the week that was holy

May 5, 2011

There is so much to blog! I have no idea how to do this so here goes, bear with me!

So first the first week in the mountains!

Tuesday: Traveling Through

I flew up to Manila on the 19^th and the plan was to get on a night bus to Banauae. However when the rest of my crew tried to buy the tickets all buses were booked so we went to Baguio instead. We got there way early in the morning around 1 and it was cold. I could see my breath!

Wednesday: Summer in the City

We spent this day in Baguio just strolling around. Here in the Philippines they have what are called ukay ukays, which is basically cheap American clothing. Not really my scene. I don’t do garage sales, or TJ Maxx well and that is basically what this place is. We ate some good food that had real dairy products. And I had a couple hot showers. Baguio is also known for its strawberries and we were there when they are in season. Yum.

Thursday:

We woke up early and managed our way onto a bus bound for Sagada (part of the original plan). That was quite an adventure in itself. Then we took off some time between 5 and 6. Right when the sun was coming up. The area was gorgeous, we drove through clouds. I felt bad because I kept nodding off. It was quite a road. Plenty of switchbacks and parts of it were single lane dirt roads. We were going up country!

We got there and checked into our rooms and then went to the Yoghurt House for lunch. We shopped around, checked out the local shops and textiles, made plans for the next day, and found the Pie House I’d heard about. They had lemon pie, egg pie, and a seasonal blueberry pie. For dinner we went back to the Yoghurt house.

Friday: Using your coconut on Good Friday

On Friday we went caving! This was so cool. A volunteer in Sagada had set us up with a guide and we took the long route. On our way from breakfast a volunteer and I found 500 pesos in the street (which is about 10 dollars but spends more like 50, chaching!). We met up with the guide and he showed us the hanging coffins. This how they use to ‘bury’ their dead before Christianity came. A way for their souls to soar post death and not be owned by the land. The cave was amazing and quite a work out. We would have to navigate over, through, and down intense obstacles in just lantern light. The guides would tell us what to do, where to step and spot us. There was one time when the guide told us to put our foot on his shoulder then our other foot on his leg then step onto the other guides leg. Oh ya, and he was wearing cheap flip-flops. Then when we got to the bottom we looked we saw the guide was bracing himself in the splits between two crazy boulders. We’d sit and wait for everyone to go through and speculate where we’d go next. Usually it was the least likely option down some hole we didn’t even know was there. There was one part where it opened up and you could hear millions of bats and see them all perched on the ceiling. We basically slid down the guano to get to the bottom and the guides kept telling us to use our bukos as brakes (buco is coconut, referring to our bums as they also said) Then there is one part where we had to take off our shoes and go adventuring through these crystal clear pools and navigate under and around stalactites and stalagmites. Then the slow ascent out of the cave. Because it was Holy Week there were so many people.

We stopped by the pie house again on our way out and then went to get cleaned up for dinner and bed.

Saturday: So many steps!

Originally when we planned to go to Banauae it was to the rice terraces, the really old rice terraces. So we had to settle for rice terraces in Sagada, the just old ones, but we also got a water fall in the deal. From where we were staying we hiked up the road for about an hour or so, got to the place where we went down to the terraces and were feeling sore from the walk and yesterdays adventure. We hired another guide and started to descend hundreds, wait, maybe thousands of stairs down to this barangay of about 5,000 people. This trail (more like foot path) is the only way in and out for these people. Kids ran past us carrying flats of Gatorade on their backs. Everything has to be taken up or down on foot. The kids trek up to go to school. Quite amazing. We hiked on down, went through the town, and then it opened up into the terraces. We got to walk on through, now these terraces may only be 800 years old, but it was still amazing. Then we turned the corner and there was this gorgeous waterfall. We sat and waited and then a brave few of us decided to jump. We had to climb up and around the pool, under the waterfall and then onto this rock. It was amazing. After hanging out we decided we were just starving enough to go back up those thousands, now that I think about it maybe millions of steps. (joke la) At the top we treated ourselves to yogurt and then L and I made the mistake of running down the mountain. It wasn’t that bad but we probably should have waited a bit after our snack. Then for dinner we went to the Yoghurt House again.

Sunday: The crusade back to Manila.

We woke up early again to throw more elbows to get on a bus out of there. This time we got the very last seats on. The ride was just as beautiful in reverse and again I felt badly for dozing. When we got to Baguio we rushed to the bus terminal to see if it was a nightmare. Our plan was to take a late night bus so we wouldn’t have to get a place to stay in Manila that night, but being Easter and all everyone was traveling home. Here in the Philippines Easter doesn’t get much attention, but lots of attention the week before. The earliest bus we could get didn’t leave until 12:45 a.m. so we bought our tickets and went to the mall and park. At the park some religious group was having a Crusade Miracle of Jesus. It was in Tagalog so the only things we understood was high blood and other things like drinking alcohol. It was some sort of healing revival thing. That was fun to watch but then we got hungry again and spent the rest of the time waiting in a bar with amazing gelato and then a pizza place. Then the uneventful freezing bus back to Manila. We got there early and just waited at the PC office until it was time to go to my training.