Sagada on my mind

	Philippine Travel Articles (courtesy of )



	MIND



	In this remarkably serene mountain town, you can explore the caves, go bird-watching, and view the hanging coffins. or you can while away the hours in cafes, Sipping Sagada coffee. BY ELVIRA MATA
		T	he first time I went to Sagada, a town in the Mountain Province in the Philippine h, was with a girlfriend in 1984.1 cted to see sunflowers on the de; instead we had three flat tires wallowed a lot of dust on the way ur tour guide kept us amused . ging and playing the ukukk. He mustache and a bad voice. After a day-and-a-half of his ng, we were in Sagada. The guide told everyone to get n the rented jeep to view the
	hanging coffins. My friend refused to budge. She said the activity was morbid. But this is the highlight of the trip, I insisted. She sat in the jeep, her arms crossed and turned up the volume of her Walkman. I didn't want to go alone so I stayed with her in the jeep. The next time I saw Sagada was 14 years later, in late January this year. Friends from Singapore came to visit; they wanted to spend Chinese New Year watching the rice terraces in Banaue. It's the eighth wonder of the world, said one in awe. I told them we'd go to Sagada instead and view the hanging coffins.




	Fagade of the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, a Sagada landmark.	binoculars (with a flourish, like cowboys brandishing their pistols) and peer in the direction of the chirping. ing Ling had a backpack bigger and heavier than any of us and that was because she carried this voluminous book, Philippine Birds by John E. duPont. She bought it in England and had long wanted to use it as reference. Whenever we stopped to rest or eat, she would take out the book and the three of them would discuss the birds they saw. "The back of the head was black with white spots," one would note. "The bill was also black," another would quip. "But did you notice the chest was yellow?" still another would ask. They said there were a lot of interesting birds in Sagada, most of them were not even in the book. We saw (that is, they said they did) an elegant titmouse, dwarf river kingfisher, cuckold and a jungle fowl, which I insisted was the native chicken. It's great with tinola, that's chicken stew with vegetables. I don't think they appreciated this bit of information. Another bit of information they didn't appreciate was that between September and late December, birds migrate, flying from north to south. Called ikik season, Sagadans set up the	mangkik, a bird trap. A large net is tied between two poles and set in the migratory path of the birds and fires are lit. Birds fly toward the light, into the net, and end up in the pot. In recent years, environmental groups have tried to make Sagadans aware of the detrimental effects of this practice. As we all know, birds are endemic to a country. So if a particular species disappears, it's irreplaceable. Extinct. Of course, the practice endures (in spite of the directives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and the birds have started to slowly and surely disappear. We arrived in Sagada on the eve of their fiesta so there weren't a lot of rooms left for tourists. Most had been reserved for visiting relatives. Sagadans value family, customs and traditions above the US dollar. This is a good thing. Sagada is not a tourist trap like Hundred Islands in Pangasinan or Puerto Galera in Mindoro. The guesthouses we personally checked out in search of a room, and which we highly recommend are: St. Joseph's Resthouse (from Php70 a person, with common baths), Country Inn (from PhplOO a person), Olahbinan Resthouse (from PhplOO a person), and Sagada Prime Hotel (from Php800 a person, with common baths), the first hotel to be put up in Sagada and the only one with a parking space for cars. Aside from bird-watching, which people hardly ever do in Sagada, visitors go spelunking and hiking, but mostly they sit in cafes drinking Sagada coffee. We highly recommend Shamrock Cafe for their



	coffee, yogurt and huge servings of breakfast. There are several caves to visit in Sagada, but I strongly suggest that you hire a guide. First of all, there are no signs to guide you to the caves. A guide will make it easier for you to get there and actually make it possible for you to leave the cave in one piece. Guide rates vary from Php250 to PhpoOO. Since we didn't like dark, dingy places and didn't relish the idea of coming face to face with a stalactite or a stalagmite, we contented ourselves with hiking, breathing fresh air, bird-watching and in my case, coffin-watching. I would recommend the Lumiang Cave, which is a 30-minute walk from the town proper. We trekked down through pine trees, treading on a path of pine needles and then uneven rock steps until we reached the mouth of the cave. You'll know you're there when you see the coffins stacked wall-to-wall. I counted 88 in all, although my friend Yueyun insisted there were 92. Approach with reverence because these are sacred grounds. Another morbid sight to behold was Echo Valley. We hiked past the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin, past the cemetery, all the way up to Calvary Hill. With our backs to the cross, just in front of us and to the right were limestone cliffs with hanging coffins and even a death chair. The coffins were held precariously by rope and a regular chair hangs like a pinata. Bring powerful binoculars so you can read the inscriptions on the coffins. We also went down Ambasing Road on our way to the famous Sumaging Cave. We never got there. The view of the rice terraces took our breath away. We stood there watching the clouds roll by and light dancing on the fields. Wind blew through the pine trees. It sounded very much like the sea. An old man in tribal costume, carrying wood, stopped in front of the terraces, sat on a bed of pine needles and quietly started to light his pipe. He was oblivious of our presence. On the morning we were supposed to leave, I thought about Sagada and how I would remember it now. I was still thinking when we walked out of the inn and up the hill, and headed for the jeeps waiting to take passengers to Bontoc. It was cold and I noticed everything was enveloped in fog. Tike walking on clouds. Did I die and go to heaven? I wish, lil PAL has daily flights from Manila to Baguio City.	A Word on Saqada's Hanging Coffins When a person dies, he/she is bound to a death chair and placed on the porch of the house during the period of the wake. An empty coffin is then taken to the burial site in the cave or on precarious rock ledges. The body is later carried to the coffin by the young men of Sagada. (Rock climbers, you should try this!) This burial custom came about because Sagadans do not like the idea of being buried without wind or sunshine. Another explanation is to keep wild animals off the coffins. People in the Mountain Province have a high respect for their elders and an even greater respect for the spirit of their ancestors. These days, only the older members of the tribe are privileged to be buried in hanging coffins. The younger ones are buried in cemeteries.	Hanging coffins at Echo Valley. Travelers are advised to bring powerful binoculars so they can read the inscriptions on the coffins.