Conquering the Cordillera Region

I was blessed and lucky (all expenses paid!) to have gone out of town during the Holy Week with my mom and two brothers, and though it wasn't too holy of a trip, we certainly felt we were nearing heaven with the activities that we did! But, I'll divulge more on that later. For now, let me just say that it was one adventure I'll surely never forget, but will never do again sometime soon. Haha.

Since we went on a tour package that kind of went disastrous until the very end of the trip, I decided to skip the itinerary part already. Instead, I'll just give recommendations on what to do, where to eat and sleep, and how to enjoy all of these!

The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is a mountainous region in Luzon where the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province are located, and is home to the indigenous tribe of Igorots. I never really paid much attention to my geography classes during grade school, but all I knew was that CAR had Baguio City, which is (or was?) dubbed as the "summer capital of the Philippines", and the Banaue Rice Terraces, which was once called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Who knew there were other places in the region that'd be as beautiful, if not better, as the two places I mentioned? If you want to get away from the metro but would love to go up the mountains instead of relaxing at the beach, CAR is the way to go!

Our three-day Cordillera journey included Banaue, Sagada, and La Trinidad, with Sagada covering most of the trip as most of the activities are done there as well. I guess this is the usual itinerary of tour packages and DIY trips up in this area.

Banaue

Banaue is a 12-hour trip from Manila, with basically two main attractions - the city proper and of course, the rice terraces. Most restaurants and inns provide the view of the terraces, and are near each other so you can finish a walking tour there in an hour or two. The main view deck, however, where the UNESCO sign is posted, is a 5-minute ride (jeepney or private) from the town. My breath was ready to be taken away with the view, expecting it would be as beautiful as the photos in my grade school textbooks, but sad to say, I was quite disappointed with what I saw. Most of the rice terraces were already surrounded by houses and different establishments, and it took me a while to find them from our view in the restaurant. The main view deck had a better look, but I'm guessing they just maintain that certain part for the tourists. Speaking of tourism, you can have your photos taken with an Igorot there, but don't forget to donate after. According to the guides, any amount will do, but since I enjoyed the poses that he did, I gave him more than what the other tourists gave. Souvenir shops are also located at the town proper and at the viewdeck. We got a really cute Igorot tissue holder for a haggled price of Php 800 from Php 850!

From the viewdeck!

The best souvenir we got: an Igorot tissue holder. Cute, isn't it?

Sagada

As I've mentioned above, Sagada covered most of our trip, being there from Day 1 to Day 3. Sagada is part of Mountain Province and is 4 to 5 hours away from Banaue. The long hours of travel made me thankful that we had a private van and that we didn't have to think too much about comfort issues!

There are three major activities to do in this beautiful town; these are mainly: Spelunking (Normal or Cave Connection), Trekking to Bomok Od Falls, and touring the different famous shops and establishments in town. The weather during the mornings and evenings is very cold, but come noon it gets hotter. Unfortunately we also had to experience some rainshowers in the midafternoon, but it cooled down the heat so it was still all good. If you have difficulties getting around the town, there is a tourist center in the main road where the locals themselves can help.

Being the daredevils that we were (NOT), we only tried normal spelunking which did not have additional costs. Of course, thinking about our mother getting tired, we didn't want to risk doing the cave connection part. Normal caving includes a two- to three-hour experience of the Sumaguing Cave, while the cave connection explores both Lumiang and Sumaguing Cave for approximately five hours (given the holiday situation). Spelunking really made me realize that I was slightly acrophobic! It also made me sad about my height. Haha. At some parts of the cave, I was entrusting myself to the guide since I could not extend my legs to step on certain rocks. The hard part of going down was the slippery rocks, but the best part was being able to see the different rock formations (ehem, the genitals, BUT THERE WERE OTHERS AS WELL) and getting some cold temperature to your body. The guide also gave us a chance to try different ways to go down and climb back up through stepping on thighs and legs, pulling through ropes or going up rubber ladders. One thing I also liked about the guides there was that we didn't need to worry about our photos since they were actually trained to handle both point-and-shoot and professional cameras! I was actually surprised and amazed at the same time that sometimes our guide had to stop for a while to fix the settings of my brother's DSLR. The most difficult part of spelunking was actually climbing back up, especially when nearing the mouth of the cave, as it was already composed of steps going back to the entrance. I would love to try Lumiang Cave next time, but again, I wouldn't be doing that very soon, and I would most likely try that with friends this time.

With the "Queen". Can you guess why?

The curtains

Thanks, kuya guide, for documenting my height problems. Haha!

Trekking to Bomok Od Falls takes half of the day as well, depending on your pacing. It took us about an hour and a half going down and around two hours going up. Everything contributed to the slow pacing - heat, resistance, and the enormous amounts of people going to and from the falls! We had to stop at some points because there was only one trail for trekking that caused heavy traffic for us. I think I enjoyed the trek more than I did with the falls. Don't get me wrong, the falls were nice, too, but I just didn't like the sight of too many people swimming and shouting. Plus, the trekking part provided magnificent views. Expect to say "Wow!" over and over again with everything you'll see on the way down. Be ready to get tired with this activity, because if you're not into exercising, your legs will surely feel sore after! But don't worry, there is a village halfway where you can stop to rest or buy snacks and drinks as well. There are two to three sheds along the way, too, if you just want to sit down and appreciate the view.

Heavy traffic!

But the view going down is amazing :)

Bomok Od Falls

Another favorite of mine was going to Sagada Weaving. There was no one weaving when we came, but luckily the owner and his son volunteered to orient us about how weaving happens. I'm amazed at how meticulous the process is - from installing the machine to making and finishing the pattern. Sadly, we were not allowed to try it, but I was able to take good photos of the place.

 

Here are other things you can do in Sagada:
- Visit St. Mary's Church then head straight to Echo Valley (for a view of the Hanging Coffins - not my favorite part but it was still interesting. Maybe I was just too tired during this time since we did this after trekking.)
- Visit Sagada Pottery
- Visit Lake Danum
- Visit Marlboro Country
- Ride on top of a jeepney (something I'll try soon in another destination :P)
- Watch the sunrise at Kiltepan (so far the best sunrise I've ever seen)
- Orange picking (depending on harvest season)
- Eat, eat, eat!

St. Mary's Church

Sunrise at Kiltepan

Lake Danum

Sagada Pottery

And speaking of eating, there are numerous restaurants and cafes around the area with different delicacies for each, but one thing in common is that almost all of them serve pinikpikan, Sagada's specialty. Pinikpikan is basically a chicken dish, where the chicken is beaten to death (I know, sounds so morbid), and the blood inside serves to flavor it more. Unfortunately, Sagada ran out of pinikpikan when we were there due to the peak number of tourists, and because of the long time it takes to cook it as well. I'd still love to try it when I get back!

My favorite out of all the restaurants we've been to was Yoghurt House. It's the most unique place I've eaten to there, serving really good breakfast food (yup, even better than IHOP) and homemade yoghurt. The yoghurt isn't like the froyo we're used to; it's not actually cold and tastes really sour. I like sour food. Haha. They also serve other homemade delicacies such as oatmeal cookies and other trail food. Moreover, they have great interiors! Too bad we weren't allowed to take too much photos inside.

My mom's hiker's meal (rolled pancake with yoghurt inside, plus strawberry jam, toast, and 2 fried eggs). HEAVEN ON EARTH!

My chocolate chip cookie yoghurt. I like this one because the toppings go way to the bottom.

Here are other known restaurants/cafes in Sagada:
- Kusina y Sagada
- Lemon Pie House (known for their lemon pies and chicken dishes)
- Masferre (named after the famous Sagada photographer Eduardo Masferre)
- OTHERS! There's too many of them so you won't run out of places to eat at. Plus, they have the biggest and most generous servings of food I've ever eaten here in the Philippines, with very affordable prices as well. Most of them have free WiFi if you're itching to have that Internet fix like I did. Haha. Just remember that most establishments are open only until 9 o'clock in the evening, so it's better to have an early dinner and just buy snacks after if you feel you'll want to eat again by late night.

La Trinidad and Baguio

The last stop of our CAR trip was La Trinidad, Benguet. The drive from Sagada to Baguio takes another five hours, but you get to stop by the highest point of the Philippine highway system and have a view of Mt. Pulag, the highest peak in Luzon. We just dropped by the strawberry farm for a bit then headed straight back to Manila because it was already getting late. I don't have much to post about this one, but I'll try compiling all my Baguio experiences for the year (I'm going back again in 2 weeks hihi), so I can blog about it in one whole post.

And with all that, here are some tips I can provide when doing this trip:
1. DO NOT go there during the peak holidays! When we were there, traffic was so bad that even the police had a difficult time enforcing everything. Even the hospital parking area was made into a driveway just so the vehicles can pass through. According to the owner of the cabin we stayed in, tourism in Sagada is always packed, or none at all - meaning, there are almost zero visitors during regular days, but during peak seasons, it's always packed.
2. If you are going there on a peak season, make sure that you have contacted the place you're staying in, and confirm it again even up to ten times if you must! During the holy week, every inn, homestay, guest house, was fully occupied, so walking in to get a room was not possible. This was our problem when we got there. The inn we're supposed to stay at gave away our reserved rooms to other guests so we had to look for other places. Luckily enough, some good soul offered his rest house to us, with much better amenities!
3. Bring warmers! It's hot during the day, but early mornings and evenings are too cold! Also, prepared to get dirty with spelunking, trekking, and swimming. Remember, pack light and appropriately!
4. Bring painkillers if you feel your body will hurt after all those climbing activities. Also, try to buy meds that help you get out of the feeling of vomiting. The roads to each province are mostly zig-zagged.
5. There is enough cellular signal to make calls and texts, but don't expect data signal there (or Globe just really sucks). There are establishments with free WiFi available, but don't get too hung up with it. If you really need to go on the Internet, there are some computer shops around the area.
6. Enjoy the surroundings and culture! Take good photos! Appreciate your vacation! It's one of the things I'm proud of about our country. Even if I was already tired with the activities that we did, I still kept saying to myself that I'm truly blessed to see all of God's work. Every angle of that place was photo-worthy! It really is more fun in the Philippines! :)

April is going to be another busy month for travel, and I'm loving Northern Luzon already bit by bit. Because of that, I'll be back in two weeks. Mt. Pulag, you're next! :)

-E