We said good bye to Baguio where a siren sounds over the city at 6 am and 6 pm every day. It reminded us of being in Stonetown on Zanzibar just one year ago as that was the practice there too. We knew we'd miss our comfortable home away from home at the Cosmopolitan Hotel...it had been such a great spot for our visit here....such a big room and having access to the supply cupboard was a real treat too! :). Our final night here had been so much quieter with the festival having ended and so many visitors having left already.
WOW! Is about all there was to say after 635 km that took a total of 22 hours on the road (and most of that was inside the car!). The trip took us from Baguio City to Sagada and Bontoc then on to Banaue where we overnighted at the Greenview and then finishing off with Manila where we ended this little portion of our adventure. Think about it....22 hours to go 600 kms....that averages out to 30 km/hr and that's not far from the truth of it. Most of our time in the mountains we travelled between 20-40 km/hr because the road is sooo winding, hilly, and only wide enough for one vehicle so you have to give the right of way every so often.
So many times over the past two days Lynda and I both exclaimed at how thankful we are that we are old and have plastic so we could forgo the bus and hire a private car and driver. The expense was a little more than we had planned but heh....21,000 PHP only sounds like a lot when you first hear it. In truth it's only about $700 CAD and so divided by 2 it became pretty doable. More important than how doable the cost was is the time it saved us and the freedom and comfort it provided. We were able to stop when we wanted....we had so much more room than on a bus....we could control the temperature and the windows....and being on a top heavy bus going around all those corners would have been too much for me. I'm certain I wouldn't have made it around more than a few of them before motion sickness would have set in and to think about suffering through that for more than 22 hours made $350 bucks look like nothing at all! In fact, the bus is much slower than a car so it would likely have been even longer than 22 hours.
On to much happier stuff though....there is really almost too much to tell about all that we saw along the way but I'll do my best to recap a few of the highlights for you in brief. Bottom line on all of it is that it was AMAZING! We both saw things that were "firsts" and that is always a great foundation for a lasting impression. Perhaps the grandest sight was the way that the local farmers use this mountainous land. They turn something that looks like nothing more than a steep hill into terraced gardens that range in width from 3 or 4 feet to 30 or 40 feet. The length of each terrace is also just as varied....some of them are just tiny spaces and others of them are probably an acre in size. We knew we were going to see rice that had been planted on terraces in Benaue but neither of us had any idea that every vegetable grown here is also farmed in this same way. Thinking about the logistics of building each of the terraces and then further considering how to get water to them and then there is the issue of maintaining the "fields" when there is no way to get from terrace to terrace other than virtually rock climbing your way up and down. Seriously the farmers here must be part mountain goat...it is the only way they'd be able to keep on top of their farms. One thing we could see for certain is that they are hard workers! No one could live this life and not be seriously committed to success....seeing it was a combination of motivational and overwhelming.
To focus in on the rice terraces that we saw along the way (prior to Benaue)....they were so pretty....the rice is in varying stages of development and so there are as many shades of green as there are stages in the development of the plant. On top of the shades of green were the occasional brown terrace or another that was just water and those different colours just emboldened the greens by their contrast.
Benaue rice terraces were a surprise for many reasons not the least of which is that they were shrouded in mist so thick we couldn't see them when we arrived! On the upside...that thick mist really did add a magical flavour to the overall experience. Within minutes of our arrival...the mists lifted enough for us to be able to get a good view of the terraces near the city centre before they closed in again like a blanket over the town. Our room in Benaue was rustic but really really fun! It too boasted another "first" in that the private bathroom that went along with it was accessible only via the deck that led off the room! That meant that to go pee....you had to go outside first. The good news is that we were on the second floor and that our bathroom/deck looked out over the terraces and the river far below. As we were being checked in the staff assured us that the residents couldn't afford binoculars so we had nothing to worry about in the privacy department. During our overnight in Benaue....it rained the whole time so wandering about wasn't really very appealing but as always there is a silver lining and in this case the pouring rain pushed us inside to a little bakery where we found big mugs of 3 in 1 and some pretty decent ham and egg croissants and some really tasty coconut buns for dinner. Another shop we found shelter from the rain in made a little money off Lynda when she purchased a couple of runners for some furniture she has....the funny ending to that story is that the "runners" turned out to be the traditional g-strings that the local tribesmen wear! LOL....what a great conversation starter that will be for Lynda and her guests!
Driving along the roads we would sometimes see nothing more than a set of concrete stairs leading up to what looked like nowhere only to learn that there are a couple of homes at the top of that set of 50+ stairs. Or then there were the times that there would be rock walls along the roadway (holding back the mountain) and there was a bamboo ladder leaning up against the wall for no apparent reason. It turns out that the locals place ladders in strategic locations so they can access the land above the wall. Likely that's where one of their sets of terraces begins!
Our driver Ronald was outstanding...his attention and ability left us feeling confident. In fact, we were so comfortable that we both went without a seatbelt for the entire two days! And given the insanity of the traffic (even in the mountains) it was actually insane that we opted not to! Interestingly we saw not even a single fender bender....everyone is extremely alert - they have to be! As well, Ronald says that in the mountains everyone uses a lot of respect shown by their "give and take" attitude on the road. He added that when we arrived in Manila we'd see something different though as in Manila they just "take and take". By the way....he was right....they do! The traffic in Manila was INSANE and on top of that we had to keep our doors locked as it is common for criminals to open your door or back hatch when you're stopped at an intersection (with you in the vehicle) to steal your bags or cases. Needless to say....we kept all our doors locked up tight. Getting through Manila tonight took a full 3 hours because of rush hour traffic. Although....according to Ronald, rush hour traffic lasts till midnight at least! One fun thing Ronald did while in Manila was to put a police cap on his front dash where it was visible through the windshield. (A friend of his who is a policeman gave it to him). Luckily it saved us a little time as a policeman waved us through an intersection because he saw it.
Speaking of police...we went through a couple of road blocks along the way. They were specifically set up as check points for guns. There is an election campaign underway in the Philippines and it seems there is one faction, I think it was called the Independent People's Army, who have a reputation for eliminating candidates they don't like. In fact there was a headline in the Philippine newspaper the other day stating that 42 terrorists had been eliminated. From what we can gather they were all located in the far south parts of the country - nowhere near where we will be. Bottom line we made it through road blocks with no trouble. :)
In the end...our time in the northern parts of Luzon have been fantastic all around and as much as we've enjoyed our travel and adventures here we are ready for a change of pace so next stop will be somewhere south. At the moment, El Nido on Palawan is looking promising as a place to start. We should find out tomorrow if we can get some plane tickets to take us right there. Fingers crossed cuz I think I've made it clear how I feel about long bus rides!
Till next time,
Lorrie & Lynda
P.s.
Plane tickets secured. We leave for El Nido tomorrow at 11 am. We are on a private airline that even has its own terminal!
What an adventure!!!!
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