King of the Road

The joy of being somewhere, a place where no one knows you, you could easily be someone or simply be yourself without having to please anyone. A place where culture and language you don’t have any clue, it’s no big deal to commit mistakes and not even hard to admit them afterwards. In this place you are not only a visitor, you are a contributor, a participant, an observer and a partaker.

I know I’m not halfway there but I guess what’s important is I’m comfortable of being there, meeting new friends and discovering what’s out there. One thing I know for sure, travel is one of those things that you never regret doing no matter what the outcome is because you’ll definitely learn from them.

I should find a new job soon, work for several months (or maybe a year?) so as to save enough funds for my travel. Maybe I should encourage my friends to do the same. For the mean time, resist from buying new stuff, don’t go out too often with friends and do longer runs instead, read more travel memoirs to be more inspired and limit my Starbucks cup of coffee to twice a month so I could buy a bigger bag, a better camera, a hammock, a map, a tent or whatever it is that I’ll need for a two to three month backpacking/nomadic experience.

A trek to remember

On my second day I went trekking with Manong Jacob (My tour guide that also became my official photographer that day). He was a very accommodating man who's very proud of his job and of his Igorot heritage. He was also happy to answer all of my questions all throughout the trek, from tribal wars to his personal life.

He even gave me a fatherly advice when I told him that I was dying to visit the place since I was in college, he told me that studies should really be a priority because traveling could wait. I was really impressed because he was effortlessly walking through the slippery trail while smoking a cigarette. He wasn't even panting, unlike me.

Whenever I have the means to travel somewhere, the people are really the ones that make a difference and the people of Sagada are one of those. They may not have a degree or whatever grandeur that one would struggle to achieve in life but at least they are happy with what they have because their kind of education is rarely found in textbooks, something that you'll not learn within the four corners of a classroom. It is something brought by instinct and shaped by life experiences.

Nevertheless, hearing the birds sing in chorus of their morning greetings while the leaves sway with the morning dew is better than an orchestra's music. I felt like the nature was serenading me and I was startled by this other world feeling.

I left my heart in Sagada

Sagada is situated along the Cordillera Mountains surrounded by a blanket of tall pine trees which consists of 19 Baranggays, six hours away via bus from Baguio City and that's where I headed after the Flower festival in Baguio ended. I prefer taking the direct route to Sagada but when I arrived at the bus terminal that last trip for the day had left already, so I rode a bus that took me to Bontoc instead and from there I have ridden a jeepney to Sagada.

Although the trip was a six hour grueling and butt aching ride along the Halsema Highway I must say that it's all worth it seeing the unending scenic view of Mountain Province.

A good book and a perfect view.

When I arrived at around Five in the afternoon I immediately looked for a place to stay (The place that I stayed in has free Wi-Fi, television, coffee and the balcony view of Pine trees, a blessing indeed!), freshen up and grabbed something to eat in a nearest cafe.

Stir fried vegetables, Spicy chicken wings and Banana shake.

Since there is a Curfew hour ordinance being followed strictly in Sagada I just went back to the lodge and slept early afterwards though I really wanted to have a walk that night (but it was also good knowing I have to wake up early the next day to start touring the place). I have slept like a rock that night and nearly missed the sunrise in Kiltepan the next day.

I went trekking with a tour guide afterwards. We went to a nearby waterfall (where he usually goes swimming with his friends whenever they still have hangover) and walked through a vegetable farm and rice paddies.

Then we went through a cemetery to get to a valley where you can yell at the top of your lungs and hear it echoes.

I also noticed that there are some foreigners buried in the cemetery when we passed by and I learned later on that those are the veteran soldiers who died during the war (they were also the ones who built the Anglican church nearby) and some who married a local and eventually died there. I even teased my tour guide that they have long lives because only few people were buried at the cemetery. He told me that Igorots have the choice to bury their departed love ones in their yards or in the cemetery. Lastly we went to the underground river which is a 20 minute trek from Echo Valley.

Honey Latte and home-made corned beef,

Power breakfast after a long trek!

There are a lot of things that can be done in Sagada (other than eat, sleep and read) from spelunking and trekking to sight-seeing. I just hope that Sagada will not be like Baguio City (too much commercialization going on) in the near future.

All in all I enjoyed the experience, never mind the exhausting walks. Don't forget to visit Sagada Weaving for some intricate bags or buy some Pasalubong at any souvenir stores scattered around the place. Log Cabin’s Saturday night buffet personally prepared by a local French chef should not be missed during your stay in Sagada. It is best to make an arrangement for a seat a few days before.

You could also take home some of those sweet Sagada oranges, mountain tea, Civet coffee, berries, bottled wild honey and Bugnay (a locally grown berry) wine which I have been gulping every night since I came back.

For a place where everyone knows everybody, for a community where culture and nature is rich it is a great place to consider for a long vacation or maybe retirement.

I realized that traveling alone is not scary at all, perhaps I should do this more often.

One day in Baguio City

After quitting my job a month ago, I’m just always at home monotonously rerunning my copy of DVDs and most of the time washing the dishes which eventually made me sore. I can’t even run outside since it was raining endlessly for the past few weeks but upon hearing on T.V. that the weather will get better on the days to come I immediately packed my bag with some clothes, a book and other stuff that will be enough for the next three days that I’ll be away, and I headed for the door. I know where to go, a place that I have been aching to go to ever since; the Cordillera region.

I was overwhelmed at first by the idea of traveling alone because I usually go out and travel with friends before but since they are all busy I decided to just go alone. Gladly this fear was later on overpowered by excitement.

Thankfully I was able to catch the last bus trip for the night to witness the last day of celebration of Panagbenga Festival, which would be on the following day. After securing a good window seat, I let myself sink into a deep sleep for the next six hours. The next thing I know I was already in Baguio City.

When I get there the first thing I did was to text a classmate back in college who arrived a couple of days earlier but unfortunately my phone ran out of battery so we never had the chance to meet and tour me around the city knowing that this is my first time to get there.

I was all alone and felt that fear again for a sudden but I reminded myself that this is merely the main reason of this whole thing, to travel alone.

So I roam around the place for a couple of hours. I went to the public market and went up and down the streets (since the main roads were closed because of the parade that will take place that day in line with the Flower festival) through the sea of people looking for a good spot to watch the parade.

The walks made me tired and felt that the backpack I was carrying became heavier. I rested at the park for a while and I when I went back to the crowd to try finding a good spot I failed when I did not find one.

I was amazed by this sight, I have never seen such crowd before. I just heard on the news yesterday that it was the record breaking number of crowd that attended the festival.

I admire the spirit and culture that they have preserved through time despite of the commercialization going on everywhere. This kind of joy from the people is the same thing that makes people from the outside to visit the country and experience it firsthand.

The beauty that stayed once as an imagination through my father's story of his days as a vegetable picker in that place was already seen personally by my eyes. That very story is true, Baguio City is beautiful indeed.

My father (Right) with his friend at Burnham Park.

Believing that the inns would be fully booked and because I did not call in earlier for a reservation and knowing that hotels are too expensive I abruptly left Baguio when the parade was finally over. Sagada was my next destination.