Sagada was my, sort of, baptism of fire when it comes to adventure travelling. Yup! Sagada started it all, and for that, it will always be special to me (and him, to me :P ). 

My friend, Alia, and I left Manila on a Tuesday night, 10:30 PM, to go to Baguio City. Our companions, mostly college friends, were already in Baguio that time. Alia and I still had work to do in our respective jobs so we weren't able to join the first batch to Baguio. Anyway, we arrived in Baguio around 4:30 AM the next day. By 5:00 AM, we were met by our companions namely, Ellen, Nova, Joseph and Laiza. We headed straight towards Dangwa Terminal to board another bus bound for Sagada.

At the Dangwa Terminal, we were shocked to see that there were so many people going to Sagada and only a few buses to bring them all. That's why merely boarding a bus seemed like being in World War III. Worse, the buses were not air-conditioned.  

The whole trip from Baguio to Sagada lasted 7 hours. It didn't seem quite long then as we were so busy oohing and ahhing to the breathtaking view. We passed by several rice terraces, valleys and falls and these were all such a spectacular sight. 

When we finally arrived in Sagada, we went straight to the Municipal Hall to register in their Tourist Center and look for a highly-recommended guide, Davis Daiwey. As some of my friends searched for Davis, whom we later called Daiw, his Igorot name, some of us searched for a place to stay. Since it was Holy Week, most of the inns and hotels were already booked. Our last resort was the hospital. We were lucky, though, as there were still several beds available when we got there. But then, do we really wanna stay overnight in a hospital? Good thing, Daiw came to the rescue!!! He said that the St. Mary's School in Sagada also offers basic accommodation for the same price (P 70). So, we all went to St. Mary's College to inquire. True enough, we were one of the first few groups who were given permission to stay in the school.

Since it was already late afternoon when we arrived in Sagada and all of us were pretty tired from the 7-hour trip (but in Alia's case and mine, 13 hours!), we just ironed out our itinerary with our guide, the hunkable papa Daiw.

Next day, Maundy Thursday, we met Daiw in front of the Tourist Center at the Municipal Hall. He would be bringing us to Sumaging Cave which was about 40 minutes walk from the municipal hall. 

Sumaging Cave turned out to be one of the most popular tourist spots in Sagada. The cave boasts off with glistening stone formations and cold, clear streams. Though we had a hard time negotiating the entire cave, we pulled it through. For first timers, I know we did great... Never mind if we lost our poises as we jumped, reached, hung, slid, crawled and God-knows-what-else inside the cave, it was all worth it. 

Next, we trekked our way down to the next cave, the Lumiang Burial Cave where a lot of Igorot coffins can still be found with mummies inside. Sad to say, though, the place had been badly vandalized.  

After going back and freshening up at the school, we met our guide again to go up to the Calvary Hill which was only at the back of St. Mary's School. Calvary Hill was named as such because there were Stations of the Cross alongside the hill with a big cross at the top. 

Still at the top of the hill, our guide led us to this part that they call the Echo Valley. After shouting our lungs out to hear all our echoes, Daiw trekked down the hillside. We thought we were just going to some place near so we followed him without knowing where he was going. We trekked for quite awhile until we realized that we have reached the other side of the valley where another Igorot burial site can be found, the Echo Valley Hanging Coffins.

By dinnertime, none of us can barely move from the strenuous activities we did that day... And we still have another day of roaming around Sagada tomorrow! Whew!

Although we were soooooooooooo tired and every inch of our muscles ached from the trekking and caving we did the previous day, we still started our Good Friday early. We met our guide again at the municipal hall... Such a sight first thing in the morning!

We went first to the Latang Underground River and walked all throughout the knee-deep water until we reached the other end of the cave, which was such a picturesque sight. The river that we were traversing actually leads to a small waterfalls, the Bokong Falls. The falls was also such a spectacular sight that we ended up admiring it than taking a dip in its basin. After lunch, we went up to one of the highest points in Sagada, the Kiltepan Tower. The place serves as a camping ground for backpackers. It also gives a very good of view of the rice terraces there in Sagada. But above all, Kiltepan Tower was the place to be if you want to see the best sunrise ever, according to Daiw. Of course, we didn't get to see the sunrise since it was almost late afternoon then. We also went up to the 160 feet tower to get a better view of the rest of Sagada.

By Black Saturday, we left Sagada at around 4 AM promising ourselves that we will be back, no matter what.