Waking up in the morning we had a beautiful view from the balcony outside our room at St. Joseph's Resthouse! We only had 1 main day in Sagada, and there are a number of activities to do. There are hiking tours to waterfalls, caving tours, white water rafting trips etc.. However our time in Sagada was limited so we had to do the things that were close to town and we could do on our own. One of the things we really wanted to see was the hanging coffins, a 20 minute hike to the bottom of a valley where coffins are hung from the limestone cliffs at the bottom. There is also a hike to a waterfall we planned on taking later in the day.
First things first, we needed breakfast. We opened our guide book and found a great spot for breakfast. A restaurant called Yoghurt House which makes their yoghurt from scratch. The Yoghurt House we realized, was also recommended to us by our friend Dawn when her and her boyfriend Jason traveled to Sagada a couple months before us, and said their breakfasts are really tasty. Taking their advice, we left the hostel and made our way there. They have a lovely balcony where we enjoyed our breakfast. Lori and I ordered the Hiker's Delight: a crepe with their homemade yoghurt and a banana filled inside. The crepe was topped with strawberry jam and there was toast on the side. The breakfast was amazing! We met some fellow travelers and discussed the usual topics travelers talk about with each other. Where did you come from? Where are you going? What will you be doing here? etc..
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The trailhead for the hanging coffins begins in the rear of an old stone church. Following the instructions from the tourist office, we found the trail which led through a Chinese cemetery.
On All Saint's Day, on November 1st, people will gather around the graves and celebrate with and in honor of their deceased family members. We could still see the remains of small fires that were built a week before. This would have been a fantastic location to experience this holiday, if only we had arrived here sooner. We had been in Manila barely getting situated with help from Galen and did not have a chance to get to a cemetery or see too much in the way of festivities. At the same time, there are just way too many people in the big city of Manila and the cemeteries have become much more policed on this holiday unfortunately due to quantity of people, alcohol, and violence. At the end of the cemetery, the trail led to the edge of a cliff where you can peer down into Echo Valley or back towards the town which flows down its own valley.
From the viewpoint, you can actually see the coffins hanging from the cliffs on the other side at the bottom. Then the directions become a little confusing, so I put the directions away, and walked the edge of the cliff to find a way down. There were some French tourists who couldn't find the trail to the bottom, so I guided everyone to a steep path I found, which led to the bottom of the valley.
At the bottom there was a network of trails that seemed a little confusing but I knew which direction we needed to go, and managed to find the coffins.
The location of those particular coffins are the most desirable in all of Sagada, and we were told by Ike, the curator of the St. Louis University Museum, that in order to be laid to rest there you need to be rich. The price for having your coffin hung there means you need to sacrifice at least 21 pigs or over 100 chickens. A high price for eternal sleep but I suppose even in Sagada, location is everything.
On the way back out of the valley, we stopped to inspect a large limestone rock with a space underneath it. It was beginning to rain, and we thought it would be a good idea to get out of the wetness.
Above our heads we discovered a coffin, but this particular one was very old and decayed. I grabbed the video camera and began recording as I lifted the camera above my head and pointed the video camera inside. There was a pile of human bones in it!
You'll have to wait for the videos!
 After hiking out of the valley, we decided to grab some lunch. We found a local restaurant and hotel down the road towards Yoghurt house but the name escapes us now. It wasn't exceptional but we had a nice break with a view and love checking out new places. |  |
We wanted to check out a waterfall, which was an hour hike into the jungle. We found the trailhead behind a weaving shop and again, the rain began to fall. The rain fell in big, hard, consistently fast beating drops. Wanting to avoid getting soaked hiking through the jungle, we wandered into the weaving shop to purchase a couple souvenirs. Sagada Weaving has been in operation for more than 40 years and makes a variety of handwoven goods like handbags, wallets, purses, shoes, blankets, scarfs etc.. I found a trifold wallet which I thought was pretty cool, and Lori found a small shoulder bag with lots of different pockets that she loves. All in all we paid just over 400 Pesos (about $9), not a bad price for a couple souvenirs!
Since the rain continued to fall we decided to take refuge in a bar, so we walked back into town and found a local watering hole called Kimchi Bar. The walls of the bar were decorated with beer bottle caps from floor to ceiling and there were posters of Bob Marley everywhere. The reggae was blasting from the speakers and we thought we stepped into Jamaica. There we met a nice couple from Holland named Peter and Jose (joe-say), and talked over a few San Miguel beers as the rain continued to fall.
The rain stopped finally and by that time night had fallen. After all those beers, we were feeling a little drunk so we headed back to the hostel and had dinner at their restaurant to soak up some of the beer. Lori's favorite! And they were nice and fluffy.
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