Our neighbor had this huge mango tree blocking the pathway to our house. I can still remember how we used to make a sign of the cross, take a deep breath and ran like a madman till we reach the doorway of our house each time nightfall caught up with us. We were told that a “kapre” lives on that tree and they normally go out at night.
hanging coffins at Echo Valley
I recall before the month of November kicks in, we always watch Magandang Gabi Bayan’s (MGB) Halloween special coverage. MGB was a local news program in the Philippines which started way back in the 80s. That show still gives me the creeps. What’s worse is that although we know that we’d be scared to death just by watching the program, we’d still watch it anyway. Why do you think we do this? Do you think it’s curiosity?
coffins at Sumaguing Cave
On our trip to Sagada last March 2011, something similar happened. After top loading on the way to Sagada, we immediately went spelunking when we arrived in town. We saw centuries-old coffins at the mouth of the Sumaguing Cave. We also attempted to see up-close the hanging coffins at the Echo Valley.
passing through Sagada cemtery on our way to Echo Valley
We almost got lost searching for the place and hesitated for a moment since we crossed Sagada’s cemetery grounds. Due to the light drizzle, the lack of a guide, the time and the power outage, we decided not to follow the trail going down the valley as it was starting to get dark.
I didn’t fret not seeing those hanging coffins at a closer distance. This will gives me the perfect opportunity to go back and explore the places I haven’t visited yet. Ever since, I’ve been checking for late holiday deals as I also want to spend my holidays in this charming town.
This was our last night in Sagada. We made dinner reservations at the famous Log Cabin. Since we can’t think of any other place to go before darkness envelope the entire town, we went straight to the Log Cabin an hour before they opened. Sensing that it may take time to get the town’s power back, candles were set up on each tables.
candlelight dinner at Log Cabin
On our last night in Sagada, we had a candlelight dinner and ate the prepared dishes paying close attention to the Strawberry Chocolate Cake. The whole town was still covered in darkness by the time we stepped out of the Log Cabin. It would have been helpful if the houses beside the road are lighted but they are not. So using the flashlight and the light on our cell phone screens, 5 heads walked down the road braving the darkness to our guesthouse.
lightless night trail on our way to George Guesthouse
Everything was pitch-black. As if our coffin hunting and cemetery tour prior were not enough, some of us started telling ghost stories, someone started howling, someone kept laughing and someone got really scared…
listen to how silly we all sounded ala Blair Witch effect at Sagada
P.S. conversations are all in Bisaya. If you find offensive language here then please forgive me
Instead of lowering down our voices to avoid stirring natural and unnatural forces, instead of discussing happy thoughts to avoid getting scared, we end up discussing stuff that shouldn’t be discussed especially when stuck on a lightless night in this quaint town they call Sagada.
A day ago, I stumbled upon my extra SD memory card where pictures of my trip and adventure to Sagada last March 2011 were stored. I immediately checked the images and realized I took videos of our crazy Sagada top loading adventure too. It dawned on me that I never really got the chance to see the entirety of all the videos I took in this popular highland town. After seeing our crazy toploading stunt, I just had to create a video and show it to you so you guys can see how memorable our trip was to this amazing town in Mountain Province
After a butt numbing 8-hour bus ride from Manila, we arrived in Banaue, Ifugao on a cloudy morning. It was cold and raining. An hour after our jeepney ride was about to leave Banaue for Bontoc, Mt. Province, we told the jeepney driver that we’ll go top loading. I bet the driver thought we were a crazy bunch with our choice of seats as it was also raining but he finally gave in when there was no longer any room for more passengers inside the jeepney.
At that instant, my companions and I hurriedly climbed the top of the jeepney and immediately settled our butts on that wet, hard, dirty, rusty, uncomfortable rooftop without minding the dangerous stunt we were about to do. It was freezing cold on that Friday morning and to make matters worse, we had to endure being soaked in the rain for an hour. The good thing was that Ed and I had the best seat advantage since we were at the back part of the jeepney. Carla, James and Toffee were seated in front of us and we were really surprised when we saw them all soaking wet. Turns out they sort of became our rain shield. Thanks guys! LOL.
After reaching the Banaue-Bontoc border, the weather improved just as what the jeepney dispatcher predicted. The rain stopped. Toffee wasn’t able to endure the wet, cold and uncomfy state he was in anymore so he decided to get inside the jeepney. The rest of us were still too stubborn to get inside. How could we even think of such a thing when we were already at the peak of our top loading adventure? hahaha. So while Toffee slept with his wet clothes inside the jeepney, the rest of us allowed the wind to dry our clothes while we continue to shiver in silence and just admired the beautiful view of Mt. Province
Tired, wet, shivering and uncomfortably sitting on top of a jeepney, Carla, James, Ed and I managed to make it through the entire trip. It wasn’t really because we were too stubborn to get down. We simply couldn’t resist the best seats on that scenic 2-hour jeepney ride from Banaue to Bontoc nevermind the deep ravines, some indications of landslides and bad roads that we had to pass through. One wrong move from the jeepney driver and one thing could have lead to another. We were just glad that despite our careless adventurous ways, we safely reached our destination unscathed.
top loading is not all fun with roads like these
If you were to ask me if I’d do it again, I’d definitely say yes in a heart beat!
However, I do not encourage you guys to go top loading as there are also risks involved when you decide to do this. But if you must, please do it at your own risk and please please please be extra careful and be cautious at all times, okay?
—————————-
There are different routes to take when going to Sagada. We decided to take the Manila-Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada trail as this was more convenient for us in terms of our travel schedule and comfort since a trip to Sagada will entail 12 hours of travel time if you are travelling from Manila. In our case, since we travelled all the way from Cebu, that meant 30 hours of travelling. But for someone like me who’s a travel junkie, those long hours are just numbers. If you truly love and enjoy what you do, anything is possible!
James, Ed, Carla and I. Toffee took this photo, i think
