So I went on a week-long trip to Sagada, a remote town in Northern Philippines, last week. We were planning to take the Manila-Banaue-Sagada route but ran out of tickets so had to settle for the Manila-Baguio-Sagada one instead. This we had to do shuttling from one provincial bus terminal to another, scrounging for bus tickets and seriously considering going somewhere else should we not get tickets. It would be nice to go to the beach instead but then all we had were warm clothes (Sagada being one of the coldest places in the country). There was another group of friends who also ran out of the Banaue tickets and because we had an amazing race mindset, we didn't tell them of our plan to go via Baguio. What do you know, we met them again in Baguio and we even took the same bus going to Sagada. Travel time was roughly 6 hours Manila to Baguio, and another 6 hours Baguio to Sagada.

We found a wet and cold Sagada. There was a storm and it was raining nonstop for several days. I had a cold the whole time we were there and that wasn't so fun. The food and company more than made up for it though. Sagada was largely a farming village and the restaurants gave huge servings of fresh vegetables and other healthy delights that the trip would have been complete even if all we did was eat. Of course that wasn't all we did...

We went hiking...

We went in some caves... uh, just one, I think...

We went to the cemetery...

We talked about our lives, books, movies, random people over cups of tea...

We did yoga before bed...

And we took lots and lots of pictures... (still to come are the pictures from Artie, Daniel, Lolit and Maklet's cameras...)

Oh, we played Amazing Race. Only our opponents didn't know they were playing with us.

There was a different group of friends who always turned up in the places where we went (uh, sure Sagada was tiny but still!). We called them the "Foreign Friends" because they were made up of a Caucasian couple (whose nationality we never did find out. We couldn't make out what language they were speaking when they were talking to each other), and one Fil-Am girl. We first ran into them at the Yoghurt House where we had most of our meals. Yummy! Then they showed up at the Persimoon Bar and Cafe where we had beer two nights in a row. We also rode the same jeep going to Bontoc, the same bus going to Banaue, then they showed up at the Viewpoint in Banaue and showed up at the Autobus Terminal where we were waiting for the bus that will take us back to Manila.

It didn't end there though. One of my greatest fears happened.

I got left behind in one of our stop-overs. At midnight.

I went to the bathroom. I came out. No bus in sight.

Woman from the store cum carinderia: Naku, may naiwan!

Nuni: (looked at her, bit lower lip, looked for celphone in bag)

Man somewhere (I was too worried to notice where he was exactly): Naku. Anong bus yan?

Woman: (said bus number, which of course I don't remember)

Nuni: (found celphone. no signal. Muttered) Shit.

Man: Naku, foreigner pa naman.

Man from the street: Hinihintay ka dun sa gilid. Nandun o.

Nuni: (breathed a sigh of relief) Sobrang salamat.

Got on the bus, got a phone call from Akoh (through Artie's phone) wherein I related to her what just happened. People eavesdropping chuckled. Sigh. But I could laugh with them at that point. I was already safe on my way home.