i heart sagada

I was gonna explore Sagada in December 2003 with the guy of the moment. But the thing we had “was too fluid and he was completely being consumed…” :-D I made initial plans with friend bobby d last March to go there on Holy Week break, but I went to Galera instead :-P

I finally got to go with Rosey Cheeks without so much preparation except to drool over Sagada stories and shots in several blogs. The last 3 days prior to the trip, I’d been checking at least 3 sites for the weather situation as some people warned and worried that La Nina has arrived in the country.

Anyway. Reliable footwear can only take you so far when you’re trekking and caving in Sagada. Our group wore different kinds of such – rubber slippers – (havaianas, speedo), islander slippers, sneakers, mojos, those shoes for snorkeling; and we all really had a hard time traversing. At some point, others preferred hiking barefoot.

I say, a fun loving spirit, balance and faith are what will really help you go the distance ;-)

In the jeep approaching sagada, rose and I were conspiring to recruit the couple across us to join us trekking so we can share the Guide’s fee and van. Turns out, they were thinking the same. When we got to st. Joseph Resthouse, we had 2 other groups in our team. On our way to the big falls, Rose realized there were 9 of us. “We are the Fellowship!” Yes, and that’s Misty Mountains over there! :-D Nobody claimed to be Frodo, though, and I wanted to be like Strider. In reality we were just daring people who hoped for the marvelous and never really knew what to expect. Rose and Kate Winslet were geared for rigorous picture-taking, Strider-wannabe’s idea of preparing for a trek is to buy tent (which she doesn’t actually bring hehe) and on the side, manage to campaign for a party list and lecture on third world debt and why it needs to be cancelled :-P, Carla made daily calls to boracay to ask “Ala carte o buffet today?” Chef pala ng new restaurant by station 2; with her are her 2 younger brothers Cholo and Diego who adored the pork dishes by the roadside carinderia; I can’t quite get over my delight in meeting for the first time, an aquarian (!) couple who are truly the epitome of impulse – Vince and Joan extended their stay for 2 days more, maybe because we were all having so much fun); and Al and Ria who’re probably in their honeymoon stage – in the middle of crawling the tedious Sumaging cave, the husband asks, “nagsisisi ka ba na pinakasalan mo ako?” Lol! Our beloved guide was called by many names like Satur, Laurel, Guess, Sirguide, Sirtour. He is kuya sotero who has a lovely house with windows opening to the most picturesque views. The other guide Andrew, I will leave to his great “fan” Carla to blog about, wahehehe. We had so much fun and we have pictures to show for it. Hanging out by one of the cave nooks, someone suggested we form our e-group. The Fool-blooded Igorots! Woohoo!


The stones in the cave were so incredibly slippery, I thought, if you have the experience, then you could try to be as lightfooted (as Legolas, dee? asked rose) so you can walk faster and slip less. But we didn’t, so we just hoped to always find our balance and regain our footing. And to do that, one has to be fully present. I kept telling my friends back in Manila that Sagada is one big lesson for me about being in the now. I said “you really have to be in the bato and focus on your path, otherwise you die.” Hehe exadge! And so, I didn’t really get to daydream much in the mountains. In our last trek down Echo Valley, our guide wasn’t sure whether to go on or not as heavy rains came pouring down. The trip also involved checking yourself, and trying to distinguish between wanting fun and just giving in to pure folly.

Eventually, we forged ahead; we made it through the rain and off the beaten track. It was always so easy to be scared. You need to be able to decide to have faith. Faith that you will get seats on the one-trip-a-day bus to Banaue even though we didn’t have reservations, no matter how slippery, no matter how liquefied glacier the cold water seemed, no matter how you almost fell off a cliff halfway to Baguio had the driver braked 1 second later and no matter how easy it seemed to slip and fall into the abyss; that you will be as alright as Bob Marley says. Then suddenly you realize you’ve passed SM North and 5 hours have gone by since you left Baguio via the smooth-sailing victory liner. What joy! :-D

Sumaging is 2 hours of grueling mix of walks- spider, crab and normal, and a bit of going up and down by knotted rope. Yet somehow, we managed to have class pictures taken. How cool is that? :-P Guide Andrew asked what we thought of that thing hanging by the ceiling of Sumaging cave. In one beat I said “heart!” The others guessed some more but I was the one who got “plus 10 points” :-D Andrew said it’s stalactite – and for him, it’s the heart that keeps the cave alive.

From me to you, I wish you fun, freedom, faith and much much stalactites ;-)

P.S. I’m leaving for Eurof this Friday, back June 13. Wish me a lovely time?