Larga-Bista: Sagada (Mountain Province): The Return (Part 1 of 2)

Several months ago, I visited a spectacular place in the Mountain Province, located in the island of Luzon, called Sagada.

Traveling then via a rented van, it was a small laid-back town with loads of wonderful areas to fathom as far as nature was concerned, and as I arrived home, I told myself that, I would definitely go back to that place once more.

Fast forwarding, one day a group of co-workers in another department started planning to travel to Sagada and told me if I would want to join them. Without batting an eyelash, it was a BIG FAT yes, and on the evening of October 25, 2013, I zoomed once again to that magical place in the same year.

DAY 0: October 25, 2013 (Friday)

Coming from our offices, we arrived at the Victory Liner bus terminal in EDSA, Cubao, Quezon City at around 9:30 PM and purchased our tickets worth Php 445.00 (Cubao-Baguio).

Victory Liner bus terminal, Cubao, Quezon City

Yes, there is no bus so far going straight to Sagada. You really have to alight at Baguio then ride another bus going to Sagada. Some travelers choose plying the Banaue-Bontoc route going to Sagada rather than stopping by at Baguio.

Since it would be a three-day weekend (October 28 was declared a holiday due to the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha), with hundreds of passengers waiting in the wings, the departure time written on our tickets was 11:40 PM.

To answer the call of some who have not eaten their dinner yet and to kill time, we decided to go to Chowking near the bus terminal.

Dinner at Chowking

Our Baguio-bound bus departed before 12 midnight.

DAY 1: October 26, 2013 (Saturday)

We had a stopover at the Victory Liner Bus Stop in Sison, Pangasinan to heed the call of nature as well as to satisfy our hunger like barbeques and hotdogs.

Arriving in Baguio City at around 6:00 AM, we went to a waiting shed along Marcoville Street, which was just near the Victory Liner bus terminal, as one of us bought in advance our October 28 Cubao-bound tickets (Php 445.00), anticipating a huge passenger count on that specific day due to holiday-end.

Waiting shed along Marcoville Street, Baguio

We then rode a taxi going to the Dangwa bus terminal, where the Sagada-bound buses were located.

Dangwa Bus Terminal

After purchasing tickets worth Php 220.00 per head, while waiting for our specific bus, we ate breakfast at the nearby Sab-Atan 1 Restaurant. We all tried the Special Sab-Atan Rice topping worth Php 100.00 – a fully loaded breakfast it was.

Breakfast @ Sab-atan 1 Restaurant

Special Sab-atan Rice: Their best-seller

At 9:00 AM, our GL Lizardo Transit bus sped off to our target destination, and made a stopover at the Northway Sizzlers and Snackhouse in Atok, Benguet, at 11:30 AM for a quick “lunch”.

Northway Sizzlers & Snackhouse, Atok, Benguet

When we arrived finally in Sagada at past 3:00 PM, we went straight to the Sagada Tourist Information Center to pay the Environmental Registration Fee amounting to Php 35.00 per head. Every tourist should pay this fee because the accommodations and the guides would look for the Official Receipt before they would render their services.

Sagada Tourist Information Center

Before we started touring the place, we first trudged downhill and checked-in at the Alibama Inn located in Staunton Road. Their room rate was Php 250.00 per head per night.

Alibama Inn

Since I have been to this place already, we then walked uphill from Staunton Road, went past some key structures (to be discussed later) in the Anglican Compound, and visited the Sagada Anglican Cemetery, where Christians who passed away were buried in a Christian cemetery.

Sagada Anglican Cemetery

After that, we walked on edges of a cliff towards a place they call Echo Valley.

Cliff Walking

Echo Valley

Echo Valley is one of the few places in the world where shouting is allowed and apparently enjoyable. It is also the site of the most popular tourist spot in the Mountain Province, the Hanging Coffins of Sagada.

Hanging Coffins at a distance

This is a traditional way of burying people that is still utilized. Not everyone qualified to be buried this way; among other things, one had to have been married and had grandchildren.

From a distance, you could view the Hanging Coffins, but you could view them upclose after a less-than-an-hour trek.

The Hanging Coffins of Sagada

According to tripmagazine.ph, the elderly Igorots carve their own coffins using hollowed logs of pine tree before they die. If they are already too weak or ill, their families are the ones who prepare their coffins instead. For more than 2,000 years, the people of Sagada have been following this unique burial ritual. Cadavers of Igorots who occupy certain status in their tribe were smoked throughout a 5-day pre-burial feast to avoid fast decomposition. Burial is done at the break of dawn. Then, the body and coffins are transported separately to the burial site. The coffin is brought to the cliff area first, and then the cadaver is transported from through line of people going to the cliffs. The elders encourage many people to participate because they believe that having fluids like blood spilled to the clothes of those who carry the cadaver to the cliff would bring them good fortune or additional skills. The dead are placed inside their coffins, sometimes breaking their bones in the process of fitting them in. Some coffins are small because the dead are put inside in fetal position, in line with the Igorots’ belief that the dead should get out of this world the same way they got in. Coffins are hung in high-elevated cliffs; others are hung either inside the caves or on the face of the cliffs, near the hanging coffins of their ancestors. Hanging the coffins in high-elevated cliffs is a century-old belief. Some believe that the higher the body is laid – the closer the person is to heaven. Another reason coffins are hung is to protect the bodies from natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. It also keeps the corpses away from wild animals. Some Sagadians also believe that the body of their dead is sacred, so it should not be buried in the ground; it is better to hang them on a cliff or place them in a cave and wait for their reincarnation.

As we walked back, we passed by the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Known as the mother church in Sagada and the seat of the Anglican Mission in the north, this old stone-walled church founded by American missionaries in 1904 sits just across St. Joseph’s Inn, a 5-minute walk from the Sagada Tourist Information Center.

Next was the Centennial Wheel. This wheel was placed on Sagada on October 11, 2001 as a centennial marker for 100 years of mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. The wheel was previously part of a sawmill brought by the United States to Sagada. When the mill stopped operating, the wheel was discarded and left lying on the ground for almost a century. It found its second life in showbiz as a famous Sagada landmark.

Centennial Wheel

The 1921 Centennial Bell is a landmark in Sagada’s history. It is the most photographed church bell of Sagada stamped A.D. 1921, located at the back of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

1921 Centennial Bell

Before leaving the Anglican Compound, we mingled with some folks around at a Dap-ay, an open meeting place made of stone slabs where a bonfire is usually set at its center.

Dap-ay

Dap-ay also refers to the group of elders who serve as the governing body in the community, pre-existing any modern-day form of government. In the dap-ay rest legislative and judicial powers. As a socio-political unit, the dap-ay gathers to settle disputes, resolve conflicts, issue laws and customary conducts binding the community and makes decisions involving the lives of the people in it. It was the dap-ay that served as the primary teacher of good citizenship prior to the arrival of Christian missionaries who educated the mountain people. As a cultural center, the dap-ay is the seat of rituals. From it emanates the cultural attitude of inayan, a guiding belief of not doing harm to anybody, lest harm shall befall on himself or his/her family members. Most festivities and rituals are done around the dap-ay, which also stands as the symbol of prosperity and merrymaking.

Day 1 ended with us having dinner at the Yoghurt House. I ordered the Sweet Spicy Java Chicken served with Mountain Rice and Vegetable Salad worth Php 190.00 and tasted their bestselling yoghurt, the Banana, Granola, & Strawberry Preserves Yoghurt at Php 95.00.