Down to/with Banaue
Ever had that feeling of crashing down with disappointment after pinning your expectations so high up? Our trip to Banaue took that turn for all of us-- unanimously.
We were discussing our best course of action for the trip to Banaue during the previous night with mixed feelings. Well, none of us have gone there before so we were still all excited to go. We just had a different expectation of how Banaue would be like after experiencing Sagada. Although we all wanted to stay for one more night in Sagada, we had to travel to Banaue and stay there overnight (instead of just passing there on the way home) because we had to pay our bus tickets to ensure our trip back to Manila, of which the schedule was crucial since JoAnn had to catch her flight to Kalibo while Rom and EJ had to report back to work almost as soon as we arrived. Arranging that from Sagada was just not possible despite having a contact who already made the reservations. That meant sacking any further opportunity of pursuing Bokong Falls. That meant one less night in spent in Sagada.
After having breakfast and going around awhile for pasalubong shopping, we headed to Bontoc by jeepney which was an hour away. Our stay in Bontoc was too brief so I can't say much about it since we had to catch the last jeepney trip going to Banaue. It took 2 hours for the last leg of the journey. All I remember was how each of my butt cheeks got numbed from being immobilized, sitting throughout the trip--imagine each cheek getting one solid hour of pressure since the first hour of the trip was all uphill while the next hour was completely downhill. I tell you, stretching at the much-anticipated sole, midway stopover was a welcoming relief.
So finally we got to Banaue. I don't know if it was just me, but the instant I set my foot there felt like all the magic of the previous days vanished in a single moment. Banaue was a bustling metropolis, heavily trodden by the rigors of development. The enchantment that Sagada gave us was nowhere to be found here. It was crowded with a sense of urgency. Banaue was no restful haven for the soul. Our first impression was frustrating that at some point we all wished we had stayed for one final night in Sagada instead. But probably, it was too soon to speak since the majestic rice terraces that Banaue was known for was still hidden from plain view; some were hours away which necessitated the need for renting a vehicle and a local guide. We were too quick to judge, I know, like we just saw the armpit and immediately created an impression that the rest of the body were also unpleasant, or even worse.
After working on logistics (e.g., hotel accommodations, bus reservations, and travel itinerary), we opted to spend the rest of the afternoon looking around for souvenir items and pasalubong since we were all tired from the jeepney rides that surely gave us a beating. We also figured out--to our dismay--that our time in Banaue was too short for us to explore and visit all the must-see places, particularly Batad (where the grandest terraces were located) and some local villages. Only the Guihob Natural Falls was within our reach, which we visited the following morning.
Comparisons between Banaue and Sagada bore on till the night over a couple of SMB Lights. We couldn't help juxtaposing the two places and comparing them in alot of ways--like how Sagada had a sense of community, that a few meters away we could instantly enjoy drinking coffee, that we felt secure, that we felt detached from the rest of the world like some sort of enchanted spell was cast upon us. It was just completely different. But somehow, we also knew that our stay in Banaue depended upon how we defined it and how we wanted to experience it; sulking further about how frustrated we already were wasn't the way to go.
So despite getting up late the next morning, which seemed like everybody was too timid to do anymore exploring, we set off to our final destination at Guihob. Other locals were there having a picnic themselves. It felt like everybody's eyes were on us the moment we got there. At one point, the kids were pointing at JoAnn, thinking she was a famous artista. I overheard them saying she looked like Bianca Gonzalez, the host of the Pinoy Big Brother show. Rom, EJ, and I wasted no time and hurriedly got ourselves into the freezing water. A few local teenagers invited us to come explore the interior of the waterfalls further, to which we obliged and had fun as a result. We were probably there for less than an hour but we all knew that our stay in Banaue was already taking a turn for the better.
On the way back to town, our tricycle driver was too kind and hospitable to point us to a small waterfall by the road side and some rice terraces as well. The brief stops there, plus the photo-ops that ensued, instantaneously transformed our previous apathy to pure fun of orgasmic proportions. Somehow, we still managed to salvage an enjoyable experience in Banaue even for the briefest time. The three group pictures I share here now cap this momentous trip of ours--that no matter how bad our first impressions were, our joy depended on us and how we wanted to experience it. The place played a huge factor, yes. But like I said, it was being with the cousins there and then that made the whole Baguio-Sagada-Bontoc-Banaue travel an unforgettable and irreplaceable time.
I made a banner portrait of everybody that afternoon while we were waiting for the 530pm bus trip to Manila. Here, you'll see each of us having our own moments describing how we felt throughout our trip (the banner portrait, L-R: EJ, Katrina, Tina, Rom, Don, and JoAnn).
To Rom and my cousins, I truly had more than a wonderful time with all of you. My hope is that somehow through these blog posts, the pictures we took, and in the stories of the trip that we will be telling for years to come, we would be able to relive that same joy and experience. Sa susunod at muling pagkikita!
Some Itinerary Notes
Apart from what I already shared in this series of posts, anybody planning on embarking on a journey to Sagada can either take the route going to Banaue-Bontoc or through Baguio. Although we were forced to take the latter, we realized that it was still the better route.
I was also thinking if our experience and impression of Banaue would have been different had we gone there first instead of Sagada. We figured it would have probably been the same since our original plan was to pass by Banaue only to see the rice terraces and spend most of our time in Sagada.
When you get to Sagada, I suggest going on an adventure by following the map yourself (like we did). That's if you're up to it. I have no numbered preference or priority where you should go first, but surely you shouldn't miss the Hanging Coffins, Sumaguing Caves, and Kiltepan Peak. There are other places like Besao and the waterfalls, which we were not able to see, but I believe are equally magnificent places. Bring as many friends unless you want to go there for some reflection time in solitude. Be sure to have enough time like 6 days with 2 days dedicated for travel time alone. We only had 5 days max and had to cram everything, which I'd say was not enough to cover all the important sites. Although that gives us all the more reason to go back.
