SAGADA (part 1)

SAGADA
(February 2009)

The place of Sagada is a one stop big time if you are looking for a treasure hunt kind of adventure which will make your jaw drop together with your underwear when you found the gold. You will surely forget the 13 hours drive from Manila to Sagada when you have seen with your naked eyes what was there. Sagada is a one place in Mountain Province that is popular to a tourist, oh no I’m not talking about whitesand, nice beach here, but think about the nature has to offer aside from those… Yes – caves, falls, river, mountains, lake.. Name it! I’m sure this place has that body pain you are looking for. Hehehe.


CAVES
(Connecting Burial cave, Lumiang cave and Sumaguing Cave) – Cave Connection Adventure

This is the one you should try, not just visiting the most popular cave which is Sumaguing, but knowing that there are 3 caves that are connected to each other then why not visit all. Hephep! This will take 4 to 5 hours of walking, rappelling and climbing, so make sure to wear your trekking shoes/sandals and that you are physically fit and prepared mentally and emotionally before you try. Make sure to go on with the team throughout the darkness and not delay them because of your regrets. Hehehe.

So what’s up with the cave connection? Well this is a hell of a quest! On our first day of our tour, we just had ourselves for lunch, then SABAK AGAD! I was really nervous since it was my first time to go in on a cave but it was all worth it seeing the hidden pieces on each cave.

Picture above is I think part of the Burial cave, this cave have huge rocks where we have to rappel down many times. Burial cave, of course from the name itself, was the place where people in Sagada keep their dead loved ones. The entrance of this cave has a lot of pile coffins which are made up of a body of a tree and almost half the size of the dead body itself.


This is the first formation we have seen when we started in the Burial cave’s entrance. This is more like a mushroom/cabbage or something, I forgot what they call this one (someone help perhaps?) hehe. I believe this is still growing because of the water flowing through the rock and there is a flowing water right below the rock. Kumikinang to, parang crystal na may dumadalaoy na tubig. Ang ganda sobra! You can see this not in the Sumaguing cave, but I think this is part of the Lumiang cave.



Above pic is the ‘Queen of the Cave’ because it looks like an organ of a woman. Wenks!

The King’s Curtain



Water terraces








Those were just some photos I can share, credits to Eme! but we have a lot of photos taken from the cave, check out my friendster instead. Hehehe.


Here are some tips to enjoy your cave connection:
1. Cave’s tourguides - Please be friendly to the tour guides as people in Sagada were the most kind people I can imagine, so for every four persons should have one tour guide and that is the maximum. Why is that? They will help you a lot! They will carry you most of the time, and each guide have their own burners so more burners the better because it is really dark inside.

2. Bring 1 to 2 cameras only for the group and you may ask the guides to hold them for you. You will definitely get wet inside; you have to cross an almost 4ft deep of water or else you want your camera to swim too.

3. Taking camera shots should be handle by the tourguides, just let them know how to use it then leave the angles to them – trust me they know where to stand to have a very good shot.

4. Do not wear super short shorts! If you don’t want to have a lot of wounds and bruises on your legs then you have to wear something that reach below your knee from your waist. This would cover your knee from the rocks as you can experience a lot of kneework and at the same time it won’t get wet easily when you are crossing the water which is a feet high.


Cave connection is an amazing experience! I’m not kidding. Be ready for muscle pain after you conquer all the 3 caves, mata mo lang ang hindi sasakit. Promise! Better take a body massage! ^_^

Goodluck!



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http://www.sagadagenuineguides.blogspot.com