In-a-Sagada-Were-We-da

For our next stop, we were in a wonderful little town called, Sagada. (This explains my title, which Mark says is silly, but I think is lovely.) :o)

We really liked it here! It felt a lot like Colorado, with higher altitude, pine trees... We even found some "Telluride Blues and Brews" stickers in some places in town, courtesy of one of our tour-guide's previous clients. 

We arrived in the afternoon and took a walk to where they have public access to their hanging coffins. 

The last to be "buried" there was only a few years ago (the blue and white one). There are a few short and stubby coffins that are made out of one tree trunk that makes you think that there are a lot of children there. In reality, it is for the "pagans" (as our guide called them) to be in the fetal position. 

Let's play "Where's Mark"

 Hi!!!

On the way back into town, we had to go through a baseball field and passed by some "kids" playing and hanging around a bonfire.

Did we want to join them?  Heck yeah!  Even Jun was playing. There he is in yellow.

Mark was showing off his skills...

whereas I was just excited that I hit the ball!

The kids treated us to a "gong song." They do really rhythmically intricate songs for different occasions and celebrations. "A part of mountain culture," they said. 

Thank goodness for the out-going-ness of our tour guide, Jun!

That night, we had a tasty meal at the Yogurt House where they have The. Best. Yogurt. Ever.

Holy moly, totally worth the bus ride.


The morning of the next day, we took a walk through the local rice terraces to a waterfall.

You can see the rice paddies covered in water in this picture. 

Our guide was a lovely older woman named Amy ("50 plus years," she said).  She also told us that there were 5,000 steps in our walk down to the waterfall, which she does sometimes twice a day.

Wowzers.

She was very knowledgeable about the plants on our walk and their medicinal uses. She also took us by a yard to see an old woman with traditional tattoos.

Rice is growing!

Down towards the river, we pass by a bridge. Not that we had to cross it, but it was a good photo opportunity. :o)

Finally at the waterfall! 

Say hi to Amy!

Jun was sneaking candids without us knowing, but we sure appreciated it in the end. :o)

Amy was such a speed demon walker that we had a good 20 minutes to ourselves at the waterfall. On the way back up, we had to by-pass a good deal of Filipino tourists, so it was nice to have it empty for a little while. 

Time for lunch and then the caves!

Until next time!