Best Birthday...so far :) Sagada Day 1

Okay, I'll do my entry first about Sagada before the one about my Holy Week vacation at Bukidnon. I'm too lazy to get up and get my flashdisk where the Bukidnon pictures are saved sooo...k.

Anyway, yes I spent my birthday in Sagada which is in Mt. Province waaaaaay up north. Like, way waaaaaay up. Think 9 hours on the bus then 3 hours in a jeepney. I joined a Sagada tour group organized by Travel Factor. I signed up about a month before the trip, deciding that I'd go on the trip alone. I figured it'd be a milestone/independence trip for my 23rd birthday. And yes, I am proud to say that I'm 23. Some of my friends seem to think that's old. I dunno...I've never been afraid of getting old because each year you get to experience more things and you learn so much about the world and about yourself. That's why I don't get why age is such an issue. Well that's just me.

What I love about my birthday this year is that I was able to meet lots of new friends and I got to go on an awesome adventure. I went out of my comfort zone by going somewhere new alone. I learned that there are still good people in this world. You see, I sprained my right ankle while spelunking in the cave. Stupid accident, really...made my birthday even more memorable! I sprained it just in time before the 30-ft rappel down. Great! You won't believe how I got down. Keep in mind we didn't have harnesses. One of our guides carried me on his back and he was the one how rappelled down, hahaha! I was a bit scared because if I accidentally let go that could possibly be the end of me, or I'd end up suffering worse injuries. Too bad I missed the best part of the cave...the crystal rock formations deeper in! Argh...oh well, I have a reason to go back to Sagada :p

So here's how my trip went on the first day...We left for Banaue at 10 p.m last April 8 and arrived there before 7 a.m the next day. After eating breakfast, we took a 3-hr jeepney ride from Banaue to Sagada. The trip was actually quite nice because of the great view.

Somehow, this reminded me of Brazil...

Took this during one of our stopovers..

When we arrived at Sagada, we settled in our inn then had lunch before heading to our trek to Bomod-ok Waterfall. The trek was really cool because we walking through the Banaue Rice Terraces, as in THE Banaue Rice Terraces--part of the 7 Wonders of the World!!!

Our inn: ALIBAMA INN, haha!

This old bathtub outside the inn fascinated me a lot...I dunno why

With 5 out of the 22 new people I met in this trip!

The entire walk to the waterfalls took us about an hour and a half. Not bad. It wasn't that hot so the trek was okay. There wasn't a lot of water falling because it's El Nino here...too bad. I've seen pictures of Bomod-ok and I was expecting it to be really spectacular. It wasn't bad, considering it's the dry season here.




I'll post days 2 and 3 later this week...am supposed to get up early tomorrow for work so I have to get some shut eye now. I hope y'all enjoy the day 1 pictures!