dean's list: Surviving Sagada Part 1

Our leave policy changed last year and that resulted to limiting the carry over annual (vacation) leaves (AL) to only 10 days for Asia-based staff. It's supposed to force us to have work-life balance. But I simply don't get it as it would just require us to use 30days of AL this year then be back to use 20 ALs (assuming we still want to have 10 ALs carry over) as what we have been doing in the past. *roll eyes*

So with 10 additional ALs to spend last fiscal year, it was hard to think of how to spend those wisely (by wisely I mean relaxing, budget friendly and memorable). So Keith, Rodel and I thought of extending our trip to the Cordilleras after our Pulag adventure. Initially, our plan was to spend a night in Baguio to rest then Sagada the next day or two, then Banaue before going back to Manila.

I didn't really know much about Sagada. It was just that it is a must see town in the Cordilleras, aside from Banaue which is known of its rice terraces. All that I could remember was my geology professor speaking about limestones in Sagada which proved that the Cordilleras was under the sea.

***

It was Panagbenga Festival and days before we left for Pulag, we became worried on where to stay in Baguio. All hotels and transient houses were fully booked! Good thing our friend Anna is a Baguio citizen and she got us booked in a dormitory. But there was a catch... the dorm was in a church! Church basement... well, you know how structures in Baguio were built. Anna's mom is a good friend of Father (sorry I forgot his name, but he was really nice and accommodating) so we were really thankful for them.

We advised Anna that we'll be in Baguio at 7pm (Feb. 24th). Our ride got a bit delayed, phone batteries were drained so when we got to the church, we've learned from Anna's mom that she's been trying to reach us. She was really nice and took us to their house for dinner and some chika moments. In a little time that we've spent with her, we've learned so much about our friend.

***

We left the dorm at 5am. Our plan was to take the 6am bus to Sagada but we've had some difficulty finding a ride back to town. We wished to take a cab since I didn't want to acquire dust on the ride. Then it hit me, cabs and jeepneys are just the same in Baguio since people there doesn't use airconditioning! So, off we rode in a jeep, got off in to have breakfast in McDo before heading to Lizardo Trans bus terminal in Dangwa.

Got tickets for a past 7am departure. Had a second breakfast to kill time. I didn't know that it was actually a prelude to Sagada dining. Uh-huh... we ate a lot in Sagada!

I tried to sleep on the bus but I couldn't keep my head still. So, I just enjoyed the view... and I got to see where veggies in Baguio come from.

We arrived in Sagada past 1pm. We met our guide, William, from SAGGAS and he got us to register at the tourism center first. Then we checked in at Traveller's Inn before having lunch at Yoghurt House.

SAGGAS Office

We decided on our itinerary after lunch. Still tired from Pulag, we agreed to just rest on our first day in Sagada. We also learned from William that Banaue is another 6hr trip, plus we need to get to Bontoc first before riding a bus to get there, so we crossed it our from our list.