Hello Steemians!
Yesterday I wrote about our time in the northern Luzon town of Pagudpud and I figured I should follow that up with our stop off in Sagada on the way back to Manila. Sagada is a small town nestled in the Central Cordillera Mountains and is absolutely jam packed with great food, friendly people and amazing activities. It is mainly known for it's hanging coffins (I will write about this another day) but my favorite thing we did there was explore Sumaguing Cave just outside of town with our 15 year old guide, Kevin.
Let's Go Caving!
When we arrived in Sagada we quickly found out that to do any of the activities in the area you must first register with the town tourism office and they will give you a local guide to take you where ever it is you want to go. At first I was a little annoyed by this but I quickly changed my view when I saw that most of the guides were local kids working on the weekend and that all the prices set out were pretty fair. We opted to see the hanging coffins and I talked my girlfriend into going and seeing one of the caves, the price for both of these was 700PHP (500PHP for 2 persons in the cave and 200PHP for the coffins). After seeing the coffins, Kevin led us on a 45 minute walk to get to the entrance of the cave and then he went to work priming and lighting his lantern. Not long after we headed down into the darkness.
Into the Darkness
As we made our way down into the cave it became very dark very fast so I let my girlfriend go ahead and stay closer to the light to see her footing and we slowly made our way down the slick rock. I used my phone for light and before long we were about 75m lower than the entrance to the cave and the rock went from rough and wet to smooth and slick. At this point Kevin told us to take our shoes off and leave them here for when we come back because our feet would grip the rock better than the rubber soles of our shoes. Once we had our shoes off we continued further into the cave.
Let's Get Wet
Before we had entered the cave Kevin had asked us if we minded getting wet on our trip down and we said it wasn't a problem. I didn't quite realize what he meant though, I thought he meant a little dripping water, not wading through pools in the low spots of the cave. However, we pushed on using ropes to get up and down slick sections of rock and then wading through waist deep water to go from one small chamber to the next. I have been in a few caves in my life but none were quite as exciting as this, both my girlfriend and I had the time of our lives walking deep underground, both cold and wet, and without our shoes. Who would have thought it could be so fun?
When I visited the Philippines I wasn't sure what to expect but everywhere I went I was constantly blown away by the both the kindness of the people and the raw beauty of the land. If you ever get a chance to visit, don't hesitate and make sure to stop off in Sagada and check out Sumaguing Cave, it should not be missed. Thanks for reading!
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