Ive been sitting on that title for days people! Two of which I spent in Sagada, in the Northern part of Luzon in the Philippines. We arrived early afternoon on a Wednesday, and immediately sought to drop off our stuff. From the bus drop off point to our inn, it was approximately 17 minutes and 5 seconds walk (okay ill stop.)
The first thing one notices upon arriving is the fact that they're not on fire. With the sun beaming down, most parts of the Philippines feel like a constant heat wave. However, Sagada has a very cool chill to it. I even wore pants. Pants people!! Sagada is well known for a few things. Vegetables, coffee, hanging coffins, caves, sunrise on the local mountain, echo valley, amongst other things I've most likely failed to mention. Our original intention was to be there three nights but we cut it short, regretfully to be honest. What followed was a horrible night in Baguio but admittedly that was our fault.
Day one, arrival day is always meant for scoping out the town and dropping off your stuff to go and eat as soon as you can. What you'll notice is there's one main street, and plenty of Inns, cafes, and restos. Carry cash, however, as most people's visa machines are "destroyed" as I was told, comically.
Try the log cabin, a lovely local establishment with seriously delicious food. Do yourself a favor and eat vegetables wherever you are, Sagada has some of the best in the country. Other popular spots are the yoghurt house, and some other cafe to the south with delicious treats. We are their twice yet I forgot the name cuz I'm an idiot. I just remember for like 125 pesos you get French toast and a huge cup of coffee.
Day one, arrival day is always meant for scoping out the town and dropping off your stuff to go and eat as soon as you can. What you'll notice is there's one main street, and plenty of Inns, cafes, and restos. Carry cash, however, as most people's visa machines are "destroyed" as I was told, comically.
Try the log cabin, a lovely local establishment with seriously delicious food. Do yourself a favor and eat vegetables wherever you are, Sagada has some of the best in the country. Other popular spots are the yoghurt house, and some other cafe to the south with delicious treats. We are their twice yet I forgot the name cuz I'm an idiot. I just remember for like 125 pesos you get French toast and a huge cup of coffee.
The night before while I slept, the others contacted a guide for our morning caving adventure. He ended up having one too many red horses and our 9 a.m. trek turned into an 11 a.m. one. We were told it would take around 4 hours, but lo and behold, three fit men finished it in under 2. Our mistake was not swimming in the cave where a lot stop for pictures. I took a few, extremely shitty ones now that I look at them. Either way, our guide was great, held our stuff often and made sure we were safe. There's only 1-2 dicey parts, but if you're not close to plunging a few feet to a broken leg, you're not really having fun, are you??
It's important not to be scared, but most of the time Süntke kept talking about the movie The Descent and wondering which of us would make it out "alive". Seriously, good movie, but florian hadn't seen it!! There's parts where you can do nothing but put your hands up and shimmy through a crevice and for a claustrophobic person like myself IT WAS GREAT.
After we finished everyone was famished, and I really wanted to check out Echo Valley but everyone had other plans. I made my way towards it and found a local game of basketball instead. My first touch I pulled off what one might call "Timmy D's Fundamentals" and the rest I would call "utter trash." It was nice of the locals to let me play, though, and our team was victorious.
Back to the inn for rest, and then the next afternoon we set off for Baguio. Actually ran into the same small group we met the first night at dinner, and took the final seats on the bus. Sagada was so lovely that I'm already considering returning but next time side tracking myself to see Whang Od as well.
Back to the inn for rest, and then the next afternoon we set off for Baguio. Actually ran into the same small group we met the first night at dinner, and took the final seats on the bus. Sagada was so lovely that I'm already considering returning but next time side tracking myself to see Whang Od as well.
Almost forgot! The last image attached, was some sort of ceremony the school was performing. It was really cool, I think someone said the 106th birthday? Either way, everyone dressed up in garb and lighting a torch and singing to the beat of the drum. Awesome