"Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - Helen Keller
Hey folks! 👋🏻 I've been having more time lately as I stay awake past midnight until early in the morning for my mother's after-surgery care. More time to write! 😎
I know we're not done yet with our Vigan, Ilocos Sur escapade and will definitely write another post about it. But I'm itching to write about this at the moment. Gotta give in! 😁
We planned out every single detail of our "The Great Luzon Escapade" and our next stop after Vigan, Ilocos Sur was the humble town of Sagada in Mountain Province. I could clearly recall doing intensive research on how we can reach Sagada from Vigan. The more obvious and more accessible route was Vigan-Baguio-Sagada but when I looked at the map, it was too far and will consume more than a day. I came across a blog mentioning another unpopular route that will take us less than a day of travel. The blog suggested we alight in Bitalag (Ilocos Sur), take an open van ride to Cervantes (Ilocos Sur), ride another open van to Abatan (Mountain Province) and finally another ride to Sagada town proper. It might sound a lot but based on my computation, it was supposed to free up more than 5 hours of travel time. Who doesn't want more time to explore, right? Naturally, we took the Vigan-Cervantes-Sagada route.
Grace and I were beyond excited about that day's cross-country travel. We were literally traversing from the Northwest to the heart of Northern Luzon and that meant seeing massive valley after valley and mountain ranges that never seem to end.
We arrived in Bitalag past nine (9) in the morning. What the blog didn't mention tho is that the van going to Cervantes doesn't leave Bitalag unless it's full. Now, this is when things got a bit thrilling. We waited in the van for 30 minutes and another 30 and only two other passengers arrived. Then, we learned that the single trip to Cervantes might leave at midday or worse, late in the afternoon. That's when Grace and I decided to use the power of our mighty hands. Yup, hitchhiking was the only answer we thought of. 💯
We left our bags in the van while we tried to get a free ride from passing vehicles. I personally didn't think it was offensive not until we were scolded by the van operator. We got our bags and that meant, not returning inside the makeshift van terminal ever. I've tried hitchhiking before during a few trips in the mountains of Cebu but I haven't done it here in a Province where people speak a different language when they scold you! Haha!
Vehicles passing by were willing to take us but unfortunately, most of their trips end even before they could reach Cervantes. Bummer! 😭
The only vehicle that offered us a ride was an open truck transporting pigs to Cervantes. We weren't in the position to say no. Don't laugh at this! But I thought Grace and I will be sitting next to the pigs at the back of the truck, but the owner of the truck (a businessman) was kind enough to offer the front seats; they were the ones who sat at the back exposing themselves in the heat of the sun and the pig's shit! It was too hot that day that we made a few stops so the pigs could take cold baths.
People were warm and hospitable. I know we, Filipinos, are known for our hospitability but it's still different when you experience it yourself. Surreal! I felt that they were delighted even surprised to have tourists take that route. It's not every day that this happens. They're proud to show us around their town that they insisted we drop by Bessang Pass for a quick photo op. We did just that and back on the road.
This is one of the most remarkable rides among all the backpacking I did in my entire life. The route was simply scenic and refreshing. It was a bit scary too especially when we were up the narrow mountain road most of the time. The roads were paved; I could only imagine how challenging travel was prior to road improvements. And then we descended into a beautiful and unforgettable valley where the next terminal is located. The truck driver made sure to drop us at the terminal; he even told the driver where we were headed. It was too much; my heart was full.