Beyond the Peace Corps and Through the Looking Glass: 8th Wonder of the World - Visible from Space

"Oh - you should have seen them before - they were the 8th Wonder of the World - but now they're run down and aren't what they used to be."
Me: "Have you been there, then?"
"Oh no, they are too far away."

This is a typical conversation in the Philippines - and reminds me of my mother - she knew everything about everything and would tell you so....the only problem was that she made a lot of it up as she went along, and claimed things as her own which she read in a TV guide or Reader's Digest or saw on television. Here, it is even worse - appearance is everything, and to admit you don't know something is bawal (forbidden) in the social script.

But, my trip to the Rice Terraces was one of my 8 Wonders of the World - and totally exploded my thoughts of the Philippines as an 'island' (as in tropical paradise) nation.

After our Mid Service Training, in Batangas (just south of Manila), 8 of us set out on an overnight bus, riding 12 hours to Banaue, the gateway to the legendary Rice Terraces. The bus was by far the coldest time I've spent in the Philippines - apparently, because it is advertised as "air conditioned" they are not allowed to turn the air conditioning off!! I'd been alerted before we started out and purchased two fleece throw blankets - both of which I slept under, and was still cold. I had also heard (from my 20-something friends) that the hike in to Batad was strenuous, so I decided to stay in Banaue for the night and wait for the return of my very young Peace Corps mates. It has been rather disconcerting on this Peace Corps escapade - but I am having to cry Uncle because I just can't do some things anymore - and realizing I am around 35-40 years OLDER than my mates is almost as astounding as the Rice Terraces! :(

Arriving into Banaue

The fog coming over the mountains in the early morning
reminded me of San Francisco

As the fog lifted, Banaue appeared below

Another view of Banaue

But - an innskeeper in Banaue told us of lodging on the rim so that I wouldn't have to hike down - I was worried about both my knees and my back.

So, after we ate eggs and toast at a beautiful pension overlooking the river in Banaue, we picked up 2 more mates and clambered into our private jeepney that would take us as close as possible to Batad.

Some of the guys at the top in Banaue: Chris Economon,
Ben Stacey, Shashank Iyers and Will Shields

Just out of Banaue, you begin to climb and to see some of the terraces cut into the hill - these terraces are 2,000 years old! The scenery was just incredible - and the realization that people still tended these terraces and grew rice - somehow climbing around like mountain goats - rocked us.

This was soon after typhoon Pedring, and the roads seemed washed out and narrow as we wound through the mountains with houses perched on the cliffs

- two vehicles passing was an intricate dance - and the sheer drop (we were on the drop side of the road) was rather amazing.

Yes - the tractor is on the same "road" we are on

Yep - that's the same tractor as above - and we passed it somehow

I'm never scared here - I mean, what's the point? So, when things get really close (like the width of my pinky), I usually just close my eyes so that I don't cause heart palpitations.

Our Intrepid Driver

It is also interesting that this was one of the first settlements in the Philippines - It is truly out in the forest - awesome.

One of my favorite pictures was of this woman hiking up the "road" by herself - smiling at us. We are in Ifugao country here - and the missionaries came here to teach the people English - and of course to convert them to Christianity. Batad is very far from much of anything and pretty isolated - yet the people in this province spoke excellent English...very different from those in my province.

We paid the driver 500 pesos more to continue as far as he could up the road - he said that it had just reopened the day before (one has to wonder what constitutes a closed road here if this is officially reopened). I'm not sure that I could have made it to the starting point if he hadn't driven us there.

Lo and behold, when we got to the top and looked into Batad far below....there were no lodges at this rim. The innskeeper in Banaue must have meant AFTER you hiked the 1.5 hours down the mountain that at the top of the rice terraces there were lodges. But, I was sooo excited to go that I packed up and Chris and I started out.

It was quite a trek and we were all thankful that it wasn't - and hadn't been - raining...things were slippery enough!

A couple of the PCVs had guidebooks and thought we should look around for the best place - I saw literally hundreds of stairs (probably about 2 feet in height - which I cannot comprehend since most natives are about 5'4" tall) and told them that wherever they found a place to let me know, but that I would wait at the "rim". I think that many of the young dudes were nearly as tired as I was and we opted for the closest pension at the rim - RITA'S. What a stellar decision!

Notable Signage in Batad...Could put one up myself!

The view from Rita's at the Rim of Batad

My tired feet hanging over the verandah

It was pretty cool here, so I went to take a shower before the heat of my exercise left me (if you haven't noticed before in this blog, there is no heated water here for the normal folks - just in the touristy hotels - and if the weather is cold - it's really jarring). All the others, except Chris (we played several games of cards - and watched the hikers), hired a guide and went DOWN, down, down to the terraces. Distances are deceiving - the span is pretty vast. With my telephoto lens, I finally located our group - tiny as ants - and took a photo which I hoped would show them hiking up and down the terraces.

But, I also wanted to give you an idea of what that photo looked like without the telephoto...so I reshot - rather amazing!

When the other 8 returned, they were pooped - other PCVs had hiked into Batad, hiked the terraces to an ice cold waterfall and hiked back out the same day - ay naku!! I am soooo glad that my hiking mates decided to spend the night - it was magical.

We all had some beer - and watched two men carry bottles down from the same trail that we'd hiked - two buckets, suspended by a yoke - perhaps 30 bottles of beer in each bucket. So the beer was a bit more expensive than in Manila - but well worth it!! And the million dollar view made it a deal!

Our host showed us how to winnow the rice - separating the chaff from the grain

Rita's grandkids kept us entertained

As did Krystal, who donned Ifugao attire and acted the part

Colorful birds chattered in the trees

as the sun fell behind the mountains and all became dark and silent.

We planned to arise at 5am to get a good start on the hike out - our jeepney driver was to collect us before 7am at the top so that we could catch our 7:30 jeepney to Sagada, where we would meet 20 other PCVs to celebrate Thanksgiving. I had to close the window and crawl under the blankets on the bed as well as add my own as it got quite chilly!

The sun coming up

Starting the hike back up

The best Php300 that I may ever spend in this country, I spent that morning. I had repacked my backpack and crammed everything into it - it must have weighed 50 pounds....and I happily paid a porter to schlep it to the top. We left at about 6am as it got light enough to see, and the porter must have arrived around 6:30 - he passed us halfway up and was waiting as we finally arrived topside.

Almost halfway

That's my pack and the porter passing us at the halfway point
and making the top 30 minutes before us!!!

We made it!

Our Batad overnight group

At the top waiting for the jeepney to come up and collect us

Here comes our ride!

This family lived at the top and ran a small sari-sari store.
Christmas hats in mid-November

The glorious views on our way back to Banaue

What we hadn't seen the morning before was the incredible views in the town of Banaue...so, before we journeyed on to Sagada (in our private jeepney - the driver gave us a comparable deal and we had a great time together), we toured Banaue - spectacular in its own right. We stopped for another breakfast - and spied a woman working in the field far below.