Lost in the mountains (2012)

One of my other Holy Week travels. Thank you for the holidays and long weekends. This time I got "lost" in the Mountain Province.

This is another one of the travel tours organized by Viajero. :) Their tours are affordable and it doesn't feel like a tour...more of one big barkada outing/adventure :)

Day 0:
We left on a night bus from Sampaloc, Manila bound for Banaue. We took the then operational Florida Bus. In fairness to their bus, sure it was kinda cramped but the air-con was just too cold...too cold. We mostly slept on the way and with some bathroom breaks along the way.

Day 1:
I think we left around 9:30 PM and arrived Banaue around 6:00 AM

We had breakfast and then hopped on a private jeep going to Batad. Batad is just one of the villages in the Mountain Province which have the rice terraces. Now this is where you'll see postcard worthy scenery of the famous Philippine Rice Terraces.

It's not easy to get here..no it's not. From the Saddle Point (drop off point of vehicles) it's about a 2 hour walk or 1.5 hour walk if you're fast going to the Tourism Office. From there I think it's another hour going down to the heart of the Rice Terraces. It's pretty scary to go down because there are rocks and if you fall I think you might break a few bones or you'll fall into one of the many rice paddies. Hell, even grandmothers are laughing at us city kids as going up and down the Rice Terraces is like going up and down a regular staircase.

And after the walking/hiking/stair climbing/workout we've reached the house :)

Inside the house, bf by the window...so dark!

Day 1 was a lot of work, lots of walking/trekking/scary-moments-going-down and etc. But the view, when you see the actual view. It's all worth the pain :) Reality hit us that we would be going up the same way the next day. T_T The owners of the houses we stayed in cooked for us. We had traditional Tinola (Chicken soup) and man...the chicken was also traditional...very chewy. :) Also, had their rice wine...strong..not too bad..one way of falling asleep. :)

Day 2:
We woke up early since next spot for the Mountain Province tour was Sagada.

We arrived around mid-morning (I think) in Sagada. It was raining and combined with the climate....cold...T_T was just cold...

After settling our stuff in our hostel, weather became warmer and we were able to explore the park behind the main church, Echo Valley. Please see pictures below.

The trees of Echo Valley

More pine trees

Jagged stones

 It was around afternoon when we would be going to Sumaguing Cave for some caving/spelunking.

We took the shorter caving experience. Going down the cave was kinda scary because you have to watch where you are going, watch out for rocks or where you're stepping. I fell on my arm...so you really need to be careful and listen to your guide. :)

Entrance to Sumaguing Cave

Our guide showing me where to step

Quick picture!

Squeezing my way into the nook and crannies of the cave

After spelunking, we headed back to our hostel to wash up and then walked around Sagada for our dinner. :) We ate at this Igorot Hotel/Hostel where they served up buffet that costs less than P200. Sweet!!! End of Day 2.

Day 3:
I think we were supposed to go to the falls but we were just too tired from the spelunking the day before. Whole body hurts. :( So in the morning, we went walking around Sagada, bought some pasalubong and then we were off to Bontoc for the festival :)

Bontoc Festival

Stop over at Banaue Rice Terraces

My background is the Rice Terraces background that can be found on the 1000 Peso Bill

It was night time that we left for Manila via Bus. We arrived around 6AM in Manila. Right now, there are private van tours and other group tours that offer Sagada-Batad trips. No need to ride the bus and no need to wait. Van tours may be cramped but at least you can go with your friends and no constraints for following bus schedules and renting out jeeps.