Mountains of Rice, Caves of the Dead

After returning from Matabungkay, Maggie and I decided it was time to pick up the pace a bit. While it was nice to hang out, taking it easy and whatnot, we were feeling the symptoms of simplicity. Restlessness, sleeplessness, and a general desire to run around like palm civet cats (I saw one of these climb a tree in Mata).

In order to quench our desires, we spent our day in Manila prepping for the next leg of the journey, our trip to the North.

We hopped on an overnight bus around 8pm in Manila, settled into some funky upholstery and tossed and turned our way for 9 hours. As the bus creeped to a stop in the earliest light of the morning, we were called to hop off. Everyone else stared over their seats at us as we made our way up from the back of the bus. Apparently no one else was getting off here. Were we in the right place? Interesting, I thought as we slid by the weary faces of the other passengers.

Stepping onto the road, the bus grumbled up and away along the winding road leading along the mountainside, leaving us in a moment of silence too eerie to last.

As the premonition was forming itself, and as can be predicted, we realized the sliding shadows around us were drawing closer. Stepping into the light from the solitary streetlamp of the bus stop, touts began yelling their offers at us. "Need a ride Sir? Mam?" "Reservations Sir?" "Mam, you have hotel?". Offers that might seem helpful, were nothing but dissonance at that hour. Their incessant repetition most unwelcome to my tired and aching self. What we needed what nothing. We needed space and time to figure out a gameplan. We needed a place to sit down, to think, maybe eat. Then we needed to open our guidebook, figure out what the hell we were in Banaue for, and make decisions for the next few days from there.

Avoiding eye contact and offers we found the only open establishment, a bakery. With a couple of pastries and snacks, most costing around 5-10 pesos ($.10-.20).

Wow, this post is getting long, I'll speed things up a bit.

After a breakfast on a terrace overlooking the rice terraces and valleys of Banaue, we decided to start hiking up the road in search of some vistas. We found a few overlooks which gave us a chance to take in the awesomeness of the valleys we were in. Mountains stretched towards the horizon, with deep valleys between. The slopes of the mountains, carved into some of the world's most impressive rice-terraces, form patterns of parallel lines which wind their way into the distance. It seems that nature has been adapted to the needs of people in a way that does not detract from its beauty.

We took a jeepney from there to Bontoc, then transferred to another jeepney to Sagada, where we'd spend the next few days.

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Upon reaching Sagade, we were immediately struck with something. It happened as soon as we got there. What was different here? Yes it's beautiful. But so was everywhere we'd been basically. Then it hit us. No one in Sagada was trying to offer us anything. No offers for rides, for hotels, for souvenirs. We were being left alone, and as we both realized this, we mutually decided this town was really f-ing cool.

Sagada sits high in the mountains. The town is surrounded by terraces which provide for ample gardening and farming space, agriculture being the primary industry.. There are fresh vegetables everywhere. The food here was great, cheap and most importantly fresh.

The town is surrounded by limestone cliffs, which also form all sorts of weird craggy spires in random places. Some are large, the size of a house, and others are small. People have built homes inbetween them, on top of them, or using them as supporting pillars. It's like the people have really made the mountains part of their homes.

There are wild sunflowers everywhere here. They line the sides of the roads, and fill the occasional void in the terraced landscapes. Bursts of yellow dot the varied spectrum of greens.

In the next few days here we took part in the outdoor activities the town offers. We spent two days hiking in the local caves. Lit by kerosene lantern and headlamps, we followed our guides in the the belly of the mountains. Down past large caverns that screamed with the cries of their bat inhabitants, we descended over slippery rocks, guano and mud until reaching the underground river.

The cold water running through the mountain has been depositing calcite and minerals since it began etching its snakelike path. The rock has a rough texture to it, which your feet seem to stick to. Removing our shoes, our guide took us on a 2 hour romp in this underground wonderwold. Squeezing through crevices, climbing up walls with ropes, and walked through chest deep water (bags held aloft), we were like kids in a candyshop. Couldn't believe this existed. It was like a water park, climbing gym, and ghost house, all rolled into one. We had so much fun, we decided to do a longer caving hike a few days later.

Sagada's intrigue also lies above ground. Specifically, on the cliff faces. Well, hanging from them anyways.

The people of this area traditionally bury their dead in hanging coffins, which are coffins that are bolted and suspended from the side of the cliffs. They believe that by keeping them above ground, the spirits of the deceased are able to be free, to move upwards and onwards. In Echo Valley, you can hike down close to one patch of these coffins, suspended overhead. While the coffins are mostly out of view from the main area of town, the entire town seems to take on an eerie vibe. At the mouths of one of the caves we hiked into, stacks of coffins line the walls as well. Passing by these gives one an intense moment of reflection on life and death, just before entering a deep blackness. Not for the feint of heart (or spirit) I should say.

On another day in Sagada, we hiked to the next town, Bangaan, 4km away. We hired a guide who took us through the rice terraces, weaving a trail down to the bottom of the valley where we swam in a waterfall.

It seems there is no shortage of beauty or magic in the North. We loved Sagada, and were sad as our time there came to a close. But our next stop would be the coast and the surf, so we looked downhill and started rolling...