DAY 2: October 27, 2013 (Sunday)
Since this was a Sunday, I already geared myself that on this day, I would be waking up early to catch the 6:30 AM Holy Mass at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin as seen in their signboard, but no Mass occurred since according to the folks around, since there were only a few people outside of the Church, the supposed scheduled Mass might be done at a much later time…ouch! Anyway, I entered the establishment through a wooden door so I could once again view what is inside and took souvenir shots.
After that, I went to Bana’s Café & Restaurant to have breakfast with my friends.
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| Bana's Cafe & Restaurant |
For breakfast, their bestseller was called the Bana’s Favorite, which was composed of Bacon, Eggs, Toasts, and Fruits served w/ butter and jam) for Php 100.00, but since I preferred a meal with rice, I ordered the Pinoy Breakfast, which had Boneless Bangus, Tomatoes & Onions Omelette, and Garlic Rice, also at Php 100.00.
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| Bana's Favorite |
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| Enjoying the Pinoy Breakfast |
By the way, Bana’s is famous for their Civet Coffee worth Php 200.00 per cup.
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| Civet Coffee (Kape Alamid) |
Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, refers to the beans of coffee berries once they have been eaten and excreted by the Asian palm civet.
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| Civet Coffee Beans |
A civet is a small, lithe-bodied, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests.
According to avid coffee drinkers, this type of Coffee’s taste is very unique, which justifies the high cost.
After breakfast, we went back to Alibama Inn in order to get the necessary gears needed for our next adventure, which was the long trek to the Bomod-ok Falls.
Since we went to Sagada via bus, in order for us to visit the Falls, we went to the Sagada Tourist Information Center to rent a van that would take us there and to other places.
Plying the Bangaan Road, we alighted from our van at an Information Center, the jump-off point towards the falls, to register all our names and meet our guide, Alice.
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| Jump-off point to Bomod-ok Falls @ Information Center |
We started trudging several downhill stoned steps along the Bangaan-Fidelisan Trail and from a distance you can now view the Northern Sagada Rice Terraces. As we reached a small village, our guide showed to us a Dap-ay in one of the wooden houses, and before we left that site, we paid a fee amounting to Php 10.00 per head, which would be used for maintenance of the village as well as some routes leading towards the falls.
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| Northern Sagada Rice Terraces from afar |
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| Dap-ay |
As we went further downhill, we stopped by at a certain spot near a metal cable which was connected from the village atop down to the mines way below. Obviously was being utilized to transport minerals sourced from the mines towards the Barangay Hall.
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| Metal cable on the upper right side |
Trekking above the rice terraces via the Bomod-ok Trail was one of the most wonderful experiences I had in Sagada. Ultra breathtaking view at every step!
Next was the highlight of this specific trek, the relaxing aura of the Bomod-ok Falls.
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| Bomod-ok Falls |
As you draw closer to the falls, you will be trudging several slippery rocks in order to get to the super cold swimming area.
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| Brrrrrrrr....super duper cold water! |
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| Cold water ain't a problem for these beauties |
Make sure you use waterproof cameras in this area because the strong cold mist emanated from the huge cascading water from way above, would definitely seep inside a non-weather resistant gadget.
A spectacular site worth seeing anew in the future!
Departing from the falls via the Bomod-ok Trail once more, as we arrived once again at the village, some of us rushed to the sari-sari store for a dose of refreshment.
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| Departing from the falls |
The exit route for all trekkers here would be on a different path, the Aguid-Pide-Fidelisan Trail, which provided us with more views of nature…wow!
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| Aguid-Pide-Fidelisan Trail |
We ended up near Aguid Road, wherein our van was at the parking area, fetched our guide back to the Information Center and paid her Php 500.00.
With grumbling stomachs at 2:00 PM, we went to Salt & Pepper Diner for our late lunch. I ordered the Mushroom Inutom Potato meal for Php 195.00. Delicious!
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| Salt & Pepper Diner |
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| Mushroom Inutom Potato Meal |
Going back to the Alibama Inn, we all refreshed ourselves after the long trek we had.
Since I had already experienced spelunking here several months ago, I decided to stay at our “home”, and just let the “newbies” discover the splendor of caving, the Sagada way. It took them two hours to traverse the entire Sumaguing Cave, which boasted of several rock formations, as compared to the four-hour Lumiang-Sumaguing Cave Connections ordeal I went through, which only had a few formations.
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| Sumaguing Cave |
When their caving adventure ended before 7:00 PM, we all went back to Staunton Road to indulge in souvenir shopping and then had our dinner at the Pinikpikan Haus located just right beneath our quarters. Obviously, we readily ordered the Pinikpikan, a famous Sagada dish, which was worth Php 120.00 for one serving, as well as their Sizzling Pork Sisig at the same price too.
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| Pinikpikan Haus |
By the way, Pinikpikan is a very flavorful chicken dish from the mountains of the Cordilleras. It derived its flavor from the coagulated blood, burned feathers, and Etag, a cured and aged meat.
DAY 3: October 28, 2013 (Monday)
A trip to faraway Sagada would definitely not be complete without viewing the splendor of the so-called Kiltepan Sunrise.
In order to catch the sunrise with a good view, since a lot of tourists flock to this area, we woke up very early and were already there before 5:00 AM. With only us at the site so far and so much fog around in the darkness, it gave some of us the creeps, thinking of a horror slasher movie atmosphere.
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| Awaiting the sunrise |
After several minutes, loads of well-wishers came in, grabbing certain spots in the area in order to obtain a nice view of the upcoming sunrise, and when the clock struck 6:00 AM, nature opened its curtains to unveil its famous masterpiece…simply spectacular!
We then hurried back to Alibama Inn to check-out and we were all on the bus at 7:00 AM, departing from unforgettable Sagada to Baguio and then to Manila.
As I have said before, Sagada is the active side of the Mountain Province, while the passive side would be Baguio.
For those planning to visit Sagada, make sure you stay for at least two nights, and that would basically be enough.
Only a few have the “guts” to experience Sagada as compared to Baguio…why not be one of them.
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