Sagada, Mountain Province is a place I both love and hate. Now before you start wondering why let me just tell you first why I was sooo curious about it. I came across Sagada when I was reading this book back in high school called Wander Girl. Sagada was briefly mentioned there and it struck me as sort of a retreating place. Like a place away from the hustle-bustle of city life and just let go of all your worries. And then I saw the movie of Juday and Piolo, Don't Give Up on Us (I know...you can judge me now) and there goes Sagada again! I became curious of what it's really like to live a simple life, get lost within the woods and the mountains and just embrace nature and not worry about corporate dreams or financial goals or whatever it is that we worry nowadays.
I was not wrong. It's literally far from the city life! Like 10-12 hours away from Quezon City. When we arrived in Benguet, it was another 4-hour travel from there. Once you look outside your car window, clouds will be there to greet you. We were literally on top of the Philippines. It was just so high above the ground that morbid jokes such as falling off the cliff and landing Baguio kept coming up.
We went there with a travel agency (Tripinas travel&tours, highly recommended) so when we arrived, there was already a room waiting for us at Rock Inn & Cafe. We had the room all to ourselves! Btw, there were 5 of us in the group but the whole tour had 37 people including us. First off is breakfast!!! Meal prices in Sagada are quite expensive (P150-250/meal) so make sure you have enough pocket money, unlike us who were broke as hell come Sunday coz we just brought enough money and there's not much ATM around!
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| Phonky enjoying his banana pancake with yogurt! Yum! |
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| Breakfast is necessary for a busy day ahead! |
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| It wasn't really that cold when we arrived there |
So all the clothes I packed were far from trekking-appropriate, I know.. I'm such a bad tourist. So this is as sporty as I can get.
Sagada town proper!
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| Raemon and I had lots of walking pictures. Candid raw. |
Jeypee took pictures of the Sagada local kids. I especially liked this one!
Our tour guide is Kuya Sito/Situ!
Masaya pa kami nagpipicture nito, then after nan umpisa na pala ng kalbaryo! We had to trek down a cliff in order to reach the hanging coffins at Echo Valley. Boy was that hard! But not as hard as the cave connection, which I should discuss in full details later.
Sagada town proper! Breathtaking view!
Medyo hindi na ako happy sa part na to kasi hirap na hirap ako bumaba! I had to go down in a sitting position coz I was so afraid I would slip and roll down the cliff. My shoes didn't have enough grip on its soles. Medyo favorite kami ng mga ka-tour namin coz kami yung pinakamaingay. Dito pa lang I kept shouting at my friend Tooch to not walk too fast and leave me behind coz I might slip! Haha. So arte I know.
The natives have different kinds of burial beliefs. If I'm not mistaken the ones buried here are the old ones. Some of the coffins are small in size coz they are buried in the fetal position. There are also chairs hanging from the coffins coz pinapaupo daw yung mga matatanda dito before mamatay at sinasabi yung good and bad deeds nila para wag tularan. Kalurkey diba?
Okay, by now you may have noticed the holes on my tights! Kagagaling lang namin sa trekking nan and unfortunately, my Topshop tights did not survive. Ayan butas butas na siya :) We had lunch at Yoghurt House which is quite famous for well...yoghurt. But other than that, I also loved their Mushroom and Cheese Pasta.
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| Mushroom and Cheese Pasta (P145 i think) |
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| Yoghurt with Strawberry Preserves (P75) |
Okay spot me and Jeypee with our mouths open at the background. We went to the balcony of Yoghurt House and just sang our hearts out. Our time for lunch was like 11:30-2:00pm so by the time we finished our food we had nothing to do... but sing! We just sang a couple of Whitney Houston's songs (Saving All my Love for you) and impersonated a few OPM singers (me as Vina Morales and Raemon as Jessa but actually sounded like Zsa Zsa).
Now the hardest part of the trip (for me atleast coz I skipped the falls part) is the cave connection! Hindi talaga kami dapat sasama ni Phonky kaso nagmaganda nadin and gumora na. Just to give you a picture how hard it is... I went out of it with a sprained right foot plus 2 huge bruises on my leg, I lost my pair of Crocs and my F21 beanie and I slept that night feeling traumatized. Hindi ko kayo tinatakot or whatever but if you're like me who haven't had exercise for a year and is far from being outdoorsy, I suggest you skip the cave connection! We went inside at 2pm and went out at 730pm. Those were the longest 6 hours of my life!
Other than spelunking, you had to go through small holes like this which was a total disadvantage for people on the chubbier side such as my friend here, Raemon. You also have to do a lot of rapelling. I know wtf. Can you even imagine me and my friends rapelling? Honestly, I would not have made it out if not for this kind-hearted tour guide who carried me on his back. His name is Kuya Tarik. I don't have a picture of him on my camera because honestly, we were on a life and death situation it wasn't really the right time for camwhoring. So I just got this pic from the Sagada Genuine Guides Association site.
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| Thanks Kuya Tarik for saving my life! |
Pardon the chipped nail polish but this is how my right foot looked the next day. Magang maga! Define!
So that's why I love and hate Sagada. I loved that it made me move out of my comfort zone. It made me define my limits and then challenged me to go beyond them. Before I went inside the cave, all those fears were inside my head. After the cave, I was able to conquer most of them. I hated Sagada for making me realize how superficial my life had been. Sometimes, we're all so busy chasing for our dreams, for the perfect job, the perfect car and the perfect house that we often forget to go back to the basics, the real important details in life. Sagada made me realize all that.
This is truly a one-of-a-kind experience that I will forever cherish. It also helped a lot that I was with my closest true friends. I'm sure a few years down the lane and we would all just be laughing at the memory of that one time we went inside that cave in Sagada and I sprained my right foot and almost died.
"Pain shared is pain lessened; joy shared is joy increased. "
Spider Robinson
So that was Day 1 of our Sagada trip! Nothing much to write about Day 2 coz I didn't go with them to the falls since my foot was as maga padin as ever! But I'll write a shorter blog post about the rest of the trip! Toodles!
xoxo,
Yna
