A Valentine Trip

In my previous post I said that I was on my way to Baguio. I traveled to Sagada with three of my friends. It was a 12-hour travel, 6 hours from Cubao to Baguio City, and another 6 from Baguio City to Sagada. We caught the first trip to Sagada which is at 6 AM. We made a new friend during the bus ride from Baguio to Sagada. She's from Canada and she's traveling alone, so we invited her to join us. And then our adventure began.

Day 1: Cave Connection

After our 12-hour bus ride, we immediately checked into our accommodation, grabbed lunch, and went straight to Lumiang Cave, a burial cave. We had to slither our way in and out of narrow passages and feel our way around the cave. We had only gas lamp, the one that the tour guides brought. We didn't have any flashlights so it was really hard to be the last person in the group. The second and the last cave was Sumaguing Cave. Its highlights were the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites. Most of the time we would have to walk across pools of water - it was freezing! So after sliding down rocks, crawling into deep passages, soaking our feet in freezing water, climbing up and down ropes, we finally got out. We finished the activity within 3 hours - we thought we would never get out before sunset! My knees got really wobbly during the second half of the tour so I had to crouch. We were almost convinced that we would leave the cave as quadrupeds.

Clockwise from top left: Quick lunch before our cave connection tour; Pau, Cyndi, and Ell at the mouth of Lumiang Cave; view from the viewing deck before the start of cave connection; stacks of coffins in Lumiang Cave.

Clockwise from top left: Mini Banaue Rice Terraces; King's Curtain at Sumaguing Cave; pool of freezing water; Pau, Moran, and Ell waiting to slide down; Pau and Ell celebrating our completion of the cave connection tour.

For dinner we stuffed ourselves with lemon pies and chicken adobo from the Sagada Lemon Pie House. I know adobo is made in different variations, but theirs was the most unusual I have ever tasted - it tastes like menudo. Their mountain tea was nice too. The rest of the night we spent drinking cherry wine by the fireplace, exchanging stories and learning about our new friend's culture.

Clockwise from top left: Sagada Lemon Pie House; dinner at the same restaurant; my chicken adobo; the fireplace in our common room; Ell, Moran, and Pau drinking wine by the fireplace.

Day 2: The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Echo Valley, and Hanging Coffins

Getting up in the morning was a struggle mainly because it was very cold and our muscles were aching. We broke our fast at Sagada Brew - it was the best breakfast I have had since I can't remember. We walked around the neighborhood until we got to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. It was a Sunday so a mass was being held. Further walking led us to the local cemetery where we met kids who volunteered to take us to the hanging coffins. We walked along Echo Valley where, you guessed it, everything you shout, the mountains would shout back to you. We still wanted to see the underground river, but we had to catch the last trip to Baguio City which is at 1 PM.

Clockwise from top left: Moran's gift to us; Purdy's chocolates from Moran; my breakfast - tuna omelet, toast with butter and strawberries, salad, and a nice cup of hot mint chocolate with marshmallows; Ell and Pau enjoying their breakfast at Sagada Brew.

Basically our walk around the neighborhood. Clockwise from top left: Cyndi in one of the souvenir shops; a view of the houses in Sagada; your usual Sunday morning in Sagada - baseball; blueberries.

Clockwise from top left: Ancient bell at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin; Sunday morning mass - also the first time I entered the church this year; a view of the altar; Ell successfully climbed a tree at the back of the church.

Clockwise from top left: Pau walking around the local cemetery; hanging coffins; UP Diliman alumnae we met at the cemetery; Cyndi on her way down Echo Valley.

A closer view of the hanging coffins and the chairs in which they were fixed into fetal position - they believe in rebirth in the afterlife. Other natives today no longer rest in that position; thus, the longer coffins.

We reached the bus terminal just in time - we got the last nice seats left. It was still a quarter to 1, so we begged the driver to wait for us while we buy pasalubong. I bought coffee for my dad, and blueberry jam and blueberry wine for that guy I left on Valentine's Day. I also bought him a postcard as a Valentine card because I'm a hipster because I wasn't able to buy him a Valentine card.

Day 2: Pizza Volante

After enjoying the breathtaking views of mountains from the bus, we finally arrived in Baguio City. We had not eaten lunch yet, so we had a very delightful dinner instead at Pizza Volante. Hours flew by fast and we finally found ourselves sitting in a bus back to Cubao. I looked out the window and watched as we drove past houses and other vehicles as I always do when I ride buses, thinking how the weekend passed that fast and that I would be going back to work the next morning. Getting off at Cubao was like waking up from a wonderful dream you never wanted to be over, not just yet. I'm certainly doing this again - traveling with friends. But in the meantime, I would have to finish my master's degree first.

Farms and Valleys

My one week-long summer break is almost over. Though most of it I spent cooped inside the house playing various PC games, I must say that the little time I spent outside made my break a bit notable. That's due to a couple of reasons, one of which I'd rather keep to myself.

We visited the farm. It has been a long time since my last visit. I no longer visit as frequent as before because I was over catching and identifying insects. A lot of things have changed. There were no more sheep and piglets, only sows, chickens, catfish, and turkey chicks. 

We have three cute turkey chicks. This one wandered outside its house and got lost. It ended up with the chickens, looking like an ugly duckling. 

Unlike last summer, there were no lettuce, cauliflowers, and carrots to pick. But there were papayas and peppers.

And that's my sister showing off her dress.

She found these mushrooms growing out of a log, so we had a contest where the one who takes a better picture of the fungi wins.

We had our chickens for dinner. I guess you don't want to read (or see) how those free range chickens ended up on our plates so let me skip to the next day where we drove to the mountains.

We went to Bangkong Kahoy the next day. It's a valley, seated between Banahaw and San Cristobal. The weather was hot and sunny, but windy, which cools the given conditions. We had lunch and raspberry shake first before starting the tour. Did I mention how long the shakes were prepared because they still had to pick raspberries from their farm? 

There were lots of raspberries growing along the way. This one's still too sour to eat.

And then we rode along the zip-line. It wasn't that scary (in fact it's not scary at all) after you've crossed this...bridge. You have to cross the bridge so you can get to the other side and start the zip-line from there. Well this bridge, I refuse to call it hanging because it wasn't hung. It's more like...pinned to the ground. It's actually a wire mesh - some of its parts covered with wooden planks - narrow enough to accommodate your two feet. There were no handrails. You can either hold on to your harness or to the rope above your head where your harness is attached. It wasn't that bad if you don't mind crossing the bridge watching your feet and seeing a glimpse of the canopy of trees way below. You have to watch your feet because the bridge is narrow and you would certainly want to keep it balanced. Anyway, that's not the hard part. The bridge terminates by ascending to where the zip-line actually starts. Covering those last few meters up the slope was the hardest part, for most of us. My heart was beating really fast when I finally got to the other side. I feel like it wants to break free from my pericardial sac ribs. Too bad I can't show you how the bridge looked like. I hope I described it enough for you to imagine it, but this would help.

My sister wants us to go at the same time, so there.

It was a short ride, but it was scenic and breathtaking. Next time I'll try zip-lines where I can lie on my belly and face down.

My sister and my cousins went horseback riding after the zip-line experience until it was time for us to go home. I almost forgot to tell you that Bangkong Kahoy Valley offers trekking and bird watching! Too bad we don't have much time and most of us (my cousins which are children and my grandparents) can't go on a hike. Oh well, there's a huge possibility I'm taking field biology this summer, so hello mountain treks! I wish we can have a trip to the beach, even just once, and  maybe see fishes, starfishes, crabs, whatever. I'd really like to hit the beach right now.