Mountain Province Trip

Sagada, Mountain Province

Basic Expenses:

306.00 Php -  Fare from Mabalacat Terminal (Dau Mabalacat, Pampanga) to Baguio (onboard Dagupan Bus Co.) 

Cab fare from Baguio (Tourist Assistance Desk) to the Dangwa Terminal = Php 43.00 (rate is Php 35.00 as of December 2012)

220.00  Php  - Dangwa Terminal to Sagada (onboard
GL Trans) = 

250.00 Php - Canaway Resthouse (person per night) 

220.00 Php - from Sagada (onboard GL Trans found near the church) to Baguio 

57.00 Php - Cab fare from Baguio market to Victory Liner terminal 

 306.00 Php - Victory Liner Terminal in Baguio to Dau Terminal (you have to buy a ticket on the 2nd floor)

* First trip for Sagada at the Dangwa Terminal is supposedly 5:00 am but last Dec 22 the bus arrived at about 5:30 am. Travel time from Mabalacat Terminal to Baguio is approximately 6 hours and travel from Dangwa Terminal to Sagada is also approximately 6 hours.

Lumiang and Sumaging Cave - (5 persons in a group) = Php 400.00/person for tourist guide

Vehicle to Pongas Falls = Php 650.00 for up to 10 people
Guide to Pongas Falls = Php 600.00 for up to 10 people
Registration to Pongas Falls = Php 10.00/pax

Gallon of water from Canaway Resthouse = Php 40.00

Lumiang and Sumaging Cave Connection (December 23, 2012)

After breakfast, we went to the SAGGAS office to get a guide for the Lumiang and Sumaging Cave connection. We got Sylvester and Kuya Machu (I'm not sure if that's his real name) as our guides. We started walking towards town (upward) but our guides said the way to the cave is the opposite way. The cave is about 10-20 minutes walk from town. Upon entering the Lumiang cave, we can't help but be amazed how such thing can be created. Like how can you make a hole or pathway which could contain groups of people out of rocks? Not just a hole but a creative hole. It should have taken quite a long time and for it to exist until now is really remarkable. 

To the Sumaging Cave

Road to Sumaging Cave

the path to the mouth of the Lumiang cave

Lumiang Cave

the coffins on the entrance of Lumiang  Cave

                                                           Read Before You Enter

As our guides instructed as to, we should put both hands at our sides holding the rocks as we descend which we did. The first part was very enjoyable for me, I was like thinking i'm like made to do this hehehe. It was really fun but as the trek goes on it starts to get a bit hard and tiring. Whenever we poke ourselves into a hole we would always ask our guides where to step or what to do next and they would then say right foot here left foot there and if we can't find the crevice to step on they would lead our foot to it.  At times when my sisters had gone to the holes first I would ask them if it's deep and sometimes I would think it is when it's really not, it's really funny. At one time, i got nervous when my camera as I was wearing it on climbing, banged on a rock, good thing it didn't crack. I hurriedly gave it to my father for him to hold instead. 

Rocks and the first sign of water


others who were also here

Water used to be higher here. I was expecting to experience waist deep water as mentioned on other blogs but water we passed on is just about ankle deep. Maybe because there's less water in December. There was an optional activity where you can wade in above waist water but we passed since my sister was sick that time.

After a while, we finally reached the interesting part of the cave which is the place of the rock formations or the part where the rocks don't look like the normal rocks anymore. It gets more difficult on this part because there's water so it's slippery and the rocks are smoother which makes it harder to tackle them. The rock formations portion of the cave (Sumaging cave) is like a museum. Everything is gathered in one place, the guides would lead us from one formation to another giving us trivias of what their names are and how they were named as such.

Other spelunkers making their way down

"where we came from"

the curtain

the prince

the cake

the molars

the turtle with the flat back

Facing the... can you guess what?

on top of the snake

After touring this place, we started climbing back to where we came from. This is the part when I already started to pant and i found it harder to climb because my slippers had gone wet and they have gotten slippery. It's when we have begun asking if we're still far from the exit. 

climbing up

Would you still want to go to the small cave?

I think you would know if you're already near the exit when you can already touch the moist bat 

dungs but even on that part, near is still far from near. From there you can already see the light but you still have to climb a paved stairway. Our guides said it's 175 steps high but I was already too tired to count lol. 

Light at last

The stairs to the exit

the stairs that never end




to the Sumaging Cave entrance

other people who are also making their way out

It had been a tiring, thrilling and scary experience  but very fulfilling. My mother can't believe that she was able to survive the caves as well. As for doing it again, I may still but the second time around I will take time to sit and enjoy the sight more and trek in a calmer and more serene way and "feel" it.It had been a frantic and frenetic trek.

Caving Rules

Pongas Falls (December 24, 2012)

We felt the aftershock of the previous day's caving the next day. Our muscles felt sore and climbing down the stairs is painful and effortful but we still have to see Pongas Falls. My sister had a slight fever and got colds as well so she decided not to come with us anymore. We're supposed to walk to the falls from town however our guide told us it's too far and said we should take a van there so thinking it would be an easier trek since we're already on a vehicle, we persuaded our sister to tag along.

hanging bridge to Pongas Falls

Terraces on the way to Pongas Falls

Crops

We never thought that even on a vehicle the walk to Pongas would still take a while. Our trip to Pongas Falls always reminds me of the narrow roads and paths that we walked on. If you would be walking here, you should not be thinking too deep and should concentrate on the road that you're walking on or you'll fall to the other side. It's not a level road. 

notice the left side of the stairs

narrow roads

It was a looong walk. I can't remember how long anymore. Maybe what made me unconscious of how long it took was the surroundings. Finally, we heard sounds of water falling and saw boulders. It was my first time to see a falls. I used to think of a falls as water coming from a higher place to the ground, I never thought that you also need to climb to where the water is. The climb is not too difficult but there had been a couple of times i stumbled. It's best to walk on the rocks barefoot.

the falls from afar

what seems like a rock entrance to the falls

on top of boulders

when-you-look-up view

It's destressing to hear the gush of water and feel the air from the elevated spot we're in. i wished we would have stayed longer but it's sad we have gone there in the afternoon so we need to hurry so we can leave before the dark falls as it would be dangerous to tread the narrow paths when it gets dark.

\

pool upon climbing

We just spent the little time we have taking photos  and roaming our eyes around then we headed back. Looking at other people's blogs though, i noticed that water on their photos are more copious than ours. Too bad we saw the falls when the water was sparser. It would have been more memorable if we have seen the falls in it's thicker state.



time to climb down

parting shot











school on the way to Pongas Falls








where we waited for our van to bring us back to town



I love travelling but I really don't have a sense of direction. Good thing that Sagada's town is just a straight road so you won't get lost if you don't stray too far. The way to Saggas, the Municipal Hall, the stores and market and places to eat on, is the way up (coming from Canaway Resthouse). As my father had noticed, houses are made of galvanized iron ("yero" in Tagalog). Unfortunately, I don't know why. When we were there this December, it's still hot in the afternoon but it gets really cold at morning and night. One time, when I went to the market early in the morning, my nose felt really painful because of the cold. One regret I have is we were too afraid to roam around. If we did, then we would have also been able to take photos of the church and Echo valley which is only a few walks away from the market. 

Town of Sagada

this is room #5 at Canaway Resthouse. if you would check in here be sure to check if the heater is working, it was not working when we went there

this is the view from our room (third floor), i noticed the people across, as I haven't been to Echo Valley I'm not sure if they are standing at Echo Valley

Left: A barricade was placed at the side of the road Right: View of the houses from the barricade

Places along the road

As for souvenirs though, it seems like souvenirs in Sagada are more expensive than those in Baguio. Too bad we only learned after we already bought some. I tried buying Sagada's Arabica Coffee which was 3 for 100. I don't drink coffee but for experience I tried their coffee. Since I don't have much to compare it with, I can't say if it's better than other coffee but judging it alone, it smells good and the taste is good as well.