My Feet at Ba-yo
nd so, with the "Valdez Couple", the "Lost in Tuguegarao Girls" and Cho's group, we headed on. Our first stop was the Banaue Viewpoint. I had been here before on my former trip to Batad, but it is the first time I had seen it during harvest time. It was more majestic and beautiful. After all the mandatory "I've been here" photos and some souvenir shopping we were on our way again. And this time some of us decided to go topload. Riding toward Sagada on top of the jeep was quite an experience, as the view was so scenic and breathtaking. There I learned that Cho's group just came from Kiangan Village and just experienced a colorful traditional wedding ritual. She described how people there still wear the traditional "bahag" outfit (even the mayor), how they still chant on their native tongue. She also told us that the one with the most colorful and decorated hat indicates their status and wealth in the family. It was quite interesting.
We stopped by Ba-yo to view its terraces. It was quite different from the ones in Banaue, as the terrace walls here were made from stones, in contrast to Banaue's mud terrace walls. Still in my opinion, the more angular stone terraces of Ba-yo could rival those in Banaue in terms of Majesty.
Bontoc Museum
By noon, we stopped by the Bontoc Museum. The Museum is structured as an Ifugao house. There's an entrance fee of 40pesos to get inside. The museum showcased quite a number of interesting artifacts from early times and archaeological objects excavated inside a number of cordillera caves. At the back of the museum is a simulated Ifugao village. There were different types of houses for different purposes. You can actually go inside and view their furniture and read descriptions of some of the more interesting objects and their uses. Overall, it was a nice historical preview of things to come.
