ramblings, random musings, fascinations, rants, raves and revelations

BODY:

Are yOu the tYpe  whose iDea of a perfecT geTaway iS To sLeep in a huT on soMe tropicaL isLand or Lie Like vegeTables unDer the sun? Are you a perSon whose iDea of a workouT is 15 minuTes on a step machine or feed the kangaRoos wiTh the picturaN mo na akO daLi-aTTitudE? [emMan?] Or is your idea of an advenTure is a  trip to soMe remoTe provinCe in the mountains to enjoy the Landscape from a nice, safe viEw deck?  Or are you the tyPe who Likes to weaR dangLing butterfLy earrIngs [raiN], gyM outfiT and perfect shiMMering Lips? If the answer is yes to aLL quesTions, I have this oNe advice: Stay aWay from Sagada. My friends suffereD-sLash-enjoYed.

Cold dayS are aLmost gonE. Summer is heRe. FortunatE that I am, I have friendS who wantEd an opening saLvo : SAGADA.

With 40 degree temperature, I may not have been in perfecT shapE to conquer the task. But i did. I just did.

I filed my VL friday, Feb. 16, made my way to MegamaLL to meet Au, Emman and Rain. Paid 250 for a private car to drop aLL of us to Victory Liner, Cubao. Bitoy joined us after a whiLe.

After 4 hours of what I can consider the fastEst and the zzzZzzest trip to BaguiO, we made tambay in 1 of my favorite resto theRe : VOLANTE.

From Baguio, Sagada is a scEnic 5-6 hour driVe on the Halsema mOuntain TraiL where yoU pass one of the highesT poinTs in the Philippine HighwaY sysTem. The famous hangiNg coffinS in the buriaL cavE at Lumiang is an eaSy [i wisH] waLk from the towN cenTer. The trek itself is a grueSome ordeaL for those who are useD to waLking on Manila’s cemenTed streets. Since we were in the mounTains, the traiL was, of course, anything but flat. I even lieD fLat on my buTT! At some point, I berated myseLf for not doing anything extRa To prePare for this kind of trip. Most of the time, I was left literally breathless. Wooden coffins piLed one on Top of the other greeTed us. Although it was a fasCinating sight, it nonetheless gave me a creepy feeling. It seemed as if invisible eyes waTched us. In the air was a silent warning: You can look, but cannot Touch. Inside is a nevErending puzzLe of hoLes and heigHts. Freezin water is a relieF feeLinG. Bitoy and eMman even drenched themseLves for the sake of piktyur-piktyur!

Thanks to our niCE and helpfuL sagadiaN guides whO helpEd us everY step [literaLLy] of the way. They even stOod as Our phoTographerS wiTh eMman as the directOr.

The nexT cavE [SumagIng] is reaLLy a wonderfuL sighT. Sayang di gaano nakita niLa rain, Au at Emman kse laTe na. There, i saw the firsT time i visiteD unusuaL stalacTite formations [check the pix!].

As predicteD, the cLimb up was the worsT part. I was wheezing and panTing aLL the way. Our guiDe sounded like my personal trainer as he kepT up with me.

When we reacheD the top, the feeLing we shareD among ourseLves was a sense of victory. It was no Mt. Everest but that climb/treK was noThing Like we’ve ever exPerienCed. Our reward? a cold, cold bottle of mineraL water and of courSe a van to send us back to inn [di na namiN kinaya magLakad].

After so muCh paIn and the undeniabLy-sLasH-wortHy experienCe my friendS demanded a massaGe [this tiMe i'm chiLLing agaiN at the same timE burniNg Like heLL].

The foLLowing morning,I woKe up early as we have to catcH the lasT triP to BaguiO. We enjoyEd shoppIng for souvenirs and makiNg tawadS. But that’s another sTory.

My seconD trip to Sagada was just beauTiful. I couldn’t think of a more fiTTing word to deScribe my days of staY wiTh nature, culture, hisTory and adventure. Our trip was physicaLLy tiring, but it was mentally and eMotionaLLy enriching. It was a caThartic exPerience to be imMersed in a world totaLLy differenT from what we deaL with in the big city.

As our BaguiO-boUnd bUs sLowly move its way ouT of the town pRoper, I caught myself whispering a mantra: I will be back, Sagada, I will be back kapaG mas maLapit ka na.