Steppin' Across To Sagada

Steppin' Across To Sagada

From Banaue, it's a three hour step across to Sagada. Our legs need some relief from the steep mountains and Sagada promises visitors easy access to plenty of sights and places to refuel. 

Our road through the mountains is incredibly windy but the driver of our van, Stanley, follows them at a comfortable speed so we can sit back and enjoy the scenery... with a few lookouts along the way to admire the view and take the obligatory pictures. The journey through the Cordillera region is gorgeous. Small villages with locals tending to their crops on the terraced hillsides, not just rice but tomatoes, carrots, greens, etc. 

We are first off, stopping just before the town of Sagada, at our motel for the evening, the Rusty Nail... There are no rusty nails in sight but Bang our host said that wasn't the case when his family took it over. Their hard work has paid off and this place now has the tidy charm of a motel that has lovingly restored and our place here is called the matrimonial room, go figure. 

Bang kindly drops us into the town of Sagada and recommends Yogurt House for lunch. A great recommendation. Delicious! He's born and bred in Sagada so certainly knows his stuff. He even told us we could have a free lunch if we wished, as there was a wedding happening today, between high school sweethearts, and the everyone is invited... a celebration that would last to dawn. The queue of locals was down the street so the invitation to all certainly seemed true. What an amazing opportunity, to witness some local lovebirds tying the knot. Yet going to a wedding of strangers for a free lunch was too foreign to us, however matrimonial our accommodations may be.

After lunch we headed to the hanging coffins. A short walk supposedly so we decide against getting a guide. On the way we bumped into Lillian and Clement, fellow travelers that we met in Batad, who also were keen to see what these hanging coffins were about. So off we went... up the road, asking for directions along the way, getting turned around, climbing some steps to nowhere before deciding to turn back and heading to the local tourist centre to find a guide.

Fortunate for us, a guide was quickly found. A local studying to be an elementary school teacher than had just finished exams and was home in Sagada for the holidays. As we walked to the site of the hanging coffins, we walked through the local cemetery and she explained that anyone could be buried there if they wanted. Sagada is certainly an all-in community! 

As we arrived at the hanging coffins, they are certainly hanging - on the side of a cliff. This is one of many cliffs around the region, cemeteries for locals only. This is an oddly beautiful place to remember those who have passed but we quickly feel we have overstayed our welcome... by the many tourists who are passing through here. So back to the Rusty Nail it is for us for some R&R, food and drink. The internet was all but non-existent, so we got more uninterrupted time together... perfection.

A Final Hike In The Cordillera Region

A Final Hike In The Cordillera Region

Back To Banuae. Bye, Bye Batad.

Back To Banuae. Bye, Bye Batad.