Sagada

Amazingly beautiful and exciting.

That's how I will describe my Sagada experience last holy week. Our adventure began when we took the bus enroute Manila-Banaue-Bontoc, I have never passed a road that steep, yun bang pagtumingin ka sa bintana ng bus eh bangin agad makikita mo, feeling ko one small mistake ng driver eh tigok na kami. I am not afraid of death, but I am afraid of heights.

From Bontoc where we took a quick breakfast, we rode the jeepney going to Sagada, it was a rough (to the max!) 30-minute ride, sumakit talaga pwet ko. But when we got there in Sagada... it was all worth it. First, ang daming cute na foreign tourists.. hehehe... ang sarap sa mata, nice view and handsome guys makes a heaven on earth. =p

Our first agenda after enlisting our names at the municipal hall was Spelunking at Sumaging Cave. Pababa pa lang ako ng cave eh sumeplang na ako buti naman reliable tong pwet ko at ndi ako dumiretso sa ilalim. Sliding through the 500-meter deep underground is not my idea of Spelunking. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. I am not athletic and malling is my only way of an exercise that's why being able to finish the 2 hour caving without a bruise or a scratch is truly a feat for me. And I have my 20/20 vision to thank for that because I didn't have a hard time seeing through the dark path. It was even easy for me to look for a rock to hang on to when the path is slippery.

I came out of the cave cold and wet but I still manage to walk to our inn, and took more pictures and looked through the souvenir stores along the way. We wanted to have a bonfire after dinner but since we were all so dead-tired, we decided to sleep early that night so we can have a good rest and still have time to see more sights the next day. But before bedtime Nats and I were able to find their famous yoghurt with strawberry preserve which was only available at St. Joseph Inn. Lunchtime pa lang naglalaway na kami for that pero lagi kaming nauubusan, but it turned out not so delicious naman pla. Ang asim!

The next day, I woke up at 6 am.. ayoko sana maligo, pero ang lagkit-lagkit na ng buhok ko at feeling ko ang dumi-dumi ko na. So I braved the cold water.. I took a bath for 5 minutes, ang lamiiig ng tubig, I thought I was going to die inside the bathroom. I couldn't feel the towel anymore run through my skin after the bath.

So that's what they mean when they say "cold, cold heart".. because coldness can really be numbing. =p

After a breakfast of club sandwich and pancake at the famous Yoghurt House, we head off to the Echo Valley. Kung saan nag eecho pag sumigaw ka. Dun ko sinigaw yung mga tanong ko sa buhay-buhay.. hoping to hear back some answers but I only got echos. Maybe we don't necessarily need voices to answer our questions.

I love that place on top of the hill, I was sitting under the tree, watching the beautiful view and taking in the fresh air. I wish we had more time, it's the best place to read a good book, it's very serene... it's now my favorite place on earth.

We left at around 1 pm, I was really tired and sleepy but I couldn't bring myself to close my eyes when we were leaving Sagada because the view was breathtaking.

What makes Sagada a paradise is not the mountain view that surrounds it, but it's the experience that will leave you enchanted. It's truly a once in a lifetime experience to see the pages in your Social Studies books back in gradeschool come alive.

I am lucky and I feel so blessed.

Thank you Lord.

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check out my pictures at http://ariadbeetle.multiply.com/photos/album/10