Thursday, August 30, 2007 Where to get warrior legs By Michelle P. So
THERE is a place up north where shortness of breath is not triggered by an anticipation of a tryst but by being in an elevated and mist-embraced terrain, trekking through rice terraces and going down a deep cave where strong limbs and stamina help one get through the humbling challenge of the journey.
Sagada, they call it.
Nestled in the Mountain Province, Sagada is reached by land transport from Baguio City. Six hours of traversing tapered mountainside tracks, the ride is best taken with wonderment and nerve.
The way to Sagada brings out the spiritual in the traveler. He becomes supplicant to the gods, saints, deities and celestial beings, and, if seated by the window of a packed mini bus and looking down the hairline margin of existence, gets chilled to the bone. Then hit by a burst of poeticism with his life on the edge, he feels the mountains hearing his muted sighs of gratitude for being in the midst of beauty during what may be his last hours on earth and far from bosses and creditors.
And so the way to Sagada ends where sturdy legs and grit take over.
In Sagada, people walk. One can tell the townsfolk from the city-oriented tourists by their walk and breathiness. The townsfolk walk free and easy while the visitors walk with their tongues rolling down to their navels and their legs bowing.
Sagada is not for the faint-hearted and finicky but for the fit and venturesome. It is not the holiday place for small children and the elderly but for the romantic couple with a penchant for drama. It is for the unhurried traveler because time here is watched not by the wrist but by the color of the clouds and coldness of the air.
Trekking through the rice terraces leaves the outsider awed, humbled and dead-tired. A magnificent quilt of green is how the rice terraces look from above; humbled by nature is what one feels when he beholds the mountains, the rice terraces and the Bud-okan Waterfalls; a cable car or a magic carpet is what one wishes for after walking up and down farmer-built steps on mountainsides and feeling his lungs about to burst and his legs weighted with anchors; definitely tired is what one is after having walked across four mountains.
Going down the Sumaguing Cave tests one’s skills in balance and dealing with the dark and unfamiliar. Navigating one’s way down and back is a mental and physical challenge and one discovers that every part of his body can be flexed enough to climb over a slippery boulder. Slipping on a foothold can leave one body-wrapped in bat guano. The bats ignore the multi-lingual curses and profanities of the human intruders.
At the bottom of the Sumaguing Cave lies a natural pool, which hides a crevice that leads to another cave where the wooden coffins of the early settlers of Sagada hang. One swims under or squeezes his way through the crevice. The water can freeze a man’s balls to prunes or even raisins, it is said.
Who needs the gym when after three days in Sagada, one loses 80 pounds and develops warrior legs?
It being a haven for the adventurous, Sagada has small hotels and pension houses affordably priced. It also offers homestays during peak season, which is Holy Week. The Municipal Government registers all visitors and keeps track of their accommodations and guided tours. English-speaking guides, who suggest one more day tour even after the catatonia-causing trekking and spelunking, are accredited by the town government and their tours monitored.
Because in Sagada, anything can happen, like getting shat on by bats, lost in the fog or converted, or getting breathless from reading long sentences.
