Roadtrip 2010: The Banaue-Sagada Experience (part 2)

Part 2 of a series.

April 2, 2010
Day 2: Sagada day

At 5AM the group was busy preparing to go already. We were off to an early start so that we can go back early as well and make sure that we don't get caught in Sagada come night time. At around 5:30AM, we were already driving away from Banaue. It was another long drive going to Sagada. Roughly around 3 hours from Banaue if my memory serves me right (which includes the stops we had for picture taking). I think that the roadtrip from Banaue to Sagada is not measured in miles but in the number of mountains that you are gonna be crossing.

After 30 minutes of driving, we saw a tower from way up the mountains and so my in-laws told us, when we get there we are half-way near Sagada. And it was like --- what the?! Seriously. Because we saw ourselves getting near the tower. Until we saw ourselves having a stop over at THE tower. And darn, it was freezing up there

After sipping coffee, we headed back on the road. And stopped again at the sight of a village of rice terraces.
After another hour or so,we finally saw the sign: Welcome to Sagada

Just along the road before going to Sagada proper, we took a hard stop We saw the famous hanging coffins which really looked like amazing big stones. Of course, this was another photo opportunity.

Breakfast was first. Before doing so, we registered first for the Sagada Caving exerience, just the four of us: Me, hubby, Nikki and Renna. The oldies had to wait or else the caving may take the whole day. Of course, that's exaggerating it. After the registration, we got to a basement of some sort for breakfast. Nothing fancy but the red rice was an experience. Now, off to the cave! We stopped at the registration center to look for our guide. Oskie was the one guide assigned to us.


Pictures first at the entrance of the cave. While Oskie lights up the lamp, we surveyed what's in store for us. Dark, cold. But there were a lot of people so it wasn't too scary.

The caving experience was nice. It was a matter of knowing how to follow instructions basically. I can sum it up in three parts: The "smelly" part, the "watery" part and the "climb". I'll let the pictures speak for itself and leave you with your imagination. Over-all it was worth the experience.

The cavers: (from left - clockwise) Renna, Dingdong, Nikki, Jown

It took us around an hour and a half to finish the caving as we got to have enough proof that we did it. After that we took a shower, changed clothes then off to see Sagada. We tried going to a "small falls" but the path is not too nice. The little twigs that fell off made the soil too slippery so we went a few hills down and got pictures of the green rice terraces then we went to what Oskie referred to as a water cave. Funny thing was, there was no water due to El Nino. We drove home after that, wanting to be back in Banaue before it gets dark.

The group in the "underground water" tunnel -- without the water!

We had a feast of binagoongan, chubby cheesedogs, green manggo, and tilapia for dinner. Then we helped ourselves for some videoke. Tomorrow, we go to Batad falls in the morning and straight home the next day.

TO BE CONTINUED...