Sagada revisited 01: A new cave and a fall
Echo Valley, Sagada, Mountain Province
I never get tired of this place. It’s my third time coming here and there always seems to be something new to discover. This time, aside from visiting the sites I missed before, I got a little brush with their culture and appreciated more of our history, probably because I have a couple of companions who are into Philippine Heritage Conservation. This trip made me realize the importance of our past and connections of various events in different parts of the our archipelago. I may blame it to our schools as not being as interesting in teaching history as you experience in a place.
An open coffin remains.
One of the amusing discoveries we found is another small burial cave inside the Echo Valley region not listed on their map. I literally, fell on my way there. I didn’t know what happened but I slipped on a side cliff. I tried to hang on to my life with a tripod on one hand as I didn’t know how high I would fall. My grip failed me and I just let myself fall, and for some strange reason I didn’t feel any fear whatsoever. I found myself only 6 or 7 feet high fall with bamboo tree roots cushioning my fall. Thanks to my mini backpack, I only suffered a few scratches and bruises on both arms. Thank God for that! Hahaha. That was a first for me, and my companion told me that it scared him and was ready to deny knowing me if anything happened! Hahaha.
Going back to that small cave, we weren’t actually looking for it, but we were informed of the burial cave discovery and our other companions who have a different IT with us that day were looking for it, missed it by a turn. Out of curiousity and desire to take a photo of a group of hanging coffins on the west side of the valley, we treaded an unbeaten path and found this small cave, obstructed by thorny plants on the end of the path. My companion investigated it while I took a photo and was startled to find more coffins inside. So this is what they were looking for. One coffin was open with the skull clearly visible. The skull seemed smaller than the usual, like a child, but the coffin was quite long. I didn’t want to dirturb it really but I want to take a good picture and had to reposition the skull. Believe me I had wierd dreams that night of a woman speaking to me in a really strange language. That corpse’s name is Emilaiana by the way.
Tags: Cordilleras, Hanging Coffins, Mountain Province, Sagada
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Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 at 5:54 pm 
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November 9th, 2005 at 11:24 am
parang gusto ko na ring don magpunta next year. =)…
skull picture, buti ka pa nakakuha ka ng ganyang shot……..balak ko rin sanang mag-post ng ganyang picture kaso di na ako nakapunta ng ibang cemetery.
November 10th, 2005 at 11:27 am
parang kilala ko yung companion mo dun a saka yung iba pa tao…did we cross paths there?
hmmm…
November 10th, 2005 at 11:49 am
SAGADA — really, it’s a beautiful place amidst the mountains … i would love to go back there and explore more of its beautiful places, we’ve been there just last week (nov 4-6, 2005) … and our 3-day stay wasn’t enough! the trip may be tiring but its worth it!
the view - the mountains — really breathtaking .. no pollution only the smell of pine trees and pine wood …
if you want to busy yourself with nature — then go to sagada!
November 10th, 2005 at 12:22 pm
can i go with u nxt tym u go there? haha. =) its been on our yearly list of places to go to but as of now, havent had d chance…
November 10th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Tito: Hahahaha. Kilala mo ata yun. For privacy reasons, I try not to mention any other person on my blog without their consent other than my own.
Ling: True true! I’m grateful that after all these Sagada still have that charm it was known for.
Ria: We’ll see! There might be plans of that in the future for a group.
November 10th, 2005 at 9:55 pm
years ago, friends at impulse would just backpack, head for sagada and meet new acquaintances. then they do their traveloques.
sagada is conducive to doing Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. must be something about the place.
wonder if one can still do that now.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:19 am
Tochs: Who knows, two lone lost strangers looking at the same sunrise over at Kiltepan or sunset over at Lake Danum in Sagada may meet eye to eye and find something to talk about.
I know a true story of a foreigner and a Filipina whose romance sparked inside the caves of Sumaging. Now they are happily married for more than 3 years and living on a foreign land.
November 12th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
i wonder when i’ll be able to go to sagada.
i love your echo valley picture…you’re standing dangerously close to the edge of the cliff there! wonderful shot of you beside the pine tree too.
wow, blowtorching a chicken looks “power tool”-like and barbaric at the same time…closest thing i’ve witnessed to this procedure was in pangasinan one time when they burnt the feathers of a chicken in an open fire for express “dressing” of the chicken. hehe.
March 16th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
all i can say is Sagada is my home and iwant to live hereafter my studues here in manila because i love the soroundings here and the climate the peoples hereare very friendly thats all