The Sagada Journal - Day 2
Pictures available in my Multiply account...
Sagada Experience - Album 1
Sagada Experience - Album 2
Sagada Experience - Album 3
*****
Day 2 - Page 5
3/F Room Bilig, Residential Lodge, Sagada
* 4:45AM - woke up
- galamig!
(I was awaken by the biting chill! And partly by Gelo's snore. We forgot to close the windows and I wasn't able to grab my share of the blanket *I fell asleep while reading on the previous night*. I can't feel my toes because of the cold! Grumbling, I yanked on a blanket then went back to sleep.)
* 6:31 - breakfast (hipon, embotido, tocino)
- activated GPS (1,521 meters above sea level)
(Nice breakfast. Nanay Chebang cooked shrimps for us. Delectable! Afterwards, tambay muna sa labas then I activated my phone's GPS to save our coordinates and altitude. Wow high tech... pa-burger ka naman!)
* 6:46 - off from Residential Lodge
* 7:06 - mountain trail
(From here, we hiked up to a cliff ledge overlooking the Kiltipan Rice Terraces. Niiiice view! The height from there was reminiscent of my Sydney rappelling adventure but twice the drop! Even thrice, I think, if my GPS altimeter is correct.)
* 7:40 - mountainside photo ops
- overlooking Kiltipan Rice Terraces
(More photo shoots! The place is just romantic... if only we're not a sausage fest... Gelo, me, and Lou... pfft. Sausage time.)
Day 2 - Page 6
* 8:23AM - back to the van
* 8:39 - store stopover to buy trail food
(I bought the local version of chocnut.)
* 9:04 - dropoff point going to Bomod-ok Falls
- Barangay Aguid
(Sabi ni Gelo... Bumod-Okay Falls daw. Hahaha. O sige, you win. Haha! From Barangay Aguid, it'll be a downslope hike through the rice terraces to reach Bumod-okay Falls which is situated on a valley surrounded by the terraced mountains. Despite the sun, the climate's generally windy and temperate so it's perfect to get sunburn without you feeling it. As a precaution to shield my eyes and face, I wore my shemagh ninja-style!)
* 9:33 - Fidelisan Community reached
(This is one of several communities you'll encounter hiking from the Aguid trail. Bokyo told us that they weren't able to use this trail the last time that the Discover Asia trip was there because of an Ifugao ritual that forbids outsiders to pass through the ritual site. Anyway, it's a good thing there were no rituals during our hike. It's supposed to be only me, Ria, Bokyo, Dennis, Bang, Lou, Gidget, Gelo, Weng, Daniel, Ian, and Kuya Oscar that will walk all the way down to Bumod-ok Falls but we were surprised when Mex followed. Di talaga kami matiis ni Mex... naks! Happy happy happy birthday! Sayong tenenenenen, ho! Sayong tenenenen, ho! Happy happy happy birthday!)
Fact: Birthday ni Mex sa October 18! Happy happy happy birthday! Sayong tenenenenen, ho! Sayong tenenenen, ho! Happy happy happy birthday!
* 9:52 - small river passage
- walang signal ang Globe!
Fact: Mas malakas ang signal ng Globe on most parts of Sagada than Smart. Tas sasabihin nila sa kin mas malakas ang signal ng Smart sa mga probinsya... psh!
* 10:03AM - suspended bridge
(There was a steel matting bridge over a gorge.)
* 10:06 - Bumod-ok Falls sighted!
* 10:15 - Bumod-ok Falls!
(Along the trail, we were followed by Ifugao kids going to the waterfalls too. I was able to have short conversations with them which included brief Ifugao language lessons as one of them acted as translator for me in Tagalog and/or English. They're intelligent and I can see that they were properly educated if not by "private school" standards but ample enough. They have awareness not only about their small town but on other current events as well. They thought I was from Mindanao because of my shemagh. Gelo's getting anxious about it too. Madami na daw tumitingin sa akin from the communities we passed by along the trail. I'm sure, whatever it is, it's not about being anxious at a Muslim-looking bloke amidst them. They're probably just curious on how I look on my shemagh. Moving on...)
(Bumod-ok Falls in my estimate is just around 80-90 meters high but unlike most waterfalls, the surrounding pool at the bottom is not as expansive. The impact of the water is strong nonetheless! Mists sprayed on us from as far as 50 meters from the pool area. This pool supplied water on a narrow river that flows around the rice terraces' valley floor.)
(We roamed around the area while the others had massage from the Ifugao kids who offered some foot shiatzu for extra income. If not doing that, these kids haul sacks and sacks of sand back to their houses for construction purpose! I edged my way nearer the waterfalls, hopping from rocks to rocks scattered around the area. The falls is a beauty! It just sucks that there's this thick black wire hanging from the top of the falls lolling all the way to an adjacent cliff. You can't have a good photo without it getting on the way. Agaw-eksena!)
Fact: According to Kuya Oscar the Guide, just two weeks ago, a 15-year old girl slipped into the rapids raging from the waterfalls and into the connecting river and died. So sad.
Day 2 - Page 7
* 11:13AM - bye Bomod-ok Falls!
(We headed back to the trail.)
* 11:30 - back in the terraces path
* 12:16 - still on the trail
- music on Lou's music player: "Senti" by Yano
* 12:28 - Pide Community
(Pide is one of the communities along the trail. You'll notice on this part of the rice terraces that there were huge... as in HUGE... boulders littered everywhere on the terraced steppes. These are evidence of landslides that ravaged the rice terraces during typhoons. Although I can't imagine seeing those uber humongous rocks rolling down the rice terraces.)
* 12:37 - back at dropoff point (Aguid)
- basketball with the locals
(It was a very very tiring hike going back up and it drained me of the remaining water supply in my hydropack... all 4 litters of it! Still, I have enough energy to have a shoot out with the locals in an adjoining basketball court while the rest took a rest. Wow, double usage of "rest"!)
* 12:54 - off from Aguid
* 1:17 - Strawberry Fastfood
- lunch time!
- videoketime with foreign audience
(We had a quick lunch at this local eatery that has a karaoke machine. Kuya Oscar punched in a cowboy-song MTV and took delight on it while he finished his food. It's quite entertaining, really, and I think it was the "IN" thing on the Mountain Province area since later on the trip, we'll hear some more hick-songs playing on the local radio somewhere in Benguet. Daniel should have started the videoke craze but the machine kept on acting up when he attempted to key in his songs. When at last, one of the songs played properly, Gelo finished it for him. I followed next without much prodding with the ubiquitous "Closer You and I" but alas it was not the upbeat version I wanted. Boooring. Lou followed with Andrew E.'s "Banyo Queen" as some foreigners went in to chow. Weng had a small chit chat with them as Lou finished his song.)
What-I-ate: Mami, Bacon Sandwhich
* 2:23 - off from Strawberry Fastfood
Day 2 - Page 8
* 2:34PM - St. Mary Church
(We started the hike going to the Echo Valley, passing by St. Mary Church which is under the Anglican governance. Along the way, we had some small historical talks about King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth I. Key figures on the establishment of the Church of England and Ireland which later on became associated with the current Anglican Church. Kuya Oscar exchanged ideas with me regarding small differences between the Catholic and Anglican beliefs. Astig.)
Fact: According to Kuya Oscar, St. Mary Church is the biggest church on the Cordillera region.
* 2:49 - Sagada Cemetery
(It's weird that I din't feel eerie walking through this cemetery. Shortcut daw ito sabi ni Kuya Oscar the Guide. The place is so serene and I can see more "art" in its beauty than morbidness.)
Fact: Contrary to popular belief, the corpses in the Hanging Coffins of Sagada are not mummified. They were embalmed using natural embalming herbs and concoctions.
* 2:54 - Echo Valley viewdeck
(The view is wicked! I'm starting to regret not having a proper digital camera.)
Fact: The latest addition to the Hanging Coffins was just affixed last June 18... our guide, Kuya Oscar's own late grandmom.
* 3:12 - actual grave site!
(We descended some 80 meters *warning: I suck in distance estimates* down a cliff face towards the grave site. Kuya Oscar explained everything we should know about the Ifugao tradition of hanging their dead.)
Facts: According to Ifugao beliefs...
...the higher the coffins are, the closer they are to Heaven.
...those who believe in reincarnation are interred inside the coffins on a fetal position, readying them for their second life.
Day 2 - Page 9
* 3:19PM - bye Hanging Coffins!
- starting to rain
(It was starting to drizzle and Kuya Oscar gave us the time estimates and what to expect on traversing the trail under the rain. Despite it, the team decided to still continue the hike instead of backing up to the Sagada Cemetery! I'm proud of you Team DiscovereD haha! We came to stop at this spot where Kuya Oscar pointed at a higher cliff face where more wooden coffins were impossibly stuck on crevices. None of the locals know how it ended up there because the coffins have been there since the early times of Sagada.)
* 3:31 - cave sighting
(We're now further down the Echo Valley. So far, on most of our hikes, it's been the descent that is more treacherous than the climb. Here at the Echo Valley floor, it's still the same problem. Sumemplang twice si Bang! But the superwoman was still able to continue the hike. Angas. Pero mas maangas yung naputol na tsanelas ni Weng. Haha! Peace.)
* 3:37 - dead river trail
* 3:40 - rain!!
- ciao for a while
(The rain got stronger! I have to hide my notepad for a while and it actually caught droplets on some parts. Good thing the smudges it made are still readable.)
*** Team DiscoverED Asia and the Echo Valley Hike ***
The rain churning none-too-subtle, we still continued the hike... o-ha! The trail was doubly slippery and handholds has been too tricky to be relied on as well. I told Gelo to stay as close as possible to the ground... and even butt-crawl on most parts of the descent just to work around the thickening mud. Despite getting soaked wet and filthy, the group even held their spirits higher as they took the situation more as an exciting adventure than a pityful predicament. See, nice set of people to be with on such a trip di ba? I can't imagine being with more "refined" companions on this trek. Sigurado sumasakit na ang ulo ko sa mga reklamong maririnig ko.
* 3:55 - river crossing
- cave haven
(The rain got colder and heavier. We crossed a narrow river that flows from a huge cave... Matangkib. We took refuge inside it to wait out the rain. Photo shoot time with Gidget's waterproof camera! Waterproof! Waterproof! Waterproof! We were kidding Mex that this was all part of the itinerary... and that we actually loved it!)
Day 2 - Page 10
* 4:35PM - got my journal back
- back in the streets of Sagada
(We're back in the streets of Sagada and Gelo just kissed the concrete road... yes... kissed. Don't worry there were no tongues involved. Along the trail back to the main road, we passed along this Mr. Joaquin's house which was built on a cliff edge. Writer daw sa UPLB? Basta sikat daw siya sabi ni Kuya Oscar. I don't know him. There were more burial caves high on the crevices on that part of the Echo Valley.)
Facts: According to Kuya Oscar...
...there were other Persimmon trees around the Cordillera region but the Persimmons in Sagada are the only ones that bear fruits!
...Sagada has a population of only around 10,000.
* 5:04 - St. Mary School - Sagada
(We went inside the campus. All their classrooms' furnitures are wooden. Gidget studied on St. Mary in Baliwag. Nice... sister school. Pa-burger ka naman!)
Fact: Tuition in St. Mary's is only 5,000 bucks a year which already includes school supplies!
* 5:29 - back to Residential Lodge
- valley shortcut
(Going back to the lodge, we trekked from the rear area of St. Mary School... a descent down a small valley community and a partially steep climb emerging at the streetside near Residential Lodge. It's actually the shorter but harder route going back. And we thought we've had enough of the Echo Valley trek! "Malapit" lang daw kasi sabi ni Kuya Oscar. Argh.)
* 6:51 - nakaligo!
(One of the bestest bath I had in my life. Haha!)
Day 2 - Page 11
* 7:20PM - Masferré Restaurant
- dinner
(The foood is mui delicioso!!! O baka dahil sa sobrang gutom lang namin from the day's events? Masferré has a nice selection of food but most are not available. Oo nga pala, expect things like this where some cuisine in the menu are not available. Most resto in Sagada has limited access to ingredients that are native to the place. Remember that the next place they can buy stuffs are like several kilometers away and most grow their own ingredients instead. Kuya Oscar told us that some resto grew their own rice on their own lot in the rice terraces.)
Facts: Masferré came from Eduardo Masferré, Father of Filipino Photography. Dahil nauuso ang SLR ngayon, dapat alam ito ng mga photographers at mga feeling photographers. So for those photography afficionados, afficionados-to-be, and afficionados-wannabe, remember the name Masferré! Tatay niyo daw siya. Haha!
(The place has a lot of photos by Masferré. But it's prohibited to take photos inside the place. Kinantyawan na lang namin ulit si Mex... Happy happy happy birthday! Sayong tenenenenen, ho! Sayong tenenenen, ho! Happy happy happy birthday! Yes... maingay kami.)
What-I-ate: CHICKEN in orange sauce, chopsuey, ham and egg sandwich!
* 8:45 - done dinner
* 8:56 - tambay mode (Residential Lodge)
(The Koreans on our adjacent room are gone for the day. Wala na kaming kaagaw sa tambayan... yipeee! We lounged on this communal sala then took out our toma! A bottle of peach and persimmon liquor. Amoy at lasang suka ang persimmon pero tinoma pa din namin nonetheless! The gang also took turns getting a massage from Manang I-forgot-her-name while Gelo, being Gelo, slumped on his seat for some Z-time. Zzzzzz!)
* 11:00 - done tambay
(Ang sarap pa din ng tulog ni Gelo. Kaya iniwan naming lahat mag-isa sa sala. Haha!)
Day 3 - Page 12
* 7:00AM - wake up!
* 7:38 - breakfast table
(Hotdog, bacon, and egg on our plates... yub yub!)
* 8:50 - packed up
(All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...)
* 9:21 - souvenir shop
(I bought several tshirts and an anklet that I laced around the zipper of my assault bag... so can I call it now a "zipperlet"? We even had short lessons on how Ifugao naming conventions are done from the Ifugao saleslady, herself.)
Fact: If an Ifugao baby is named after a living family member, the family member has to change name. Most Ifugao names are taken from dead relatives. This way, those people who are still living in the family rarely have the same name. Sorry Junior.
* 10:07 - bye Residential Lodge!
(Ayaw pa namin umalis ngunit kailangan.)
* 10:20AM - exchanged contact numbers
(Dito na namin niloloko si Mex na kukumpitensyahin namin siya under the company name DiscovereD Asia! Hahaha... isang letter lang ang diperensya!)
* 11:13 - Alab, Mountain Province
* 11:24 - Gonogon, Mountain Province
* 12:32 - pee break
* 12:52 - bus screw up
*** The Bayanihan Bus ***
A couple of kilometers from Gonogon, the rough roadside merges into a one-laner due to constructions. A local passenger bus bound for Benguet screwed up blocking the dirt thoroughfare. When people from the bus went down to push the BUS, we decided to help out. It's part of the adventure! Despite our numbers, the uneven terrain, sheer weight of the bus, and the upward slope proved to be a stubborn resistance. The bus won't bulge.
A couple of minutes more and both lanes have several vehicles piled up already. More people from the stranded vehicles went out to help. But my immediate observation was that none from the more "well-off" luxury vehicles cared to. You can take the konyo out of the city, but you can't take the apathetic lazy-ass city attitude out of the konyo! Hahaha. I say, they should be the one who deserves to get stranded on that place... forever!
Being immediately behind the bus, Bokyo was able to craftily squirm our van past the blocking bus and we should have been free to go outright. But the bayanihan-spirit on us, spurred by the passion of the people outside to help, made us stay for a while and also help push the poor bus out of its misery. It was uplifting to be with a bunch of people who can't even understand each other because of their different dialects but are working out of camaraderie to strangers in need! Heck, the next person beside me pushing the bus is a foreigner!
Anyway, after a while, after continued effort to shove the bus for even a small distance, the ignition fired up. Wippeee! It was a nice feeling. I can see the foreigner beside me in glee and he din't think twice when I offered a hand for a high-five. Apir! Anong say ng mga highfalutin bastards dun sa mga otong hindi tumulong? Bwiset!
* 1:29PM - Buguias, Benguet
* 2:29 - Atok, Benguet
- siopao stopover
(SIOPAO... ganyan kalaki yung siopao nila.)
Day 3 - Page 13
* 4:00PM - La Trinidad, Benguet
* 4:16 - Petron - La Trinidad
- stopover
* 4:46 - Burnham Park, Baguio City
* 5:04 - SM-Baguio
- dinner
(A quick dinner at SM-Baguio. Kami nila Gelo and Lou nag quick draft beer. Haha!)
* 6:18PM - bye Baguio!
* 6:38 - pasalubong stopover
(I bought mom her pahabilin na walis tambo.)
* 7:33 - Shell-Rosario stopover (again!)
* 8:12 - Urdaneta, Pangasinan
(Ayan, dito medyo magulo na kami sa van. Hirit na naman si Nanay Chebang na para daw kaming matagal nang magkakakilala. Sabi namin matagal na talaga kaming magkakakilala. Kahit si Mex tropa talaga namin noon pa. At na nasa Wow Mali lang siya. Hehe. Laugh trip. Kamuka pa daw ni Ian si Stephen ba yun? Peborit niya tuloy si Ian. Haha.)
* 9:54 - Shell-NLEX
* 10:13 - Mega Station, Caltex-NLEX
(Ambilis talaga namin!)
Day 3 - Page 14
* 11:13PM - Drop off in Muñoz (Bang, Daniel, Gidget, Weng)
* 11:16 - Drop off in Q. Ave. (Ian)
* 11:29 - Drop off in Makati (Lou, Gelo, Obi)
*12:14AM - Home sweet home!
-- Thanks God for the safe trip!
-- Salamat sa Discover Asia!
-- Salamat sa Team DiscovED Asia! Hahaha! "L" is for Love!
-- Salamat kay Nanay Mary ng Residential Lodge (na magtatago sa akin sa Sagada pag nang rape ako dito sa Manila... pumayag siya!)
-- Salamat kay Kuya Oscar... isa kang alamat!
-- Salamat at naimbentong kainin ang manok!
Nagdagdag ng gulaman noong 3:37 PM
3 Comments:
looked like you had great fun! plenty of pictures to view... thanks for sharing this.
nga pala, kankana-ey igorots live in sagada. they're not ifugaos.
cheers!
blog of the SaGaDa-iGoRoT
SaGaDa-iGoRoT.com
thanks dude! it's just some of the people around the Cordillera area (not just Sagada) prefers to be called Ifugaos. But yep yep, that's the more specific politically correct term the kanka-ey's of Sagada! nice info. and keep up the Igorotak spirit!
@#$%! sinong photographer mo? tanginang galing. i like "cliff hanger" and "two thumbs up"
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