A shot of the Banaue rice terraces on the way to Batad
Day 1: Monday, 27 December 2010 (on the road)
Location: Florida Bus Station, Sampaloc, Manila
Departure, Manila-Banaue, 22:45; ETA 07:00
Actual time: departure at 23:00, arrival at 07:15
Cost: taxi ride from home (100 pesos plus 20 peso tip—the taxi driver was nice!), bottled water (P25), bus ticket (P450)
Diet: Ritz biscuits, water, trail mix bar, gingerbon candies
Song: The Bridge of Khazad Dum by Howard Shore
Mood: Excited, sleepy
Road from the Batad junction to the Saddle
Day 2: Tuesday, 28 December 2010 (Banaue-Batad)
Time: 06:15 – 21:00
Activities: breakfast in Banaue, haggling with the Mafia transport group for a reasonably priced ride to the Batad junction or The Saddle, 350 peso tricycle ride to the junction, stop-overs for pictures and side-stepping landslides, 4.5 hour uphill hike with my 20 lbs knapsack from the junction to the Saddle, another 2 hour hike to the viewpoint area, quick lunch and a beer at Simon’s Viewpoint Inn, a much-needed nap, a much-MUCH-needed shower, dinner, sleep.
Cost: breakfast (P150), 1 liter bottled water (P60), trike ride (P350), Room (P200), lunch (P115), a pail of hot water (P30), dinner (P100)
Diet: ham and eggs with red rice, coffee, lots of chocolate, water, corned beef with vegetable rice, San Miguel pale pilsen, cheese omelet, pancit, more chocolate, vitamins
Song: none. All I could hear was the sound of my ragged breath, trickling water, cracking wood, crickets, and the wind.
Mood: tired, scared, overwhelmed, proud, exhilarated, fatigued, catatonic
We opted to take the longer route --but less steeper road-- to Batad from the Saddle, but we hiked up these steps on our way back (faster but more dangerous hike for first-timers like us). It started drizzling 2 minutes before we reached the top.
Day 3: Wednesday, 29 December 2010 (Batad-Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada)
Time: 05:30 – 23:00
Activities: hike back to the Saddle, breakfast at a sari-sari store, long wait for the jeepney driver, rocky ride back to Banaue in the rain, quick lunch at a carenderia, 2 hour jeepney ride to Bontoc, 1 hour ride to Sagada, stroll around the city, dinner and beers at the Yogurt House, a beer in front of the Traveler’s Inn convenient store, hot shower, tummy trouble, interrupted-kinda-horror-story-sleep.
Cost: breakfast (P35), jeepney ride to Banaue (P150), lunch (P65), 4 Cloud Nine bars (P32), jeepney ride to Bontoc (P150), jeepney ride to Sagada (P40), room w/ own bathroom (P250), dinner and beers (P275)
Diet: trail mix bar, 1 pancake, 3-in-one coffee, 2 bags of Dory chips, pork adobo with rice and a bottle of Royal Tru Orange, Cloud Nine, Strawberry creme filled Sunflower crackers, water, butter mint candies, two spoonfuls of yogurt, 4 San Mig Light beers, roasted eggplant pasta, a bag of Okeji tempura style chips, vitamins
Song: Crazy by Alanis Morissette
Mood: fatigued, excited, contented, relaxed
Picture of a bench hanging over the Banaue rice terraces
Day 4-5: Thursday, 30/31 December 2010 (Sagada-Bontoc-Banaue-Manila)
Time: 07:15-03:00 (the following day)
Activities: breakfast at Masferre’s restaurant, tummy trouble still, 20 minute leisurely trek to the Lumiang burial cave, another 30 minute trek to the Sumaging cave, spelunking for 2 hours (with unexpected anxiety attacks!), 10 min jeepney ride to the Sagada town proper, 15 minute shower + packing, race to catch the last jeep to Bontoc, jeepney ride to Bontoc, jeepney ride to Banaue in the rain, tummy trouble again, lunch/merienda/dinner, bus ride back home.
Cost: breakfast (P100), cave guide + jeepney ride from Sumaging (P250), 1.5 liter bottled water (P20), a pack of Sagada arabica coffee grounds (P175), frozen yogurt to go (P100), jeepney ride to Bontoc (P40), jeepney ride to Banaue (P150), lunch/merienda/dinner (P140), bus ride back to Manila (P450), midnight snack (P70), taxi ride home from the Florida Cubao bus station (P50)
Diet: corned beef with pandesal, papaya, fried plantain, frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries, Cloud Nine, pancit canton, Royal tru orange, arroz caldo with egg, watermelon flavored Fit and Right drink, water, vitamins
Song: Beautiful by Trading Yesterday
Mood: fatigued, sick, peeved, sad, accomplished, melancholy
Things I realized along the way
- I am extremely unfit (shame, shame, shame), which is why I am determined to go back to my daily ashtanga yoga practice.
- I also need to eat better. I’ve been pushing limits when it’s really not the time or place to do it– drinking all night, snacking on fatty processed foods, etc. I’m not young anymore and could get a heart attack from my careless decisions and apathy. Not only that, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis almost 10 years ago and I’ve been lucky enough not to have bad attacks and relapses. I should not be a slave to my condition, but I also should not ignore it. Fatigue is my constant companion and I am prone to melancholy bouts because of MS, so I should be more aware of what I do to myself and not take my health for granted.
- I’ve always known that I love being in the mountains more than going to the beach, but being there is different from getting there. I need to prepare myself more (physically, mentally, emotionally) for the journey. I can’t just apparate on top of a mountain whenever I feel like it; I have to earn my way to get there and stay there.
- Again, I was ashamed to realize that I was not only physically unfit, but I was also mentally weak. I was able to go up and down the perilous trails on sides of mountains and inside the cave, but my mind was plagued with negative, self-defeating thoughts the whole time. Sad, really. The trip became more draining because I was physically being taxed by the mountain and I was mentally flagellating myself at the same time. Again, shame, shame, shame.
- Realization number 5: my comportamiento, my performance, how I reacted during the trip made me see–actually made me admit to myself what I had already suspected in a long time—that I’ve turned into a shrinking violet, a scaredy cat who doesn’t want to take risks anymore and have refused to participate in her life. I checked out on myself a while back, I bailed, I let myself down all because I do not want to get hurt anymore, don’t want to fail, and don’t want to be disappointed.
- But, despite all the negativity I created for myself, I realized that I can achieve anything if I put my mind into it. It makes me look back to the times when I’ve achieved something or overcame something seemingly impossible… I’ve done it before, so I should be able to keep doing it again and again.
- Which makes me wonder why I haven’t been doing it…
- And makes me think that 2011 is the perfect time to do it!
- Synchronicity or messages from God or the Universe is an oh-so-real thing. I wasn’t planning to go on this trip, even thought about backing out, but I threw my doubts out of the window and got on that bus and did it. This was exactly what I needed to clear my head and rediscover myself.
- It’s the first day of the new year, a new decade—Stardate 1/1/11 ;o) –it’s like my life’s counter just rebooted and it’s giving me a new slate, a fresh start. That innocuous trip to the Cordilleras might have been the first step that gets my life back on track, the thing that sweeps me back to my destiny.
Hobbit feet! ;o)
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door…You step onto the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – Bilbo Baggins of the Shire
Disturbing the Universe 