Sagada

The next morning Katrin, Inken and I packed up to head West to Sagada.  Sagada is a little village of about 1600 high up in the mountains and a favourite among backpackers for its outdoorsy activities and cheapness.  On our way to getting the jeepney over to Sagada, we were intercepted by a local who was driving a van to Sagada for a bit more money, but also much more comfortable.  We piled in with five other tourists making the same trip and headed out.  About two hours in we got a flat tire.  And I don't mean a slow leak, we should patch the tire kind of flat tire.  It was rim to the ground flat.  Luckily we were just outside the next town - Bontoc - and were able to make it there to get the tire replaced.  For some reason this took about an hour, so we went for a little wander.

Tricycles in Bontoc.  These motorcycles with sidecars are a common alternative to a taxi all over the Philippines.  Sometimes they'll jam 3 or 4 people in the sidecar with another passenger riding side saddle on the back of the bike.  Good thing they never get going much more than 30 km/hr!

Once we got on the road again it was only another hour to Sagada.  Katrin, Inken and I got checked into a guesthouse and took off to check out the tiny village.  Like the rest of the Philippines, Sagada is a mostly Christian town since it was colonized by the Spanish way back when.  But an interesting tradition from before colonization still exists here.  While many are now buried in the graveyard, some people still like to have above-ground coffins.  These people believe in an afterlife and don't like the idea of spending it rotting away underground.  In fact, the further from the ground the better.  Many coffins are hung off the cliffs in the area or put on ledges or caves in the cliffs.  It is important for important members of the tribe to been seen and remembered after death.  Interestingly (and kind of morbidly), part of this tradition is to make your own coffin.  When you start to feel that death is approaching, you go off into the woods, chop down a tree and carve out your coffin.

Hanging coffins.  The one with the white writing was just added earlier this year.

Can you spot the hanging coffins?

The next day was my first sunny day in the Philippines.  It was gorgeous and stinking hot - perfect for checking out some caves!  We walked down to one of the big caves only to find that we needed to have a guide or we'd probably die in there and that we were supposed to book one back in town.  Luckily, there was guide there with a small group about to head out and they very kindly let us join them.  We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into which was probably for the best, because I may not have done it otherwise.  It turned out that we had to wade through knee deep water and rappel down a small (okay, very small) cliff.  Us girls were quite glad that the group we had joined was made up of a few strong men because we might still be down there had they not been around to give us a lift up in a couple of spots!

Inken in the cave.



Emerging from our caving adventure.

Our guide also took us by a burial cave which was full of the coffins of people who didn't want to be buried underground but I guess weren't important enough to be put up on the cliffs.

Thanks for the warning.  I wasn't planning on it though...

Random tidbit from Sagada - the cleaner at the guesthouse was using a halved coconut husk to clean the wood floors with.  It picked up all the dirt and polished it at the same time - amazing!