Sagada, another road trip to the North

After a week from my last travel to Ilocos last January, now its off to the North again, this time Sagada! I am excited because this is my first time to go there. Its a long weekend, and for sure a lot of people are going there. My girl barkada since gradeschool, Jean asked me if I wanted to tag along for this trip. We were with her office mates, and of course, they are a very cool bunch!

The trip to Baguio was short, I think, since I slept the whole time through the night.  Oh, by the way, I can now claim that I can sleep on travels already. A very good improvement, since I can't really catch sleep when in transit. 

Touch down, Baguio! 9 degrees!!! Seriously, it was so freaking cold while we were all waiting for the bus going to Sagada. Long weekend = a lot of people. So we really needed to line up (and boy the line was long) to get a ticket for the bus ride. 

Finally boarded the bus. Did I mention that the road going there was steep, zigzag and dangerous? Yes, it was. I was wondering why there are plastic bags in every row of the bus. I was told, it was for those who get sick during the trip and throw up. You get the picture. It was a six hour trip from Baguio to Sagada. We left Baguio early in the morning, and finally arrived at Sagada, an hour after lunch I guess. This is where we stayed, St. Joseph Resthouse.

                                      

 

There are no hotels in Sagada. So if you are looking for an upscale hotel with plush bedding, warm comforters, a bath tub or TV. You will not find it here. I think, since most of the accommodations there are a rest house or inn kind of thing. More of catering to the backpackers. That is why its fairly cheap as well. 

We quickly settled in our "suite", which is a house or a unit with three bedrooms, a small living room, and a separate toilet and bath with hot water. Hallelujah! :) Changed into our hiking clothes, brought food and water, then we are off to our first itinerary - Kawasan Falls.

This is the view of going to the falls. Pretty!

You need to hire a van to take you around the different attractions in Sagada. You can ask the place that you're staying to help you out with that. To arrange tour package that comes with a van and a guide as well. It will come out as pretty cheap when you're traveling with a group of course. Food will not most likely be part of that package. Anyways, off to our first adventure!

Oh I thought, it was going to be a pretty easy hike up to Pongas Falls. I forgot that Sagada is high above the mountains, and while the sights are very beautiful, it can also be dangerous and steep. Bangin kind of dangerous, with just a foot or two close to the edge. One wrong move, you get the picture. Good thing also, that at that time, I was into my regular run routine, it helped me endure all the walking and climbing. It was major cardio workout! 

Pongas Falls

That's the falls pictured above, The guides said, we can drink water from it. It's that clean. Well we tried, and fortunately, nothing happened to us. No upset stomach or whatever. Good thing! You can still actually go up to the actual waterfalls still. Some from our group, together with some foreign tourists, went up. But, me together with some of the girls, didn't dare. Hahaha! We just took pictures, rested and drank water while we waited for the rest to finish and go down.

It was a good hour and a half I think going up and down the falls. Kasama na dun yung mga buwis buhay tactics to climb up steep rocks or maneuver through slippery mud. But it was worth it. Kasama daw sa bayad yun! Me, first time to see rice terraces up close, then being not a mountain climbing or hiking kind of girl, this was a challenge, that I am not going to back down. 

Our mala-spiderman na guide, Kuya Jonathan.

Red rice, salad and a big slab of roast pork with gravy at Yogurt House, my first decent meal of the day. This is dinner.

This is how cold it was.

Early night for all of us. We all needed a very good and long hot bath. But in true fashion of our friendship, me and Jean went ahead and drank a bottle of Emperador Light to end the night. Hahaha! But then slept right away afterwards since we still have an early morning itinerary and a full day of sight seeing (and hiking and walking..)

Hanging Coffins

Good morning Sagada! After our breakfast, off we go to the Hanging Coffins of Sagada. From where we are staying, we just need to walk going there. How convenient! But, wait, there's more! Haha! Remember this is Sagada. Anyways, there was some sort of weekend market near the church and there are different sports tournaments happening as well. I think there was some kind of celebration during that weekend, as there was also a running race happening on Sunday.

                                       

Before you can go down to the Hanging Coffins, you will pass through the Echo Valley. Why the name? Try shouting your name into this place, and you will know why. Nice view of the town and the mountains. A sea of green and fog. 

The ancient funeral norm of hanging coffins from mountain cliffs are still being practiced by some minority groups in Sagada. It was believed that when you suspend the casket from the mountain rocks, you bring the deceased closer to heaven. Cool stuff! Check out some more info from Wikipedia. After that, off to lunch! Oh and by the way, did you know that Sagada has become the only town in the Philippines that is predominantly Anglican, which means, most of the inhabitants are protestants, 95% of them. That explains the beautiful Church of St. Mary the Virgin, which we thought was Catholic beforehand. 

                         

After lunch, we were set to explore two of the many caves of Sagada. There a lot they say. But for this trip, we're going to just explore two, Lumiang and Sumaguing. Going down to Lumiang and Sumaguing are not easy. They are really bad for the knees! Hahaha! Major challenge to have that endurance to keep up with the guide. The high altitude and the cold temperature is not really helping. Well, as I have mentioned, this adventure I will not back out from. Haha!

The Lumiang Cave is another ancient burial cave. It is also the entrance to the Cave Connection, where you can exit to the Sumaguing Cave. Cool! But we didn't have time to do that, so we're just here to explore the entrance of Lumiang. Here you can see stacks of coffins from way before. As you can see, there are carvings on the wood coffins. I forgot, what it meant. :( Then go up again, and we are off to Sumaguing Cave!

All I can say is, the experience was worth it. It was raining before we went in, so the people who are coming in are already wet from outside. So expectedly, its going to be muddy and slippery traversing down the cave. I thought, it was just an easy traverse, a flat course if I may say. But no, this cave goes very deep. Not sure how deep, but it is deep into the earth. Haha! Exagge! You must really be careful especially when you get to the parts that's really slippery, and steep. Literal, di mo alam kung saan ka pupulutin or babagsak. But once you start seeing the cave formations, the fear and tiredness goes away immediately! By the way, ito daw na cave na ito, eh pornographic. Haha, because of the formations daw. Mahalay! Go there and find out why. :)

Sagada was truly an experience to remember. It took me out of my comfort zone, which is the beach. This was something that I wanted to do for the longest time, climb mountains and explore caves. We almost didn't make it home because there were no bus tickets going back to Manila when we arrived in Baguio. Again, long weekend. Lots of people travelling. But thank God, we did!  Thanks to Jean for letting me tag along! Don't forget to buy pasalubong! The Sagada coffee is one of the best I have tasted, and I bought these chili sauce from a restaurant we dined at, that I forgot the name. But it as a TripAdvisor logo, so that should be good.