It's my first time to go to the Mountain Province. I have heard it many times, that Sagada is such a beautiful place and nobody told me how it looked like and what I could see if I go there. All I knew it's 13 hours away from Manila.... such a long way.
Then I got the chance to be there, and oh yes, I became one of those people who were strucked by the beauty of Sagada. Even foreigners did not bother the travel time just to visit Sagada.
I got the chance to see some places there for the first time. What I appreciated the most was how the locals there are maximizing the soil of the mountains. There are so many terraces, that I thought what we have in the Philippines was the famous Banawe Rice Terraces. Little did I know that there are a lot of terraces in Mountain Province. They planted not only rice, but they also plant vegetables.
So far, it's in Mountain Province where I got to witness that almost all the mountains are planted with crops --- from the bottom to the tip of the mountain.
So beautiful, so greeny...
Then I got to see what's inside the Sumaguing Cave, one of the famous spots in Sagada. Something like accepting a challenge when you go inside the cave, since all movements must be done carefully and surely.... or else you're dead... :)
At first, I appreciated the Underground River when I saw it and so I supported it to the
Wonders of the World. But when I saw what the Sumaguing Cave has, then I told myself -- hey its more challenging than the Underground River aside from the stages that we've gone through as we traversed inside the cave and I got to touch and step on the many formations of the stalagmites and stalactites inside.A truly amazing experience....
The locals of the Mountain Province also boast their traditions especially on how they treat their dead people. We got to see the Burial Cave and the Hanging Coffins.
They explained that they do not believe burying under the ground, since they wanted the spirits of their loved ones to be free. The way they wanted it to be.
The burying involved all the locals, as their social responsibility. What I saw were the coffins for 200 years already. Though the locals still practice such, they just place the coffins in other hidden places, which are not for public viewing anymore, since it is sacred for them.
The locals wanted us, those of different culture, to understand them. And I am amazed how they preserve their culture.
These are just some of the features of Sagada, Mountain Province... but we saw them, we really had to undergo some physical activities, that challenged us whether we would like to see it ourselves or let others just describe it for us.
I was one of those who took the challenge, though my muscles hurt for two days, I did it. I saw them myself.
And so I could say, "I came, I saw, and I was conquered by the beauty of Sagada."
