After a 2 hour drive along windy mountain roads we arrive in Sagada. And then all of a sudden it feels like I'm back home in Canada, minus the snow of course. The temperature drops to 23, there's what looks like red pines everywhere, rocks and cliffs. Then I see a banana tree and the whole thing's ruined.
We check into our hotel which of course is at the top of a hill. Just what I wanted after Batad, more inclines.
The next day we head out for our caving adventure. There were many times where you wonder is this actually safe? And then you remember your in the Philippines, so not, its probably not very safe. But it was cool. It was a 3 hour journey through the cave, climbing up walls, around ledges while hoping you don't fall into the black whole that's below, and fitting through narrow holes. Luckily because it was dry season we never had to swim at any point, only walk through a foot and a half of water. This made me much happier.
Stop 1- hanging coffins, the traditional way of dealing with the dead in Sagada was to hang the coffin from a cliff or to stack them at the mouth of the cave, depending on how the person died. About two thirds of the way through this photo are the coffins on the cliff. The last one to be hung was in the 90's.
Our guide Zel at the mouth of the cave.
Stacked coffins at the mouth of the cave. These are of people who had a natural death. The bodies are put in the fetal position in the coffin, making the coffins look very short. My first thought was that they were all for children. The last one to be added was in 2003.
Our guide told us this was a maple leaf. So we posed.
The fossils in the cave wall. Despite being in the mountains 5,000 feet above sea level at one point this was apart of the ocean, as you can see with the different shell and fish fossils that line it's walls.
After our cave adventure was over we did some souvenir shopping, I was on a mission for the Sagada pottery, Lauren for a woven bag. It took us most of the afternoon but the mission was accomplished! I also picked a carved wooden bowl.
Then we had dinner, afterwards we went exploring the town were we ran into some other tourist, and went with them to this bar. So we were talking about our travels and experiences when all of a sudden we realize that its 11:30. Fun fact: Sagada has a 9 pm curfew and everything closes, your not supposed to be on the streets, if your Philippino you can be arrested. But because we were in the back the owner just shut the shutters to windows and door at the front and let us continue without informing us of the time. So we left with fear the we may not be able to get back into our hotels. Luckily for Lauren and I our place was more like a hotel, were the door to our room opened onto the balcony outside, so we would still be able to get in. This is as long as you have the key. Which Lauren had lost. And because of this curfew, there was no one at the front desk to let us in. There was no other hotels open that we could just check in for the night. So what did we do? Slept in the van. I wasn't impressed.
So after an uncomfortable sleep, we got back into our hotel, slept for another hour, and then left for Baguio, with dreams of finally having hot showers. Oh didn't I mention? We hadn't had hot water sense Banaue.
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