Monday, October 20, 2008
the sagada leg
the morning after the batad "trek," i woke up to the sound of krizna's alarm-clock-like voice and sluggishly stood up. half an hour after, we were on our way to sagada. we passed by bontoc to have lunch at tchayapan. (good food here) the rest of the day turned out to be a "break" day after the strenuous hike the day before. we went to the echo valley and saw some hanging coffins. that night was also the night of the sardinas feast. due to a possible lack of funds, we decided to have vegetables and a big bowl of sardines for dinner. true enough, mabubuhay talaga ang mga ahrc interns sa sardinas. parang immersion talaga. haha!the next day was packed with activities. we woke up early (3:30am) to catch the sunrise at mt. kiltipan. while waiting for the sun to rise, we partook of our hearty breakfast - jjampong (noodles) with rice and hard-boiled egg. (once again, pagkaing intern. haha!) it was a foggy morning so we didn't get to see the actual rising of the sun. yet, when the sky cleared up a bit, the view of the terraces from kiltipan was just wonderful. we took lots of photos before we proceeded to the sumaguing cave to do some spelunking and rapeling.
sumaguing cave was something else. i was awe-struck with the gigantic rock and limestone formations inside the cave. we had to climb rocks and wade through the ice-cold waters. getting through the small passageways was quite an effort. after less than 2 hours, we emerged from the dark cave.
we had a hearty lunch at the yogurt house. i think this is a must-try when one goes to sagada. great food. i love the pasta. and their yogurt is the best. the place is quite pricey compared to the other restaurants in the area, but the food is really worth the price.
we then went to bokong falls for another round of wading/swimming through cold waters. bokong falls, also known as small falls, can be reached by going down the slope of a mountain. which means that we needed to go up the same slope in going back. haha!
rockclimbing was up next. but the ahrc oldies (a.k.a. tanders) were to tired. so mark, ona, lea, mars and myself decided to go back to george's guest house to wash up and then proceeded to cafe st. jo for a round of coffee and some bread while doing some usapang-tanders. you know, life questions and all.
dinner time came, we went to the log cabin for our much-awaited french buffet. just 3 words: GRABE, ANG SARAP! one should not miss this. they have the buffet on saturday nights and prior reservations must be made as the place really gets packed.
the following day (sunday), we had a sort-of picnic breakfast at lake danum. (we didn't have water! haha!) we didn't stay long as the sun was getting hotter. before lunchtime, we headed back to banaue. lunch again at tchayapan. (masarap talaga) we dropped by several viewpoints and saw the view of the terraces as depicted behind the 1000-peso bill. afterwards, we walked around the town while waiting to hear mass.
after the mass, we went back to the bus station. with roughly 500 pesos in our common fund, we again had a "hearty" dinner of cup noodles and tasty bread with fresca tuna (the ones which were not served during the sardinas feast. haha!). ipe was kind enough to buy another loaf of bread and mark treated us with coke. grabe, mga poor na talaga after the entire trip. haha!
what made this trip more enjoyable is the great company. sobrang laughtrip. pag walang pagkain, busugin ang sarili sa tawa. kwento. picture. tulog. kain. lakad. akyat ng bundok. at marami pang iba. to ona, kriz, pia, dema, lea, mars, tonton, mark, ipe, pedro, mike, cj, and kq, maraming salamat and til our next adventure! (let us make sure na hindi si my-ta ang gagawa ng itinerary para hindi tayo mamatay! haha!)
