Sagada Trip - Day 2 and 3 (Spelunking, Burial Cave and Lake Danum)
The second day was spelunking day (caving) in Sagada. We met at the municipal hall at 8am with Bean (Korean) and our tour guide Ben. Kaya kahit wala ang kapatid kong si Ben, pwede na rin kasi may makukulit kaming Ben. "Ben bakit ganito yan? Bakit ganyan? Saan na tayo?" We had a 30 minute walk going to the cave. On the way we saw more sites of hanging coffins as well as a burial cave for mothers who died while giving birth. They say it's a curse so they separate their burial. Happy mother's day to you. The walk was very relaxing because the sun shone so brightly, the cool wind blows and the scenery was priceless plus I am with my honey! Really a wonderful time. Upon arrival at the cave entrance, our tour guide lighted our lamp which will serve as our light inside the cave. Then we started trekking inside the cave. The first phase of the trek down was stony and slippery together with the smell of bat urine and poopoo. It felt like I was Golum hiding in the dark cave. In front of us was a family also doing caving. I say they were not prepared for there was a lady who wears an all white outfit, another with lots of jewelry and unsuitable outfits. Anyway, there were stalagmites, bat noises, laughter and picture taking along the endless rocky and slippery path. As soon as you get tired of hiking, you get to see the next phase of the trek which was really awesome. Our tour guide made us remove our slippers and we have to walk barefoot on the yellow rock formations which were actually rough like a course sand paper. You will not slip but you will get wet because clear water is constantly flowing in the rock formations. We saw various formations like turtle head, pregnant woman, chocolate cake, king's curtain and others. There were also sea shells inside the cave. You also have to do rapelling in one of the rock formations. At the end of the cave (by the way it is called Sumaging Cave) is a pool 6 feet deep. Of course we did not swim because it is dark and we do not want to drown. hehe.. Spelunking took us almost 3 hours. Then we visited the burial cave (known as Lumiang cave) were lots of coffins are stacked. The coffins are more than 200 years old. Then for lunch, we went back to Youghart house and ordered carbonary, sandwich and of course youghart! Can't get enough of this youghart. After lunch, we went to the municipal hall to see if there are people who would go with us to the big falls because the tour guide fee and vehicle rental fee is expensive if only the two of us would go. But most of the people we talked to do not want to go because it would take too much time and effort to go there. The tour guide fee costs 600 and the vehicle rental costs 700. At the end we were not able to go because no one would come with us. We went back to our room and rested for a while. Then after that, we decided to visit Lake Danum. The couple in the room next to us told us that it is just a 45 minute walk going there. And so we did. We really did not know where it is. The road going to Lake Danum was also the road going to Besao, the next town. At first we were happily walking and joking around but after a few minutes we started worrying that it would be too far. There were dark clouds and signs of rain. But we pushed through. We asked a jeepney driver how far it is, he said 700 meters. And so we walked. But then, we got past the 1 kilometer road sign going to Besao and no Lake Danum in sight. We decided to go back after walking 3 kilometers but then the jeepney passed by us (tourists rented the jeep going to lake danum) and so we decided to go again to Lake Danum. But then, after a while, On our last day, we were suppose to ride the 10AM trip to Baguio but the bus was already full. Instead, we took the last trip which was 1PM. On that day also, there was a wedding. The whole town is invited. Others say its mandatory to attend. The Episcopal church was packed with people. I was disappointed since I thought it was a traditional cordilleran wedding but its not. After the wedding, the line of people going to the reception was so loooong. Of course what do you expect, the whole town is invited. We were joking about the wedding coordinator going crazy as well as the caterer and the husband minding all the costs! hehe Sagada was certainly a memorable getaway trip. Can't wait to be back!
