Sagada again

I miss sagada...

plus... ang daming 3-day weekend sa august...

equals... impulsive trip to sagada to simply get away from it all??! haha

hala?! oh! sino kasama? game! go!! ayoko ng mag-aral ng derma! haha

Not Lost Anymore! (Day 3 in Sagada)

I was trapped!!! And stranded because of the many wild dogs swarming the street on the way back to our place! (If you didn't know, I got bitten by a dog on the finger when I was 7 or 8, so I can be expected not to be warmed with dogs.) I didn't know how to get back, time's a wasting, and I was alone! But let me start from the beginning...

The day started out cold... again (despite only 1 window open during the night), thus I woke up and cannot go to sleep at 5 AM. Thinking that this is my last day in Sagada, I decided to go for a walk around town, maybe go to the church (where I heard the bells ringing yesterday at quarter to 6), buy some breakfast (AKA bread). I thought this was my time to contemplate and meditate on things... again. So I brought my Ipod, phone, and P50.00.

When I got down, I chit chat with Tita Mary for a while, telling about our plans for a while. I was fiddling with my Ipod so I didn't notice the number of dogs starting to get up and populating the road. When I finally did notice, I was already in the middle. It was too late to go back, so I decided to distract myself with texting a nonexistent person, just so the dogs wouldn't smell my fear. Finally, I passed it.

I went straight to the bakery and bought breakfast. Then decided to stop by the church (in top photo:the white thing is the roof, in the middle of the forest; this photo taken from above our rooftop) before heading back home. It was 6 AM at the time. There were still no people as the mass starts at 630 AM. I went back to our street, but paused when saw the number of dogs out there. There were 6 of them, but that was during the first part. I could hear the barking though. So I went back to the church.

From the church, I could see the road leading to our place, could hear the barkings coming from there! Grabe! Ang ingay! Considering that I was in the opposite valley/mountain na. Sometimes, I could hear some child screaming, too. Siyempre, imagination ko na lang nag palala. I felt so stuck! Good thing I have my phone, so at least feel ko louie's still with me.

Buti nalang nag trekking na noong 1st day so I just went through the long cut, instead of the high way. However, when I was near the highway na, I saw two dogs again and back out. Buti nalang I met someone going to the highway, and asked if I could go with him because I was scared of dogs. Buti nalang people in Sagada are so nice, so I went with him, just had a sort-of one-way conversation with the man though to distract myself from the dogs haha

Finally, I got back sa inn after an hour. Siyempre, running late again, and we still had to go to the municipal to get a guide (which I should have done since I was out on the street na eh, but slipped my mind due to the crisis at hand). Julie asked Tita Mary for recommendations for the guide, so she called Eddison to go directly to our place nalang. And from there, we walked approx 45-60 minutes to Sumaguin Cave.

I think the cave was fun and easy (hehe siyempre natapos na kasi) after going through the first part. The first part consisted of walking through white slippery lime stone, where you had to hold on to this rocks, which was covered with guano. Pretty sure, I didn't care about touching bat poo, knowing this could save my life! haha After which, there was this rope part (feeling ko Indiana Jones haha), where you had to hold the rope in order to go to one rock to another to avoid getting wet. And then there was a tunnel that you had to cross with water. It isn't that high, about high-waist level lang for a 5'3 flexible person. At the end of the tunnel, you will reach the deepest part of the cave, the fun part. There's a swimming pool for those crazy (AKA adventurous) enough to swim in the freezing cold water, and the sand stone formations, (sabi nga ni louie, "pwedeng mag foot spa because it feels like sand paper"), which was the fun part. I felt like I was a child, playing in Megamall, climbing all those inflatables hehe

Oh yeah, officially, the sand stones that we saw were the pregnant women (with clitoris, labia majora and minora exposed hehe), the penis that made it pregnant, sea turtle, curtain formation, and some baby elephant (actually, we were the ones who proclaimed it, so it was not official hehe)

When we got out of the cave, it was already 1045. Ang bilis ng oras! Since nagmamadali kami, medyo Julie and I are running (advanced na raw for the training when we get back to school) ahead of Abby, Louie, Eddison, and Eddison's other friend (which I didn't get the name). It was hard kasi uphill and downhill siya eh (good for the butt and thighs! hehe).

By 1130, we were there, and we split. Julie went ahead to the restaurant to tell the boy that we're going to take the food out nalang, while the rest of us went ahead and packed our things. We were going to take the 12 NN bus, so we asked Eddison if he could tell the jeep driver to wait for us. We paid Tita Mary (PhP 200/head/night), thanked her but did not get the chance to take our picture with her.

After passing and getting the food (and getting only one shot), we went to the jeep. Sayang, the place has a nice ambience. There was only one boy in the restaurant at the time, and Julie think he's the one who cooked our food. According to Julie, parang nalungkot siya when Julie said that we'll be taking the food out. Sayang nga eh! More pics pa nmn sana and mainit pa tlga ang food noon.

When we get to the jeep, it was already a few minutes past 12 (depends on whose watch you're looking at). The driver said that we'll be leaving at 1 PM, saying that the 12 NN jeep was already gone. Aww... you mean, these people had a special 1PM bus for us?? Oh di ba? Ang bait tlga ng mga taga-Sagada! Touch... Anyway, with an hour to go, we didn't waste it eating our food. We went souveneir shopping. Pinakyaw na namin iyong mga suman doon (there were two kinds), also got brown-red rice, and lots of wines hehe Buti nalang there was an hour to go para at least we could sample the wines for free! hehe

When we got to Bontoc, it was already 1:45 PM, so we dropped our things at the office, and ate in their cafe next door. We just bought drinks in the cafe and gave service charge for our plates and utensils. Ang sarap ng Pinikpikan! If you're going to Sagada, don't miss it! haha Although may ibang tao baka ma-weirdohan hehe

In Pinikpikan kasi, they say it's like tinolang manok, but there's also itag (smoked pig) on it so the taste of the soup is still different. It was hard to prepare (needs to be told the day before) because the chicken has to be killed "softly". They didn't spare any part of the chicken. Sa food, you could see the head, the adidas (chicken feet), and even the liver and intestines. Though nobody ate those parts hehe The meal consisted of PhP600.00 but it was worth it because by the time that we were finished, half of the red rice (approx 3-4 cups), chicken, and wine was still untouched... Well, we did taste the wine though hehe

Instead of leaving Bontoc at 3 or 3:30 (as was Filipino time), we left at 2:45 PM. They said that we have to go early because it might rain and we could experience a landslide. It was rather hard and scary to look at the window. Makikita mo na talaga ang bangin! It was more scary than the jeep, which had a gap of about 1 forearm's length, while the bus had less than 1 hand's length nalang from the bangin... Scary!

Cable Bus Tours had 2 stop-overs (almost every 2 hours) before stopping over for dinner. The first one, there were vegetable stalls that were really cheap (approx a little more than 2 kg of cabbage for PhP20.00 only and 1 kg carrots for PhP20.00 --> hence, Julie bought a lot! I only bought this native upo because it looks so different from what I normally see in the market.  Medyo nahuhuli na nmn kami sa bus, and Julie was in a panic, so I brought her veggies. Trying to imitate the locals, I tried to bring it on my back. But instead, it didn't reach my back, but laid it on my head instead. Kwento ni Louie na sabi ng driver, "parang native ah" haha After noon, medyo tulog na ako, so couldn't tell you anything. Louie was more awake during the ride though, texting I dunnowho hehe Okay, basta when we got to E. Rodriquez, it was already 2 in the morning.

Just in time for my driver and my dear brother Miguel to pick us up hehe

The adventure is over... sigh...

The Road Less Travelled (Day 2)

Continued from Day 1 Banawe-Sagada Adventure...

5:30 am, awake and sort of ready na... ako haha And yet, we went out ng 8 AM na! Grabe! Since we were going for the "trekking by ourselves" thing, we walked to the Bokong waterfalls (AKA small waterfalls). And since late na, breakfast on the road again, consisting of bread that we bought yesterday.


We asked directions, we took a wrong turn twice, and took the harder road before we eventually reached the Bokong falls. Bad trip kasi may easier trekking route pala na paved and everything na!

Since kahapon pa sa simple trekking namin, lost din kami eh hehe From originally, 20 minutes accd to the map, naging 1 hour ata kami going to the falls. Look at our route below. Pero at least ng pabalik na, mga 30 minutes na nga lang; mas closer doon sa nakasulat sa map hehe

As for the falls, ang ganda! Tapos solo pa namin! Kaso there were flies sa may shed, so we didn't stay or eat (our junk food there). We just took a lot of pictures by the rocks. It looks very deep, so hindi na kami nag-swim. 

On the way back, we used the very easy, paved route and stop over at this cabin, which I think is still under construction pero pwede na. Then we reached the highway, started looking for a jeep to hitchhike. It was at that time that we met Ate Ligaya, saying it was an hour long walk to where we're going, and that we should just wait for a jeep there. We hang out at their place and had coffee there. They were also renting the house for P200.00 per head, but the whole house is already theirs for the taking. Usually, families are the ones that occupy these houses and those with cars. Probably because it's a bit far from town.

Anyway, after two and a half hours of waiting, and about 30 minutes of Julie probably scarying the drivers so we couldn't hitch hike, we were able to hitch hike with a police car! Hooray! Our first hitch hiking experience! They say, it's very safe in Sagada without crime rate since 1991 so we thought we'd tried it hehe Besides, hitch hiking seems to be common here, with only a few jeeps to go around.

When we arrived there, it was already 12 noon. We had no guide, so on the way down, we took a wrong turn (surprise, surprise!), and talked to the owner of the nearest house. We asked Faith, Jovy, and Gwen to come with us to the falls as our unofficial guides. Turns out they wanted to go there anyway. It takes 30 minutes usually to go to that small village down. We paid P10.00 for the entrance fee or whatever before going into the rice fields/forest part.


From the map, it stated it takes 2.5 hours to trek, which we did! Yes, at least nasa average kami hehe Grabe! It was a very long trek. Imagine na nga lang on the way back, naging 3.5 hours na ata pabalik at panay paakyat eh hehe Pero pagdating sa falls, it was all worth it! Ang ganda tlga, all my senses are alive! Ang sarap matulog doon or mag meditate. Si Julie nag meditate nga eh, looking for answers... And I guess dumating nga iyong answers ni Julie haha baka in denial na nga lang siya sa mga answers na iyon hehe

As for the water, it was very cold. I had to keep repeating myself about the Liliw waters that I had survived it, I could survive this. Pero siyempre, this falls was situation on top of Mountain Province, so cooler! Anyway, I thought I could never swim to the waterfalls itself, but I could! Pero sobrang high pressure eh so I couldn't strike up a pose long enough for Julie to take hehe Anyway, I probably swam 30-45 minutes lang. Louie kasi nag ka-cramps so she couldn't accompany me sa falls. Besides, at the time, Julie's answers dumating na so we had to go back.

By the time, Julie and I arrived, it was already 5 PM. AKA wala ng jeep going to the town. As we waited for Abby and Louie and our other guides (we tipped or paid them PhP 200.00 since they were not our official  guides, after all), we met Cristina and said she'd walk with us to the town proper because that's where she also lives. However, nag break time pa kami when Abby and Louie reached the highway and they ate lots of ice cream to quench their thirst hehe

On the way home, Cristina talked about the Yamashita, wedding traditions, and other stuff. It was creepy walking because there were lots of dogs, and they don't have much street lamps there (hence, the suggestion to bring a flash light). Eventually, we get to hitch hike on the jeep going to town. Yehey! Julie and I got what we wanted: to ride atop the jeepney and feel the winds in our hair! Especially, without that much dust and sun, if we rode during daytime. Sayang si Louie got cramps so hindi na siya umakyat. Actually, I also got cramps on the feet (not on my leg), wherein luckily I could holster myself up with my arms to the roof and just dragged by feet to the railings.

When we got there, we ate at the famous Masfarre's Inn & Restaurant. Masfarre is the photographer that took photos of the old original Sagada and made it famous. Some of his photos can be seen in the walls of the restaurant. Louie and I ate lemon chicken (P 180.00), while Julie and Abby got liempo and binangoonan. We also got the Sagadan Mountain Tea. Siyempre, hindi na kami nag take ng pictures because we were so hungry at the time we didn't even think about it hehe

Finally, afterwards, we went home, showered, packed our things. Oh yeah, finally found a place that could cook Pinikpikan for us for P600.00 including the red rice and some wine (all of which are Sagadan delicacies).

More pics here
To be continued again...

Not Lost Anymore! (Day 3 of Sagada Adventure)

Woke up 5 AM due to the very cold room, despite only 1 window open.

Went for a walk on my own, in St. Mary's (finally, I get to see it open), the bakery
Got stranded for an hour, walking back and forth, because of the parade of dogs barking in the street

Went to the caves, after meeting with our guide Eddison (recommended by Tita Mary) by 8; went out by quarter to 11 AM haha

Hurrying back home to pack our stuff, to the restaurant Green House Bamboo Grill (i think) to take out our Pinikpikan, to the 12 o'clock jeep. Only to find out there was a special 1 PM jeep (i didn't know if it was for us though, because they said the last jeep to leave for Bontoc was 12), so we had 1 hour to souveneir shop.

Arrived by quarter to 2 in Bontoc, left our things in the Cable Tours office, ate our Pinikpikan next door. We didn't get to look for the Museum anymore, since we left early to avoid the rains and the possible landslide.

Arrived in E. Rodriquez, Quezon City by 2 AM after 3 stop-overs

Tiring for sure! Pero gusto ko pa rin bumalik haha

The Road Less Traveled (Day 2 in the Sagada Adventure)

Woke up, rather early at 5:30 AM but we left the house at around 7:30 AM na ata

We trekked for 1 hour plus to the Bokong (Small) waterfalls and reached it after two wrong turns and 1 harder, steeper, muddier turn (where we saw another route afterwards that was so much easier). Took pictures for about 30 minutes. Didn't swim because it looked very deep.

Trekked back to the highway for 30 minutes. Meet Ate Ligaya, had coffee in their house, made chitchat for 2.5 hours while waiting for the jeep (it was a 1 hour walk daw kasi to where we're going eh)

Finally, able to hitch hike at a police car, trekked for 2.5 hours to the Bom-od (Big) waterfalls. Arrived there after 1 wrong turn (1 lang, but we were able to get our guides from that wrong turn). Waited for the native boys for about 30 minutes to leave, before we can go swimming in the freezingly cold water.

The tourists we met up with yesterday showed up again, and it was getting dark, plus we have to catch a jeep so we trekked back. There was no jeep, by 5:00 pm. So we have to walk to the town center.

Met Cristina, who's also going there. Started the walk back home. Good thing we found a jeep we could hitch hike with. Yehey! We sat on top of the jeep, as it is part of the Sagada experience, except for Louie who had cramps before getting to the top of the roof.

Had dinner at famous Masfarre's Inn, where Louie and I had lemon chicken. Julie and Abby had binangoonan and liempo. Saw very nice photographs of the old original Sagada, which was made famous by Masfarre.

To be continued again, tomorrow na siguro...

Banawe-Sagada Adventure (Day 1)

The most adventurous trip ever! Grabe, thanks to Julie, I never expected na PhP3,000 lang ang gastos namin haha Galing tapos enjoy pa kami sobra! It's so much fun na I'm willing to blog it out eh medyo tamad pa nmn ako mag blog hehe

So, we talked about meeting at 10PM in the Florida Bus in the Lacson, Manila terminal to talk about our itinerary when we get there. As usual, Filipino time, and since my mom was watching Maging Sino Ka Man, dumating na kami sa terminal almost quarter to 11 na, which is the ETD. Julie and I introduced our friends to each other, Louie and Abby. So, how was the bus? It was cold, very nice for PhP460, new and pink (Louie loved it haha). We sat in the second row. Nice cute boys at the back, who sadly did not stop at Banawe with us. (Sayang! That could have started our trip right! haha) There's a CR at the back, but I didn't use it so don't ask me what it looks like. ETA in Banawe is 6AM.

When we arrived in Banawe at around 7 AM, we met up with our guide, which is a friend of a friend of Julie's, Kuya Elmer. At that time, we haven't decided yet if we're going to sleep one night in Banawe, or two nights in Sagada. When the guides told that we could do a tour for PhP 900.00 for the whole day, that definitely changed our mind! Hindi pa included doon ang transportation fee and there wasn't much to see in Banawe naman eh, aside from the terraces. We just wanted to catch the first jeep going to Bontoc so we could go to Sagada, which was 830 AM. That gave us at least one hour to see what we could in Banawe, we just said that we want to go to where you could see the rice terraces in th PhP 1,000 bill. And then we left for the jeep to Bontoc (PhP 130.00 lang ata eh), arrived in Bontok by 11 AM. Took a long time because of the small, dirt road, and traffic caused by the machines working on the road. No worries, we had our breakfast there with sandwiches and took in the scenic green mountains with pine trees (Baguio used to have these trees but not anymore, or not in abundance).

We thought of walking around Bontoc for a while, and take the next jeep to Sagada (12NN jeep, PhP 35.00). We went to Cathedral of All Saints which was just nearby. We also went to Cable Tours to buy our tickets (PhP 600.00), as a safety net and make sure we can go home because we weren't sure of our costs at the time. Even though we were very hungry at the time, we thought of waiting and just eating lunch when we get there. I think malas ata kami sa transpo eh. In Banawe, one of the tricycles got a flat tire (Hint: That's not the trike that I was using haha). And on the way to Sagada, the jeep we were riding started to smell funny, sabi ng mga elderlies that we were riding with clutch burn daw. Good thing, we were near Sagada na at the time, just in case. Even though it was medyo slow, the elderlies that we were with were nice and very talkative! We asked about the place and if they know where Residential Lodge is, owned by Mary Daoas. I pronounced it wrong, though so there were a bit confusion at first hehe at least that was a conversation opener

Where we arrived in Sagada, we went to the inn we're staying Residential Lodge Inn kay Tita Mary's as recommended by several bloggers (PhP 200.00/head/night with nice hot water). Then we went to the famous Yogurt House to order food, and signed up at the Municipal Hall, then went back to Yogurt to eat the very yummy food! Pasta costs 120, rice meals were 150 and sandwiches were less than a hundred ata eh. It was hard to choose, especially when we asked the waitress, everything in the menu are best-sellers daw. Basta I read that the pasta were good because they were very cheesy, so all of us just had pasta. It was around 2PM na at the time. Since kanina pa kami gutom, ang bilis namin nabusog, and instead of ma-impacho, we just took our food out (and made it dinner! haha)

We thought na baka ma-hassle pa kami if we took caving, so instead we just walked around. We tried to go to some of the places on the map that were scenic, such as the ones listed in the Sagada sightseeing places. We trekked and saw the Cemetery, Calvary, Echo Valley, Hanging Coffins, St. Mary's Episcopal Church, and Sagada Weaving. We also went to one of the Souveneir shops near Sagada Weaving, and talked to the natives there. They suggested that since there were only 4 of us, we commute or walk around if we want to save money, instead of renting a transportation. (We were hoping kasi to met up with some other tourists para share the load.) They also recommended some restaurants, most of which I already found on the blogs. However, they suggested tasting the Sagada specialty called Pinikpikan, where it is composed of chicken (the whole thing including the head, feet, and liver, intestines part) and smoked pig (they call itag). It needs very tedious preparation though, so we have to tell the restaurant the day before. Oh yeah, it also consists of Killing Me Softly way for the chicken... Poor chicken, all that torture! We went also to the bakery, bought some bread, talked to other tourists and natives there (there's this cute kid Andre, hihintayin daw ni Julie pag laki niya). Julie also sang videoke there and I think nag-online pa ata eh. Afterwards, we went home, unpacked, fixed our things, tried to plan the next day.Here's the map that I used to walk around; they have another one which I forgot to take a picture of. Anyway, I think this one is very helpful, with notes of what to try and how long usually one can go to one place to another.

Oo nga pala, this is Julie's love interest haha



See more pics here
Some other time, I'll post Day 2. Gutom na ako eh...

Banawe-Sagada Trip (Day 1)

Read the Blog for a VERY detailed description haha

Basically, this is a 4N/3D trip covering both Banawe (which took one hour for us; we didn't go to Batad anymore) and Sagada. For our first night to end of first day (AKA second night), we left Lacson terminal in Florida Bus at 11PM, slept, and arrived in Banawe by around 7 AM.

7-730: talked with the guides; decided what our itinerary for the day
7:30-8:30: went to Banawe viewpoint (saw the original terraces for the PhP1000 bill)
8:30: headed for Bontoc Jeep; ate breakfast; slept
11:00: arrived in Bontoc; decided to roam; bought our Cable Bus Tours tickets, went and prayed at Cathedral of All Saints
12:00: left Bontoc; ate appetizer (AKA junk food); talk with very friendly natives and other lost-looking tourists hehe
12:45: arrived in Sagada; checked in at Residential Lodge Inn; ordered at Yogurt House; sign up at the Municipal Hall; ate yummy pasta at Yogurt House
2:30: started walking around the town; trekking by ourselves;
saw the baseball field;
saw the cemetery, took a wrong turn, returned to the cemetery;
saw another tour group with registered tour guide, followed them to lead us to the hanging coffins;
saw the calvary cross;
more photos of trekking, we lost the tour group;
finally saw the hanging coffins; pics in the cemetery;
arrived in St. Mary's Episcopal Church (it was closed, cannot pray inside);
met Andre, Julie's love interest;
17:30: went to Sagada Weaving;
talked and advised by the natives in the nearby souveneir shop;
reached the bakery on the way home, bought breakfast;
met up with some tourists from Angeles, Pampanga;
went to see what's in the market;
Julie sang sa karaoke;
went home, showered (sarap!), unpacked, fixed our things, finalized our plans for tomorrow

To be continued...