Extreme Caving at Sumaguing

Day 1

April 21, 2012
Sagada, Mt. Province

After many years of wondering what Sagada was all about, I was finally able to convince some friends to come with me to the popular destination. At first, I was actually not sure if they were up for the challenge waiting there so I sent them some caving pictures I found online. They looked difficult and risky and it seemed to me that some level of physical fitness, not to mention courage, was necessary to go through it. I waited for anyone to backout, but they seemed more concerned of the bat poop strewn across the cave.

And so, on April 21 we arrived at Sagada before noon, after 11 hours of travel including 5 hours from Baguio where we met our driver. The original plan was to arrive in time for sunrise but that entailed arriving at the bus terminal 20 minutes before the 7 PM departure (which was indicated, in the smallest font possible, at the back of the tickets I bought earlier that day). We arrived a minute before 7 PM and by then, stand by passengers had already taken our seats. As a result, we had to exchange our tickets to the next available departure at 12 midnight. (Lesson learned: Never buy the 7 PM ticket - any ticket - bus, movie, etc. Nobody leaves the office before 6 PM).

We stayed at Residential Lodge which was highly recommended online. It was nothing fancy - it was clean and homey (for 250 PHP a night, I expected much less) and the owner was extremely nice.

After we have settled in, we left for a quick lunch at Lemon House, known for its lemon pie and egg pie. One thing to note regarding dining out in Sagada was that food were a bit expensive - it was like dining out in Manila.

the popular lemon pie but my friends preferred the egg pie

the gang - Marianne, Susanne, Rissa, Jojo, Chod, John Paul, John2x

After lunch, we finally started spelunking at the Sumaguing cave. Climbing down the cave, we held on to what some us have dreaded coming in - rocks covered with bat poop.  There really was no choice - either hold the rocks or risk falling and rolling in the deep...

After about an hour, we reached the 2nd phase of the adventure. Here, we took of our footwears and had to crawl through small openings...

...cross a pathway by holding tight to a rope (one of the guides had to piggy back one of us across this)...

...wade through ice-cold waist-level water...

.. and hold-on-for-dear-life rock climb.

The 3 hour trek was an adventure of a lifetime and I can't wait to try the cave-connection next time.

For dinner, we went to Salt and Pepper diner where I ordered and enjoyed Inutom (Roasted Chicken in Salt and Pepper). And for desserts, we went to Yoghurt House where we had some yoghurt-based desserts.

yoghurt with strawberry, banana and granola