SAGADA, revisited

Sagada is located in the Cordillera Region of Northern Philippines and one of the town in Mountain Province, known for its terraces, pine scenery, caves and cold weather. It is the perfect place for the adventure-seekers who love trekking, spelunking, rapelling and rock climbing due to its mountainous regions that are perfect for these kind of activities. It is 14 hours away from Manila. According to the numerous writing of Dr. William Henry Scott who is a historain by training and a missionary by profession, as well as an Igorot at heart, the people of Sagada are called as Igorot, which is derived from the root word "golot" meaning "mountains".

Two years ago I went to Sagada with my friends, but this time, I and my photographer friend and  some religious educator travel buddies decided to make a side trip to this place just after our Bauko journey for us to relax and enjoy the serene and solemn place of the town that one can go to when the stresses at work and the frustrations of city life seem too much. :)).. From Bauko it took us 1 hour going to Sagada, thanks to Sir Rolly's group of religious educator friend for arranging the rented van.

We reached Sagada at around 10:30am and we booked our room at St. Josephs Inn, the largest guesthouse in town. The rooms and cottages are made up of pine wood set in beautiful gardens over-viewing the town. We got our room at the 1st floor with private comfort room and hot shower. After unpacking our things, we went directly to Sumaguing cave and we decided to go there by foot.. yes by foot.. :) I love walking, taking advantage of the time and seeing everything whenever i travel. For me Sagada is like a big nature park, it was so relaxing to explore the place by means of walking..this is because of the atmosphere and the scenery along the way. It took us almost an hour when we reached the cave and our travel buddies are patiently waiting for us.. Thank You guys! :)

As far as i remember according to Gareth Likigan, my guide on my first visit way back 2008, Sumaguing Cave is very popular in Sagada as well as the Lumiang Cave, it became the burial grounds for the people of Cordillera during World War II and served as a hiding place of Filipino Soldiers and Guerillas. Upon reaching the Cave, I and Rolly decided not to go inside the cave since we've done it before, instead we just took some snapshots on the mouth of the cave and waited our travel buddies to finish their spelunking activity.

After the cave trip, we went back to our guesthouse to had our late lunch at Cafe Saint Joe, we ordered chicken with rice and drinks, they also offer extensive menu whether it is fresh vegetables, meat, chicken, bread and sweets. The Cafe is open all day located in the same ground of the guesthouse. What's nice about this Cafe is the beautiful setting, lovely veranda upstairs and the outdoor seating. You can never complain about the food in Sagada, it is fresh with reasonable price. Most of the restaurant has a very cozy and beautiful country style interior and they serve the food with such an impressive presentation you'd think you're in a fine-dining in Manila. Aside from Cafe Saint Joe..another must try restaurant is the famous Yogurt House where we had our dinner, we ordered stir pan fried beef and their famous yogurt. :)

The next day we woke at 5:00am. We waited for sunrise at the garden of the guesthouse, and it was very cold. Sunrise came but it was very foggy. The mountains showed for a few minutes then disappeared because of the fog. When the sun totally came up we went to Episcopal Church and took some snapshots on the place but we didn't stay for long since we have to pack our things to catch the 10am bus going to Baguio. I also had a chance to drop by at Bana's Cafe and bought some coffee for pasalubong. We left Sagada at 10am bound to Baguio, its a 6 hours trip. Then we reached the Victory Liner  Baguio Terminal at around 4:30pm and we have no choice but to get the available trip to Manila at 10:50pm  but it was okay since i had my iTouch and  Sir Rolly was there sharing some funny and interesting stories on his travel and photography experiences.

 "Anti-Social in Victory Liner Terminal" by ROLLY MAGAPAYO

I'm thankful and happy, Shangrila indeed! :)

BAUKO, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

I had a chance to visit the most populous town in Mountain Province, Bauko. It was a great opportunity to be invited by Rolly Magpayo together with Cherry Madriaga, a photographer friends from Digital Photographer Philippines forum. I think the most exciting part here was I'm with a new set of travel companion. It was our first time to be with each other on this kind of trip and i enjoyed being with them because I was able to gain more insight into a place and share travel experiences with them, this is exactly what travel companion provides..and I'm happy with it. ^_^

Bauko was created as a regular municipality in 1911 and it is the 4th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, Philippines and subdivided into 22 barangays, divided into the upper and lower areas. Getting there takes 12hours from Manila and 6hours if coming from Baguio. One of the famous resident is the late Marky Cielo, the first known Igorot-actor in Philippine showbiz. He is notable for his win in the reality talent competiton StarStruck (March 12, 2006).

Rolly and I left Manila at around 11:45pm going to Baguio via Deluxe bus of Victory Liner and arrives 4:30am. We waited and meet Cherry at the Terminal then we proceed to Slaughter's House to catch the 7am last trip of bus going to Bauko. Were lucky enough that we got the three last seats of the bus. It took us 6 hours from Baguio including two stop-over.

We stayed at the house of Rolly's friend, It is a two-story house, more modern than the tradional Igorot houses. When we arrived there were many people around the house and they were busy preparing for the next day wedding of Rolly's friend.

There were pigs and cows that has been butchered as there were tremendous numbers of people expected to be around during the celebration. The relatives and some friends share their helping hands to do all the cooking, serving and all that what was to be done.

It was a great experience for me since it was my first time to witness a traditional with slightly modern-like wedding of Igorot. The celebration last for about 2 days. It was not just for direct relatives and friends, almost the whole community was welcomed to join, and as a custom, they have to be hosted and food was distributed to people who came in because they need to be fed as well, at the same time, those people was generous enough to gave money or gifts to the couple.

Celebration includes the traditional wedding dance of couple by the used of Gong, food was served in different menu of pork and beef as a main dish, macaroni salad for dessert, and tons of rice wine.


How to Get there:

1 Take Victory Liner Bus bound to Baguio (6 hours travel time), departs every hour.

2. Take a bus at the Slaughters house in  Baguio bound to Otucan Sur(6 hours travel time), departs 6am and 7am.

Thanks to Rolly for inviting us to this trip. Cheers! ^_^

DAKBAYAN SA GENERAL SANTOS CITY

Due to Cebu Pacific non-stop seat sale, my friend invited me to visit General Santos City, it really surprised me when she told me that the promo ticket was only Php768 roundtrip (really a great deal ^_^). Without any plan on my mind and no assurance on my sched yet, i told my friend that i can join her for 2-3days only, and still she got a good deal on a weekend sched good for 3 persons, and this is where it all started...... Amazing Race Backpacking of Three Ladies... tsk! tsk! tsk! ^_^

General Santos City or so called "Gensan" is almost 2 hours trip by plane. Cebu Pacific, PAL, and Airphil  has flight in and out on a daily basis with a schedule of as early as 7am, they say that the Gensan Airport is the second largest airport in the Philippines... no wonder when we landed i kept on saying to my friend that among the domestic airport i've been before Gensan Airport was the best for me so far..it was clean, wide runway and very nice comfort room..


Some Interesting Facts about Gensan

• Known as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines

• Hometown of the famous Filipino professional boxer and politician Emmanuel "Manny" Dapidran Pacquiao and the fifth female Big Winner of the Pinoy Big Brother Melisa "Melai" Cantiveros

• Cebuano and Ilonggo are the main dialect spoken in the city. Filipino based on Tagalog is spoken as the National Language. English is also widely used.

• Kalilangan Festival, is the biggest festival in the City, celebrated every month-end of February.

• People from GenSan are mostly Roman Catholics. There are also a large number of Protestants and Muslims in the city.