Banaue to Bontoc

Wow! I've already been to many places. It's amazing...but what is most amazing is that I believe someone was looking our for me while I was here. I think my Gramma Sahm sent me a guardian angel.

In the Manila bus station I met my traveling partner. He is a nice German guy named Kai. We have been headed in the same direction most of the time and we are good at traveling together. He is always getting the best prices and teaching me the ways to travel. It is very, very awesome! The Germans, they know where it is at!

So, the first place we headed was Banaue, home to the famous rice terraces, the 8th wonder of the world. The guide book said that the rice terraces in Batad were better, so we hiked up a mountain for 2 hours and then walked into town. Batad has barely any electricty, no hot water and the only way in is to walk. It was so awesome! We traversed through the rice terraces all day, saw a big waterfall and enjoyed talking with the local people. We stayed at Rita's. Rita is a very old, Ifuago Native of Batad. I had a beautiful evening with her. She told me all about her life and she taught me how to prepare the rice for the grinding. So we talked about life and shredded a bundle of rice together. I loved looking at her old hands, rugged feet, her smile with no front teeth and imagining what a hard life she has had. It has been the best part of my travles so far.

Then we woke up early the next morning and headed to Banaue. We walked out of Batad at 6 AM, up the beautiful mountain. THere is nothing better than waking up in the morning and the first thing you get to do is hike in the mountains! After walking almost two hours out, we hopped on top of a jeepeny and made our way back to Banaue. Then we hopped a bus to Bontoc on our way to Sagada.

Transportation is absolutely crazy here. The main mode is jeepeny. Google Image a jeepney, there is no way to describe them!

So, we took a beautiful bus ride through the mountains, with rice terraces everywhere. It reminded me a bit of Colorado! On the crowded bus we met up with 3 Spanish girls and we had a good talk with them. They were also headed to Sagada. So all 5 of us headed to Sagada on top of the Jeepney. I felt so free and full of life!

Sagad was a nice little mountain tomb, where we went hiking to see 500 year old coffins. It was pretty interesting...the landscape is the most amazing.

Now Kai and I are headed back to Manila. Manila is kinda of the hub. We half to go there to get other places. So we are waiting in Bontoc for a 12 hour bus ride to Manila. We just had a wonderful lunch of bread and a can of sardines next to the dirtiest river ever! But, there were beautiful kids swimming butt naked in the river with the cattle and they happily posed for camera shots. Then some more kids came by us, they are so interested in us and we did a huge photo shoot with them! They are so wonderful. This has been the second highlight of my trip, it makes me realize that I truly love kids!

So, onward ho to Manila. We may either go to a volcanoe tomorrow or just head down to the beach to swim with whale sharks. I will let you know how it all goes. Miss you all!

Manilahh!

Wow! I'm here! I'm not quite sure what to think. I'm just trying to take it easy and once again, adjust to culture shock.

Manila is reminding me of what I picture a "spanish harlem" to look like. Colorful, lots of people, cars, jeepneys, dirtyness all mixed in together with KFC's, McDonald's and of course 7-11's.

Being here makes me once again feel like a wealthy westerner. I've been the only non-fillipino person at the bus station all day.

The people are absolutely beautiful! Beautiful skin, hair, smiles. . .hard working people.

It's 90 degrees here today and I am loving the heat and sunshine. Taiwan has been cold, damp and gray....only a couple more hours and I will be headed to my first destination, Banaue.

Stay tuned....