SAGADA!!!

Our Sagada experience is one of the greatest adventures I've ever had, not that I've been to many escapades. It's very memorable because it's the farthest I've been up north (well, it won't be for too long since I'll be climbing Mt. Pulag some time in March). And, it's my first spelunking experience ever.

I was the one who suggested to my friends that we go to Sagada. It's all coz of the stories I've heard about how beautiful and majestic the rock formations inside the caves are. I wasn't really after the adventure of spelunking, initially. I just wanted to take pictures of the stalactites and the stalagmites with me in them, of course. :) And since my birthday was already so near and since my New Year's resolution was to travel more this year, I convinced myself and my friends to go out of town with me for a little adventure. Adventure in a sense that none of us had really gone there, ever.

And what an adventure it was!

It was crazy because the four of us didn't really know what we were getting into. We didn't physically prepare for the spelunking nor for the hiking to the top of the Kiltepan.

While on the bus to Sagada, we were lucky that one of the passengers was also on her way to Mapiya-aw, where we would be staying. We had no idea where it was and would have walked a few hundred meters from the Municipal hall with heavy baggages had we missed the pension house. There are no jeepney rides or any other PUVs around the area. How convenient, right? Anyway, when we got to the corner of the road to Mapiya-aw, we still had to hike a few hundred meters up to the pension house. We weren't even halfway to the house when we all stopped for air. We were already exhausted! Two factors: exercise (or the lack of it) and the altitude. That's how unprepared we were.

We immediately proceeded to the Municipal Hall where we scheduled and planned our trip(s). The tour packages are cheap! Probably one of the best things about being administered by the government. Right after our lunch, we went spelunking.

I cannot even begin to put into words how much I enjoyed the cave connection experience. It was exhausting but definitely worth the exhaustion. The 5-hour spelunking was both creepy and majestic at the same time. The cave is HUGE! It reminds me of The Phantom of the Opera and Batman. It was strangely beautiful.

Anyone who's convinced herself to tour the Philippines has to go to Sagada!