in the process. Imagine getting lost
in the mountains, shouting your lungs out for the nowhere-to-be-seen Kuya Lito:
“KUYA LITO!!!!
ASAN NA KAYO!!! HUWAAAAAH !!!”
Silence (My
heartrate: 75bpm)
“KUYA
LITO!!!! NAWAWALA KAMEEEEEEH !!!”
Silence.
Eery
silence. (My heartrate: 1,000,000 bpm)
“KUYAAAA!”
At long
last… Kuya Lito shouted back:
“HOY ASAN
NA KAYO??!!”
“EWAN KO!!”
“SABI KO
LIKO KAYO SA KANAN PAGDATING NYO SA JUNCTION!”
“LUMIKO
NAMAN KAMI SA KANAN KANINA EH!”
“AY SA
PANGALAWANG JUNCTION PALA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAH !!!”
“AAAARGH!!”
The Echo Valley akes a huge bit
of adventurous spirit to be able to reach it. It boasts of a beautiful view of terraces,
mountains, and foliage. And ofcourse, we were shouting our lungs out for
echoes:
“HELOOOOOOOOH!!!!” 
owww..oww…ow……
“GANDA NG PINAAAAAAS!!”
naaas.. naas… nas…..
“ANG GANDA KOOOOOOH!”
owwwsss..owwss..owssssss…???
The cliffs here are a rock climber’s heaven. Kuya Totoy told
us that just a 
week ago, an Italian climber fell to his death when he attempted
to rock climb without a harness. From the echo point we saw some hanging coffins
from afar. We continued on walking deeper down the forest, traversing the
jagged rocks, at one point getting lost in the tracks because our group was
separated, to see the coffins up close. Hidden in the dense foliage of the
valley, the hanging coffins are precariously perched on the limestone cliff
using slabs and iron bars 
driven into the rocks. Most coffins were made with
one whole piece of wood carved into various shapes. Kuya Totoy told me that after
the deceased are put inside these coffins they are then brought to caves high
in the cliffs where they join the coffins of other ancestors. Some traditional
Sagadians still prefer to be buried in the cliffs than to be buried in the
ground and have been doing this for more than 2,000 years. It was said that the
hanging coffins could prevent bodies from being taken by beasts and also bless
the soul eternally. (But the comic in Kuya Lito said “Edi para hindi
maabot ng aso! Hahaha!”)
It’s fascinating
how they managed to put those coffins up there on the sides of the cliffs.
Several questions come into play: Was someone from the cliff tops pulling ropes
to lift the coffins? Did they have to use a ladder? Did they climb those
treacherous rocks? Were there foot- and handholds? Did they place the coffins
first before they put in the bodies? Since
there were no signs of decay, how did they mummify the bodies? Why did they
have to hang the coffins high up and not bury them? The coffins were found in
places seemingly impossible to reach — places that can be touched only by
mother nature.
Lumiang Cave (or Burial Cave) 3p
A creepy place. Like in Echo Valley, the coffins were made with 
one whole piece of wood carved into various shapes. These
coffins are carved by the elderly before they die; if they are too ill or weak,
their son or other close relative will do it for them. This ritual involves
pushing the bodies into the tight spaces of the coffins, and 
often bones are
cracked and broken as the process is completed. In the cave, hundreds of
coffins are lined up, and unfortunately tourists are unregulated in this area,
some have even taken some of the bones as souvenirs. Let us show respect and do
not grave rob.
Underground River 4p
The route to the underground river is challengingly
wicked. From the 
cliffside location of the Echo Valley, it was a very steep descent to the river below. The trail was covered with
vegetation and dainty wild flowers. And it was very slippery. It also involved
walking along a river which ultimately enters a cave. The trail itself was a
real workout, with us having to balance on jagged rocks so as not to fall
headfirst to the river. The trail’s view was breath-taking but if you were
scaling the rocks near vertical, you’ll be too busy trying to stay alive to
notice how beautiful it is. Hehe.
Be careful
of the very slippery rocks you have to climb to get out – it is not easy, but
we have done it. Hooray!!
Dinner at Rock Inn 6p
A plate of tuna spaghetti – P80
Mountain Tea – P40
This is a new place which was about a one kilometer-walk out
of 
town.
Quite far, really. They have a beautiful ambience but the food was a
real disappointment, especially by Sagada standards.
Nightlife at Mapiya-aw Pension Inn 7p
ManilaTo cap our last night in Sagada, we
planned to enjoy the Sagada nightlife. Sagada poses a loose curfew of 9pm. So
the celebration at Mapiya-aw inn was only from 7pm to 9pm. Hehehe. A big change
from the way we have it in Manila, when even at 12mn, it’s considered uncool to start clubbing already.
CordillerasBecause it was dark already, the
walk to Mapiya-aw from Rock Inn would be too dangerous. Kuya Lito called a Sagadian
friend to pick us up using his van and get us to Mapiya-aw. His name was Joey,
a true-blue Bob Marley fan. If there was ever an anthem for Sagada, Sagadians
would most likely prefer it sung in reggae. In this sleepy town in the middle
of the Cordilleras, the houses, jeepneys and
hired vans play reggae. Hehe.
So we were able to get there in time.
It was an open-air reggae jamming, with a rock formation serving as the stage. Our
excitement was dissipated when we saw that there were still no people around
save for the band setting up their instruments. We were willing to wait for the
people, but because we had a 6am wake up time the next day, we sadly decided to
leave the place and spend it for a much-deserved snooze instead. =)
Getting a Massage at the Inn 9p
Whole body Swedish massage – P350
Ava, knowing she would be trekking
the whole day, had asked Kuya Lito for an available masseuse to go to our room
that evening. Kuya Lito, who seemed to know everyone (and I mean everyone!) in
Sagada, contacted Manang ___, the Sagadian masseuse to the stars. Sensing my
own weariness, I jumped in for the opportunity and decided to get one too.
To my utter disappointment.
An important tip for those who are
fresh from a day’s trek: DO NOT GET A MASSAGE THAT SAME DAY.
You’d die of pain.
It was so painful for my quadriceps
that I shed tears. They couldn’t take even the lightest pressure from the
masseuse’s hands. Huhu. 350 PHP down the drain.
Day 4 Apr 7 – Last day!
Yaaaawn! WAKE UP SUNSHINE!! My last
morning in this peaceful town. At 7am we were off to BANAUE, the land of the
great terraces!
What was for breakfast? Our ever-reliable
chef-baked raisin panatone bread from Café St Joe’s. Very very good, especially
when you eat it inside a rickety tin-can of a bus to Banaue, beside our reggae-humming
driver, amidst the mighty mountains and fragrant pines… =)
** Watch out for my next entry: The
Great Banaue Adventure!
