Of Ghosts, Bread, and Laughter--Back to Baguio!

This weekend I returned to Baguio for work. I love that city! Once again, it was nice to be in the cool weather and smell the pine trees.

We took a small plane up to Baguio; the runway is really short so only small planes can land there. It was funny that as we were getting ready to take off one of the guys sitting near me decided to announce that this is same type of plane of the big wreck in Manila last week that killed 10 people. Then went into detail how easy it is to wreck when one of the two engines die. Thanks, thanks a WHOLE bunch for the comforting speech before we take off! HA

 The flight was ridiculously short compared to the long 5 hour drive by land. As we neared Baguio city the view was breath taking. The evergreen mountains folded into each other like a large blanket, turquoise rivers wound through the valleys and colorful square roofs accented the ridges. Large white clouds gathered at the mountain peaks like dancing giants. One of those experiences that even photos cannot capture in full beauty.

It was a short trip, but extremely fun. I enjoyed working with so many colleagues that each took their assigned duty and performed to the best of their ability; the grand sum being a smooth experience. I found myself laughing often as we told and heard stories from each other.

I stayed at the same old mansion where Lady Hiva and I stayed in October. All the locals passed ghost stories around the whole time we were there. In October, we did not have any experiences to I was not expecting much, but enjoyed the stories anyway. However, at 3am I woke up to people talking loudly outside my window. (I was on the second floor) I just thought it was some of the workers getting ready for the Holiday event the next day and I went to sleep thinking it was weird they were talking so loud that early in the morning. As we were gathered the next day, one of the other women said she too woke up at three and heard them talking. She too wondered why they were talking so loudly, but could not see them when she looked out her window. But when we asked all of the staff about it, they said that nobody was out after midnight. YIKES! So maybe I should have listened more closely to what was being said. One of the other women’s glass of water bedside her bed exploded around the same time. (There are photos of that) I guess the ghost in her room were not as friendly.

I went to Good Shepherd again, with a list from Lady Hiva, to get some more ube jam and peanut brittle. Then I discovered another Baguio delicacy, Baguio Country Club bread—both raisin and cheese bread! It was amazing.  When I got home, Hiva and I finished the entire loaf in less than an hour! Now we will be asking people to get us some of that too when they go. Baguio needs to be closer to Manila, I just decided haha!

Of course there are those moments when you have to laugh, like when the caravan of cars left me. Luckily the driver of my car came back a few minutes later to get me. Yes, I was his only passenger, but I guess that he did not know that I did not get into the car???? Hmm…really?! I laughed about it, because what else are you going to do? I tried to make a joke about it, but then the driver got us lost—much to the dismay of the security team that had to come find us—the poor guy was so afraid that I would be mad at him. I had to make sure to tell him it was alright, things happen.

Meeting the wonderful people of Baguio was also fun. They enjoyed the fact that I spoke Tagalog. At one point I was telling a story and I looked up and all three tables around us were listening to it too! I made a joke that I was like a movie or something and they all laughed…In fairness, I probably was being really animated and they could not help but watch the loud white guy talking. Someone chimed in and said, “We are just amazed you speak our language.” Other reactions I got throughout the night were similar. One old guy pulled me aside and said, “Son, your Tagalog is great, but now you need to fix your accent.” HAHA…then ten minutes later a different lady said, “Your accent sounds so wonderful!” Hmm…I cannot tell if she was being WAY too kind, or the other guy too hard. I am guessing the guy was more accurate! So I tried hard not to start laughing as she told me that.

It was a fun few days, extremely tiring because we were constantly on the run from one event to the next, but I met some new friends, got to know old friends better, and enjoyed every minute of it! And the best part was coming back home to Lady Hiva!

Halloween Weekend Part 3: Dynamite in a Mine Tunnel and Crossing a Cable Bridge

The sun returned for our last day in Baguio. I guess the weather just wanted to make our trip to Sagada yesterday more interesting. We started the morning just enjoying the sun and walking around Burnham Park again. We made it back to the market, as promised, and bought bags full of fresh vegetables. Our favorite part though was the flowers again.

Now we knew where they were grown, it was fun to go around and buy them. Hiva spent about $20 and bought a huge arm load of fresh flowers. When she got home and arranged them there were too many for one large vase, she ended up with three different arrangements. Too bad we cannot find a place like that to buy flowers in Manila. 

We ate lunch at O Mai Khan, a Mongolian restaurant that was recommended to us. It did not have the romantic ambiance of Choco-Late and Café by the Ruins, but the food was by far more delicious! They have a grill that you take a bowl and add whatever meats and vegetables you want into your dish and then they grill it for you. We could tell that it was a popular place because we arrived just before lunch time and within an hour, the restaurant was packed and cars in the parking lot were not just double, but TRIPLE parked. Definitely a must if you are in Baguio.

We said goodbye to the mansion and the ghost (that we sadly never saw) and we were off!

Our first stop on the way home was Balatoc Mines just outside of Baguio. It is a gold mine (pun not intended). They let you tour some of the older unused portions of the mine to understand what miners go through each day.

They decked us out in water-boots and helmets (which looked GREAT with our shorts we were both wearing) and we went on our guided tour. As we walked past the large area full of stacked bags the guide nonchalantly said, “That is all gold in there just waiting to be processed.”  Like it was just every other day, because everyone has stacks of gold ore just hanging around in their backyard!

We were able to see what tools the miners use now, and the ones they used before. Now it seems they do everything "mano mano" by hand. They collect the rocks with their shovels and fill their sacks. So all those stacks of bags were somebody’s hard labor.

At the opening to the tunnel there is a coin box that is used for accountability purposes. Each miner is issued a coin with a specific id number, unique to that miner. Each day a man has to put his coin in the box before he enters the mine and take it out as he leaves. That way if at the end of the day there are still coins in the box the supervisor knows they need to go looking for the missing man. They also showed us the "ice cream cart" which was really the porta-potty for the miners to use"

The tunnel was dark with only two or three lights spanning the whole thing. The guide said those were here for the tourists, the real tunnels have no lights at all. The miners use their flashlights and operate on a buddy system so if one flashlight that goes out, they can share the other.

We used the drill that they prepare holes for dynamite, then they showed us how they wire dynamite into the wall. The guides said that the dynamite alone is not good enough for the miners, they want a larger explosion so they add powder fertilizer to make it bigger. YIKES! She walked us down farther into the tunnel and showed us the small holes that the miners climb into the mine. Talk about claustrophobia. The mine is so hot that most of the men wear as little as possible and sometimes work 8 hours in waist deep water.

The end of the tour they actually blew half a stick of dynamite for us. It was crazy how you could see the boom coming for us from all the way down the tunnel. The whole walls were shaking. Once it hit us it felt like someone had ran into us full body. It knocked me back into the wall and both ears popped. AND that was only one half stick of dynamite—with no fertilizer! These guys must take a toll on their bodies; digging in little holes with small amounts of clothing, breathing in dust and diesel exhaust, and exploding their ear drums. Needless to say I was much more appreciative of the stacks of gold bags outside when we walked past them again.They gave a rock of pyrite (fool's gold) and a certificate of achievement as we left. 

The drive home was just as beautiful as the drive up. After making it to Sagada, Kennon road felt like we were driving on a world class highway. We stopped at one point to cross a cable bridge that spanned the valley between two steep mountains. It was the one way people that lived on the other side could go home each day. Not something that I would recommend for someone that has a fear of heights. Again I thought how lucky I was to not be the family that lived there and had to cross that bridge every day (again, pun not intended). Can you imagine crossing it when there was a storm? 

You should have seen the weird looks we got from one family as they crossed with us, their faces clearly said, "Why is that white guy crossing our bridge and taking photos." Little do they know, most people don't have cable bridges to their homes. 

Here in the Philippines you can tell what the local community does for work and make a living because whatever it is there will be booths all in a row along the roads trying to sell their wares. Most of them all have the same things as the next booth, they are just hoping someone will stop at their booth first. It could be the vegetables, the flowers, clothing, jams, baked goods, furniture, you name it. I guess the trick is knowing which communities sell/make which goods so you know where to shop when you need something.

On the way home we passed one portion of road selling Christmas lights and there was row after row of booths of lights. It was a really festive sight to experience. Finally after 6 hours, Hiva and I were both glad to be home. It was a really fun weekend but there is nothing like being in your own house after a long trip.

Halloween Weekend Part 2: Hanging Coffins and Foggy Cemeteries at Night in Sagada

There were no other ‘unexplained’ instances throughout the night in the Haunted Mansion. So we decided that if we wanted to see a ghost, we would have to go find one!

We made the trip to Sagada, Mountain Province to see the hanging coffins and mummy caves. The drive is around 130 Kilometers (80 miles). Google said that it was 2 hours and 45 minutes. Locals told us anywhere from 5-8 hours.  It actually took us 5 hours and 15 minutes, traveling 10-30 mph the entire way. We packed Boeing with food and filled up the petrol and off we went. (We were glad we did fill up because once you leave Baguio there are really no petrol stations as we know them) It started to rain lightly as we went out and I hoped it was not like this the whole way because rain would only make the already treacherous road worse.

As we drove the rain was continuous, sometimes hard and sometimes just a sprinkle. It did not take long before we were into the mountain tops and Lady Hiva and I were both amazed at how there were houses and villages just hanging off the sides of the mountain! I mean, doesn’t it make them nervous when the neighbor’s house just disappears with the landslide? Or is it like, well we won’t have to deal with them anymore?

The two lane road snaked along the side of the steep mountain and all traffic going to and from Baguio to north had to travel on it. Literally there were times we could look directly down out the window and see 7000 kilometers straight down! With the steep mountain on the other side of the road, it did not make for a great ending if you got into an accident. In fact, we did see one accident and if it wasn’t for the two foot retaining wall the whole van would have gone over the edge…scary! You would have a LONG fall to pray before you hit.

The view was gorgeous! The steep mountains were many shades of green and terraces for farming of all kinds covered all possible space. We wondered what it would be like to live there, perched out on a steep mountaintop. There was a steady stream of small little villages of simple grey homes. We wondered how long their families had lived there in the mountains, farming during the day and getting together to sing karaoke at night. They are full of ingenuity though! They use cable carts systems to haul their things up and down the mountainside, their homes are built literally on a cliff, and their roads are forged out of limestone. It is Amazing! The road continued to wind around and not only did we see terraces and plants of all kinds; we also saw where mudslides had torn away sides of the mountain.

There were parts of the road completely missing, we all took turns skirting around the large holes on the remaining portion of the road by hugging the cliffs of the mountain. At one point we waited in a long line of cars and trucks for a muddy hill where a landslide had covered the road. Several large trucks had to try it several times because the mud made it hard to travel. Boeing did so well though, we were so proud of him! He even kept driving when a stupid chicken tried to play ‘chicken’ and race across the road as we went passed. It hit the grill and half flew, half bounced up the hood and windshield as we drove by!  We wondered if it was okay.  Oops...

We both liked seeing the wild flowers, and farmed flowers, on the sides of the road. Calla Lilies grew like weeds everywhere! We were tempted to stop and cut some of them, they are such an expensive flower in the States. The rest was other farms were vegetables, like lettuce. The chicken dung they use for fertilizer was so potent and rancid smelling that I thought it was going to singe my nose hairs! I told Hiva that it makes to realize how important it is to wash your vegetables before you eat them! 

The rain continued and intensified so at one point, after we had been driving for 4 hours, I thought we may need to go back before we too were stuck in a landslide.  We decided to turn around and go home, yet we were so close, so we decided to plow on to Sagada. Why not, we are not dead yet, right?

The road to Sagada itself was a really rocky dirt road, not paved AT ALL. We could see why there were NO cars, only trucks and SUVs. After several miles of brain rattling bumps and rocks, we made it to Sagada. It was a quaint town nestled in the mountain top valley. We were expecting just a small sparse town, but this was larger and more beautiful than we thought. There were inns, bed and breakfasts, restaurants and countless souvenir shops that lined the main road into town.  We wondered how the locals chose this remote location, nestled in the mountains, to build up this bustling town.  Either way, it felt like a small respite from the world. Other than the fact that is was SO cold. I think the thermometer in Boeing read 55 degrees most of the night until we got back down closer to Baguio.

We stopped and asked were the mummy caves were and how to find the hanging coffins. The coffins are hanging from the limestone walls for hundreds of years to protect them from the elements. Others were buried in the caves as mummies. To get there we had to walk passed the old rock cathedral and through the forest that opened into a cemetery. The hanging coffins were in a valley on the other side of the cemetery.  In order to see them, you have to hike down Echo Valley through tall grass and pine trees.  Hiva and I were trying to hurry because it was getting dark and the fog was settling in. (Sorry some of the photos of the coffins are blurry, we were in a hurry to get out and it was getting dark fast) As we walked we could hear people talking in the canyon below…we never did see the people.

We tried to take some photos…but again it was kind of dark. So we climbed farther down into the valley of the coffins. All we could hear then was a lowing of a nearby carabao. Not sure where the people we could hear went. The dusk brought in a heavy fog. I could not help thinking the Cullens and their vampire friends were going to come get us anytime soon!

Walking through the cemetery and the forest on the way back the fog got thicker. It could not have been any better if it was in the movies: a creepy old cemetery on a hill in the middle of the forest, completely deserted and quiet with thick fog shrouding everything. To make it even worse, the old church bell started to toll its dreary warning as we walked by! Like I said, it could not have been better planned in the movies.

We drove home in the dark. I must admit that with it being dark and not being able to see that there is a 7000 kilometer drop beside you makes you have some assurance—false assurance, yes, but it works still the same.

I think the creepiest thought I had all day though was, ‘What if all the rain caused a  mudslide and there is part of the road gone? With the fog and darkness before I saw the road was gone we would be off into the hole! The rest of the drive I made sure to note all the vehicles passing the other direction! I figured if they were still coming at me that meant they had not been cut off from passage yet.