Best Birthday...so far :) Day 2

Finally posting about Day 2 of my Sagada trip. As I mentioned in my previous entry, I sprained my ankle while inside the Lumiang Cave. Stupid accident, really. It would've been more understandable if I sprained it while spelunking or while going down into the deep holes in the cave. But no! I stepped on an unstable rock and ended up breaking my fall and twisting my right ankle. Hurt like hell, good thing the guides were quick to respond and twisted it back in place and bandaged it. So basically, what we did on the second day was spend the entire morning until mid-afternoon INSIDE the cave no thanks to human traffic. It was a long holiday weekend so there were really a lot of people in Sagada. It was okay, considering there were just a few tour groups that actually did the difficult cave connection. Can't help but be proud :)

Basically, I'll be posting pictures of our trek to the cave, inside the cave, and my birthday "salubong", which is sort a party/get-together to wait for one's birthday and everyone will just shout "Happy Birthday!" at the strike of 12, although we weren't able to make it. We were all just so tired we drank a bit and decided to sleep...at 11:30!

I have more group pictures on the third day so watch out for that :) And lots of food pictures from that day as well, haha!

Our jeep

Coffins in the cave...the locals believe that people can choose where they are to be buried. Usually, women who've died giving birth are buried in caves' entrances. I forgot the complete explanation..

On our way to Lumiang Cave's entrance...

At the cave's entrance

Our group's "before" picture. We were still all clean and guano-free.

The coffins up-close

This is it! We're starting our spelunking deep into the cave

I have no idea where we were in this part of the cave, but I think we were already about...umm...less than 1/4 of the way. Haha! Keep in mind we were inside the cave for 6 1/2 hours!

Group shot again

We were in the "dance hall" of the cave. It's a huge flat area overlooking this deep drop (scary, I tell you!). But we could also see the bats above us. The cave's ceiling was so high and we could only see the bats' shadows from our flashlights. And we could hear them, so creepy.

After I tripped. Aaargh! And this happened before our 30 ft. rappel down. Bad timing.

...so instead of tying a rope around me and harnessing me down, the guide had a better idea. He carried me on his back and he rappelled down with me. Hahaha! I was so scared because if I accidentally let go, I'd either be dead or I would've suffered even more serious injuries. I think I almost choked him with how tight I was holding on, hahaha! And yes, someone was kind enough to take this very dignified picture of me, hahaha!

Although my ankle was really killing me, I tried to smile for the camera

For my birthday "salubong". Our travel consultant bought a bit of booze and snacks. Alas, we lasted only until 11:30 and had to go to sleep.

Tired, a bit buzzed, but I was very, very, very happy :)

Day 3 will be posted soon (hopefully). I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!