Interesting way to spend valentines day

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Interesting way to spend Valentines Day- praying for my life. My hip flexors and glutes have never felt quite like this before, and I'm sure never will again. Mixed with an utter sense of accomplishment, I feel totally drained. Good thing we have an unimaginably lon, cramped, arduous bus ride ahead of us. With any luck, I'll sleep the whole way from Banaue to Manila.

Banana pancakes and a banana pineapple salad (half of each) and one small bottle of water at 7 am were all I had to fuel my terrace traversing this morning. I knew it would be difficult, but once someone suggests I can do something, I refuse to back down to the proposition (well, in MOST cases, relevant to context). What they neglected to mention was it would be one of the most challenging activities I will ever experience, both physically and mentally...Ifugao people have always been here. 2000 years ago they were buiding these complex irrigational terraces, with their bare hands. Their bare feet can manipulate even the steepest, slipperiest slope of rock. Like Reynaldo says, white people are comfortable eating cheeseburgers. What I think he meant in his bizarre own way was that this landscape is not our own- to trek the stoney walls does not come any where near to natural.

it was, however, a breathtaking view from the top, and coloured by the pride I felt in braving the horrifying heights, it was one of the best experiences of my life, even if I am now fully aware that by tomorrow my muscles will reject any effort I may make to move them. At leats we'll be back on the beach. After doing Northern Luzon the justice it deserved, I have no guilt going back to touristy, pineappley paradise.

Alberto's bar in Baguio will have to wait for another Valentine's Day.

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Photos

The top of the terrace
The reward I got for climbing through the clouds at 7 in the morning and dodging meandering Ifugao natives on the slim streches of terrace was this view of Batad and the valley.....you know what they say about a picture....

"Walking" down
Sometimes a picture is not worth a thousand words....nothing could do justice to what I endured on those hills

The top of a terrace
This was the canteen hut for hikers at the tip of one of the terraces. From here, you go back down the vertical decline on steps half the size of my adult body and work your way up and down and up and down to the waterfall. A cooler full of bottles of water sits at the top...take one, leave a buck. I don't know who fills it or collects the money, but it had got to be a pain in the ass to maintain such a business

Alberto
The guide of saving grace. Thankfully Alberto saved the day...being "abandoned" by Reynaldo in the cliffs of Batad, Alberto showed me the beauty of that tiny town and got us out. God only knows what would have happened if Reynaldo didn't stop the day before and confince him to join our expedition.

To the falls
Break time for a photo

Me and Al
Cooling off in the mist. Trying to balance the camera, set the timer, and scramble over the wet rock was a challenge....that day was full of challenges

Dangling
This is what I saw when I opened my eyes on the ride back to Banaue from the Batad crossroads....cliff...I was sitting sideways on the back of a motor bike, holding on for my fragile life, while the tire danced along the cliffedge below me...quite literally we were tightrope walking (riding) the side of the cliff while my feet dangled over the abyss. Scariest part of the trip. I am so glad they let Jen sit in the sidecar on the other side, oblivious to the whole thing.

Comments

[Jo]

You Go Girl !
Congratulations for getting to explore one of the 8th wonders of the world ! .... Cheers, Jo