Day 2 Sagada. Part II – We’re Here!

Waking up Day 2 we realized we slept for almost 12 hours, from 830pm to 830am. We were that tired. I could hear activity going on which may have involved the other guests, but we were too bushed to care.

Here’s Mapiya-aw Pension House again, which is actually a very very old hotel.

View from our room window:

There’s at least a 50 meter uphill trek from the National Road up to it, rendering the place invisible and quite a hike away from people traffic.

So bright and early we set out to explore, and since we had no car, we walked probably about 3km. from Point A to Point B.

The amazing Yoghurt House.

The Lemon Pie House. Quick story about this. A friend who had gone up here a year or more ago raved over the Sagada Lemon Pie House on Facebook. I checked the link, ‘liked’ it and thus received updates and such about it from time to time. Seeing it finally in the flesh was fun! The lemon pie though, was nothing to write home about, then again I’m not a big fan of pies, tarts and such things anyway, so don’t take my word for it.

It was still hot under the sun but very cool under shade. Being such a nice day we just forged on the main (and only) road.

This building is the tallest structure I’ had seen thereabouts. Assuming it’s a hotel it would probably be the poshiest over there.

There’s a bar / restaurant / cafe / souvenir store at every corner, up to two or three actually. I clambered up these rocks to check out this one which turned out to be closed.

These eerie limestone rocks are everywhere. Even right outside out room window.

Getting nearer the area where the caves are, there’s some zipline action to be had if you’re into that sort of thing.

At some point between the zipline area and the caves is this stunning view of a valley with the distant sound of a waterfalls somewhere. You can’t help but stop and stare while enjoying the 20 degree weather and the can’t – get – fresher – than – this air.

Finally, the entrance to the caves! Which we didn’t go down to. We had been walking for more than an hour at this point and even if it was all downhill we were bushed, and there were a bunch of tourists besides.

This was the end of the National Road as we knew it, and we felt fine.

We stayed at this cement monstrosity for a few minutes to rest, trying to figure how we were gonna handle the hike back up. Took pics of some interestingly named places:

Finally we had to face the uphill climb. It was doable but it was definitely gonna drain us and would’ve probably taken us hours. Fortunately a passing jeep gave us a lift up 50% of the way and we had brunch at Lemon Pie House.

After that we hitched another ride from a passing jeep to take us 75% of the way and walked the rest.

We were completely drained when we got back to our place, but were very happy. The caretaker told us she didn’t know anyone else who had walked the distance when we told her what we did. That’s likely because most people she knew are intelligent and logical, and bringing along a car possibly helped (we left ours at a friend’s place at Baguio).

Regardless, I thought what we did was pretty cool. You can only enjoy the town so much riding a car. On foot (or alternatively, a motorcycle) would allow you the freedom to explore and go in and out of shops, cafes and other interesting places quickly. And we definitely did a lot of that.

Next post, Sagada Part III: The Eating!