Another Day in Sagada

On Friday morning, someone made French toast with pumpkin topping, and then I joined a group that was going out for a little hike. We went to a mountain viewpoint and a rice terrace viewpoint; all of the walks and meals were nice opportunities to talk with different sets of people. The group was then headed for the small waterfall, but stopping at the pension first. I decided to check in with Bill and Drew – have to look out for my PCRV peeps (Julie was originally going to join us, but she had an opportunity to attend orientations for new Habitat relief communities in Pangasinan, a Pepeng-affected province, and decided that that would be a meaningful way to spend Thanksgiving. She also went to a beach on the Lingayen Gulf, where MacArthur had landed on his Luzon offensive. I had that opportunity as well but did not change my long-standing plans for it. We kept texting for her to join us, but she went on home instead. Charlie and Jonathan went to the Country Director’s house for a multi-cultural Thanksgiving; that also sounded like fun!). They were just going out for coffee, so I went to join them. We walked through the cemetery to the Echo Valley overlook to see the hanging coffins there, and then on to lunch at a Sagada favorite called the Yoghurt House.

One of the main attractions of Sagada is caving, but I decided I didn’t feel like doing that (ironically, one of the reasons is that I didn’t feel like getting all dirty – that is, I had decided this before falling in the mud). There were others who also didn’t want to (the beauty of a big group); we went to the cave mouth, where about 150 coffins are stacked. The coffins are small, because people are put there in a fetal position. When they die they are put in a chair, a party is held around them, and then they are transported to a waiting empty coffin. The tradition is dying out though (I couldn’t resist). Our little group then went on for lemon pie and split up to do some other things in town.

First I went to a museum, which had not only artifacts of the region but an owner who walked around the room explaining how everything was used. Baskets, woodcarvings, weavings, beads – how resourceful the mountain tribes were (and, in some places, still are)! One thing that stuck in my mind, though – she said that everyone ate out of a communal dish and turned the bowl over; with no water for dishwashing, the cockroaches cleaned the rest of the food out of the overturned bowl. Okay, thanks for the tour! The Yoghurt House has great chocolate chip cookies and I bought some for travel food. Sagada Weaving has bags and accessories that it seems every PCV in the Philippines has, so I got a couple of things there too.

I then started towards the small waterfall, on a path from the other side – no mud. Instead, three or four dogs came towards me, barking. They seemed determined not to let me pass. And I was alone. So I decided the small waterfall was not meant to be! Finally, another small group went out to dinner, and then with everyone (especially the cavers, but the rest of us had done a lot of walking too) tired, it was another mellow evening of conversation by the fire.