Tuesday, March 30

From Batad, we took a Jeepney to Banaue, stayed the night (notice I didn't mention sleep since roosters were crowing all night long....one even sounded sick the sounds were so awful). Then we headed off to Sagada...which I can now say is one my favorite places in the world. I was very jealous of a Peace Corp Volunteer we met who has been placed there for 2 years. I don't know what it is about this place, but it just induced relaxation in me. I never felt unsafe, the weather was perfectly cool, I was breathing in fresh air, and eating all cheap, delicious organic foods. There is this one restuarant called yogurt house which had this amazing yogurt, but tasted nothing like the yogurt I'd ever tried before. We've decided we think it's caribao yogurt, the animal they use to plow all the rice terraces. It's different from the cairbou you are probably picturing in your mnd. Yeah, I thought people were pronouncing it wrong too.

Intitially we went on a hike to see the hanging coffins, a ritual from the Egorot tribes when they used to practice animism. Christianity is now the prevenlant religion there, although the practice of hanging coffins still exists. The belief is that when you're buried 6 feet under the ground, you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, but when you're body is placed higher up, you are closer to heaven. In order to determine where to hang the coffins, a spiritual leader is sent out into the woods overnight to stay near a potential place to hang the coffin. If they hear an owl or other specific sound it is considered bad luck, and they can no longer hang the coffin there. I don't know...I thought it was all super interesting.

Next we hiked to a waterfall in a nearby village in Sagada. Little kids went running past us on our way there, stripped off all their clothes and were diving in/climbing on rocks, jumping off cliffs...right before our eyes. For me, putting my toe in the water was just waaaaay too cold. When I finally fully immersed myself, I noticed my body starting to feel on fire....in this freezing cold water. Is that the first sign of hypothermia?

Sarah and Mike served as an inspiration for me because they climbed up the rocks and walked around underneath the waterfall. I eventually called on Chris, our guide, to help me climb up the side of a rock so I could jump of a mini cliff into the area the water was falling. So I climbed up in my little bikini and made it to the top! It was so envigorating. The minute I reached the top I felt a bee sting me on my belly, which I was pretty sure I wasn't allergic too. I asked Chris if I should be worried and he said they used bee stings there as antibiotics, so getting a bee sting is a good thing. That made me feel better, even though my stomach itched a little. I jumped in and immediately got out since I was freezing. Sarah later on told me that our guide had mentioned to her that fresh water eels live in the water. I'm really glad I didn't know that before jumping.