Pangalawa

once again, i was painfully reminded how unfit i was. during a recent trip to Sagada, Montain Province, we've lined up a couple of activities that, well, tested our endurance in terms of walking and balancing (ikaw na maglakad sa gilid ng bundok!)



the first activity is more of trekking up and down the mountain side. we've explored echo valley and checked out the hanging coffins then proceeded to the underground river...the locals (they call themselves kankanay) say that all three location are the closest to each other. but one has to walk a total of 3-4 kilometers in order to get to each of them. many times, during the trek, i wondered how i could go up or come down as most of it are steep mountain areas. before the end of 5-hour walk, most of us can hardly put one foot in front of the other. it was sooooooooooo tiresome!







the following day, we went caving! the mountain province boasts a lot of caves and mountainous areas which one can explore if one has lots of time and more money (you'll have to pay the services of a guide to take you to whatever place you want to go to). anyway, there are two choices for caving in sagada, the first is the normal caving (1K/10 persons) and the second is what the locals call the cave connection (1500/10 persons). having limited budget (there's nine of us in the group), we opted for the cheaper version which will take us to the sumaguing cave.

we woke up at 4am (despite each of us complaining on body ache) as we agreed to meet up with our guide at 5am. we got caught on the usual delays as the guides had to lit up their petromax which we will use to light our way inside the cave. once inside, i didn't realize that all we would need to do is to go down, down, down on a variety of rock formations without the aid of any harness of safety gear. we even had to get past the bats nesting ground which smells of a combination of bat urine and feces. but it's all well worth it once you get inside the cave. the rock formation which took nature hundreds of years to create is truly beautiful and mind-blowing...



my only regret is that we weren't able to attend the traditional kankanay wedding. our guide invited us to come but we were too tired to even drink the alcoholic beverages we brought much more to attend a wedding, however traditional that is.

lastly, when you get to sagada, try their halo-halo. it's the only halo-halo i've tasted that includes an elbow macaroni on its ingredients list. it also includes cubed pieces of watermelon and cantaloupe...more like a fruit salad with crushed ice...but it's a must-try though...hehehe...