Sagada Adventure
I recently had a trip to Sagada to have an ocular of the place so our group could make a much better ecotourism strategy for that part of the country. I wasn't so revved up for that trip because there were only four of us going, to my great disbelief. There were ten of us in that group and yet only four of us were coming. Joyce was even tagging her boyfriend along just so there would be more of us. I tried to invite a friend myself but I was right about him not being interested on such a trip given a very short notice. So there were five of us heading for a place I thought would take forever to get to-- 6 hours to Baguio, and from there, 7 hours of rocky roads to the Mountain Province. And man, there couldn't be a name to describe that place any better. In fairview, the seceneries were spectacular. Mountains upon mountains of pine forests... The air even seemed scented with pine.. During the trip, I was only either sleeping, or eating. What a pig I am.
Anyway, when we got there, it was all good. I didn't expect anything so I wasn't at all disppointed-- not that there was any reason to be so. Everything even became suddenly fun when we got to have some real 'bonding moments'. We all got along very well. Joyce's boyfriend Paul is actually very nice to us all and he was also funny so I guess that added to it. As soon as we got there, we spent the afternoon touring the place on our own. It was quite small (or at least we were exposed only to a small area of Sagada) and so the tour was manageable even with our tired bodies. Besides, the environment was just so refreshing. I guess it was that that drove away tiredness from us all.
Early the next day, our guided tour started with an Igorot guide who was just HUGE. I therefore conclude that the natives of this country are wrongly described by whoever it is or whoever they are that write books about our origins. :p We were toured inside a cave, up, down, over, under rocks.. and man was it slippery. My knees were trembling knowing that if I ever fell, I was sure I'd die. I mean, with all the rocks??.. Anyway, we all survived the cave tour, though barely unscathed.. Paul was such a big help to us all girls. The guide was really just doing his job--guide us through the tour. Nobody said he'd help us get through everything we had to pass by..I should have understood that beforehand..
Well, the afternoon was spent hiking. And I didn't think it would get more and more dangerous. We passed through nature trails but the final part of the tour was that our guide took us through a route that wasn't used for a long time. The grass were all over. There was no trace of a trail anymore. So you can imagine how difficult it was for all of us.. scratches here and there because the grass' blades were sharp! and once again, over rivers, rocks and all those thorny bushes. But it's not to say that all was work. Earlier during the tour, we were shown a small waterfall. We took a quick swim at the river and it was soooo cold, but the thought that i was swimming in clean water from the mountain streams was enough to make me forget the cold... for a while. The final spot we went to was the Echo Valley. The view was the best!! It was overlooking everywhere we passed by. I thought that if i lived in Sagada, I could have always been found there whenever I was mad at the world.
We left early the next morning for Baguio. It was so scary because it ws so foggy and the road was very narrow that one wrong turn would head us right down the mountain. Well, to save myself the burden of thinking what grim things might happen, I slept almost the entire trip. Baguio on the other hand is not one bit impressive. In fact it was hideous. There were houses in every inch of the mountainside. The air was obviously polluted. I've read before that World Bank declared their air hazardous as the particles per million in the air there was much higher than here in Manila.. I wonder why so many people like it there..
Anyway, when we got there, it was all good. I didn't expect anything so I wasn't at all disppointed-- not that there was any reason to be so. Everything even became suddenly fun when we got to have some real 'bonding moments'. We all got along very well. Joyce's boyfriend Paul is actually very nice to us all and he was also funny so I guess that added to it. As soon as we got there, we spent the afternoon touring the place on our own. It was quite small (or at least we were exposed only to a small area of Sagada) and so the tour was manageable even with our tired bodies. Besides, the environment was just so refreshing. I guess it was that that drove away tiredness from us all.
Early the next day, our guided tour started with an Igorot guide who was just HUGE. I therefore conclude that the natives of this country are wrongly described by whoever it is or whoever they are that write books about our origins. :p We were toured inside a cave, up, down, over, under rocks.. and man was it slippery. My knees were trembling knowing that if I ever fell, I was sure I'd die. I mean, with all the rocks??.. Anyway, we all survived the cave tour, though barely unscathed.. Paul was such a big help to us all girls. The guide was really just doing his job--guide us through the tour. Nobody said he'd help us get through everything we had to pass by..I should have understood that beforehand..
Well, the afternoon was spent hiking. And I didn't think it would get more and more dangerous. We passed through nature trails but the final part of the tour was that our guide took us through a route that wasn't used for a long time. The grass were all over. There was no trace of a trail anymore. So you can imagine how difficult it was for all of us.. scratches here and there because the grass' blades were sharp! and once again, over rivers, rocks and all those thorny bushes. But it's not to say that all was work. Earlier during the tour, we were shown a small waterfall. We took a quick swim at the river and it was soooo cold, but the thought that i was swimming in clean water from the mountain streams was enough to make me forget the cold... for a while. The final spot we went to was the Echo Valley. The view was the best!! It was overlooking everywhere we passed by. I thought that if i lived in Sagada, I could have always been found there whenever I was mad at the world.
We left early the next morning for Baguio. It was so scary because it ws so foggy and the road was very narrow that one wrong turn would head us right down the mountain. Well, to save myself the burden of thinking what grim things might happen, I slept almost the entire trip. Baguio on the other hand is not one bit impressive. In fact it was hideous. There were houses in every inch of the mountainside. The air was obviously polluted. I've read before that World Bank declared their air hazardous as the particles per million in the air there was much higher than here in Manila.. I wonder why so many people like it there..
posted by Krissything at 6:38 AM
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