Wednesday, May 4, 2005

A weekend in Sagada

Traveling by oneself has its pros and cons. It can get lonely. But then again, it allows you a lot of room to do as you please (no offense meant really, but climbing mountains or caving isn't really something everybody wants to do). Last Friday, I jumped at the chance to go to Sagada (that MalacaƱang declared Monday a holiday gave me a glimmer of hope) without any advanced planning. It's been overdue for two years anyway. so finished work at 7.30 and rushed home, packed in 20 minutes and boarded the 12midnight bus at the Victory Liner station in Pasay.

The newly constructed NLEX made going to Baguio so much faster and smoother. Just when I was about to sleep for the 3rd time during the trip, we were in Baguio at 5.45am. Foregoing breakfast, jumped on the first bus trip to Sagada. 3 stopovers and nearly 7 hours later, we were in Sagada.

The air felt nippy and so much cleaner up there. The next two and a half days was a nice break from the everyday grind. While the trip is long on hours, it was not short on breathtaking sights.  Once I was in Sagada, I can just walk and walk for hours. for a change, working on the sideline I brought along took enormous effort. It's just wonderful to let Sagada happen.

With no TV, no distractions, and only the sound of kuliglig and occasional dog barks to disrupt the post 9 o'clock silence, it's a very welcome change. I guess I can live this kind of life given a chance (like what Toks, a transplanted Lagunse engineer turned artist/performer did - an interesting character I met on the way back from Bokkong with a really nice philosophy in life.  Iba rin talaga pag kapwa artist ang kausap, you connect even though you've only just met each other).

While the weekend was only 3 days long, it felt longer than that -- visiting Echo Valley and the hanging coffins on my first day, climbing 1,889 m Mt. Ampacao and exploring the bottom of Sumaguing on the second day, and going to Bokkong falls on the third day. That and meeting nice people in between. Plus, the leisure of sleeping the late afternoons away to the pitter-patter of rain. So, will I go back?  Am already planning to, on my way home to Manila _c")_

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