Wednesday, May 23, 2007

THE CAVE (Sagada to the max)

when you think of a cave, you'll think of darkness, stones, bats, cold dripping water and batman.

the sagada caves have those except for, well, batman.

before the cave adventure, we went to another burial cave and get a glimpse of coffins (this time not hanging) stacked like logs. unlike the hanging coffins, the feel of this cave is different, we talked in hushes and there's something eerie on the calmness and/or quietness of this place. and for the first time, i didn't dare going farther or nearer the main entrance (but some korean adventurers did because according to our guide, they will do the big cave connection, apparently, this cave and the sumaguing cave are connected and it will take them about four hours to navigate, i think it's cool but you need to be an experienced one to do this, so wala akong lugar dyan hehe).

as there's really nothing to do there except staring at the coffins, we excitedly rode on top of the jeep for the most exciting part of the tour: Sumaguing cave. on our way to the cave, while on top of the running jeep, i got these pics with one hand holding the rails for my dear life and the other shooting (i am crazy i know).

while sitting at the entrance of the cave, we felt how cold it is inside and our hearts are starting to pound harder with excitement as our guides briefed us on what to expect inside. according to them, what we are sitting on were man-made (obvious naman, semento kaya eto hehe) but inside, everything is natural, walang daya, so prepared to be awed, just don't open your mouth too wide as not everything's dripping inside is water, dyumi-jingle din po ang mga paniki hehehe.


since all the lamps are already lighted, here we go!

who's afraid of the dark?

it's big, it's deep, it's slippery!


it's approximately 1 km deep, tired already?

how wonderful and amazing caves can be?

to get around, you need to jump to and from some wet and slippery edges.
hold the stone walls, dip in the icy cold water

sit-walk on your butt (and feel that cold stone with running water)

and watch your steps (and that edges, too. falling into whoknows how deep is discuraged inside)


you also need to step on the guide to get down this wet curtain like rock formation


and have this picture taken :)

and be mesmerized by this

or this (another angle)
fruit salad (see the banana?) with water terraces

whew! got a flashback of how suspenseful, action-packed, cold, dark, slippery, tiring, exciting, dirty and how happy the group was after that. some conquered their fears, some overdid their own expectations, at ako, i want to do it again!!! the last few parts are also the most important and the most exciting, if the guide asked you if you still want to go on, say yes and and you'll be awarded with this wonderful feeling of having done something difficult and yet, you made it. it was the part when you need to pass a small and very low hole and then be greeted by an amazing rock formations and natural pools, and then "walk" on the wall by holding a rope, embrace a huge rock before submerging yourself in a chest-deep freakingly cold water, walk thru it and then more water hahaha. ang saya! when we reached the point where we're almost done, having pulled ourselves up, applauding ourselves for a job well done is like the most fulfilling thing we ever did to ourselves hahaha.


we also tried to convince other people (not in our group) to go on and told them at the same time how difficult it was (but more nang-aasar at nagyayabang hehe).


75% of the work was done, now we need to go back to the entrance and once again crawl, sit-walk on our butts, look for our sandals/slippers (don't wear havaianas here), more crawling and hey, it's dirtier going back and more difficult too (me nakita akong nadulas, aww).

and then, there was light. hay salamat.


==================================================

thanks to manny for some cave shots (bro, nagpaalam ako sa yo ha hehe). manny's a film reviewer too, aside from being a programmer (by profession) and an awesome photographer. whatchawaiting for, visit his blog.

next stop: Anawangin, San Antonio, Zambales (sana matuloy, sana matuloy)

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

again...WOW! is this the last of the series? seems like you save the best for last! if not...can't wait to see more. pics are amazing! what a tour! *envy* :)

tina said...

huwaw! what a great adventure. so tawagin na kitang cave explorer? ahihii.

nice.. nice. i wanna try that too!!

Nick Ballesteros said...

I got shivers up my spine and arms looking at the photos. I got all excited by what could have been our adventure too. Sana matuloy kami ng Sagada this year!

jho said...

Great photos. Kinda spooky nga lang yung iba for me - i'm afraid of the dark e.

Gina said...

Awesome Zherwin! The one thing that stopped me from caving before is the fact that I don't know how to swim. Kasi, pagcave talaga, oftentimes, may water di ba. Eh, we don't really know what to expect when inside at ayaw ko namang malunod ,no! When we went to the Phils. for a vacation 3 years ago, may pinuntahan kaming cave in our place, but I chose not to go inside with the other people in our group. I'm sure it must be a truly rewarding feeling to be able to do it, pero as they say, better be careful than be sorry. Pero ,ang ganda talaga ng interior ng cave. And of course pati na rin ang view ng buong lugar.Para na rin akong naka-travel with you guys!

Anonymous said...

waaahhh nang iinggit ka nang iingit ka :(

Eric said...

wow....what a nice trip....the pictures give me a panting breath as I lookt at them....
why don't you try to travel Siquijor? check them here: www.mysiquijor.com

dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...

Hi, Zherwin. What an exhilirating summer experience. Excellent photos, too!
I wish I can travel into these places, too!

Leah said...

Hi Zherwin,

Wow... amazing photos. I only wish I can experience the beauty of it all. Galing.

Is this blog called Zherwin's great adventures?

zherwin said...

ey, this was the most major of all the activities we had in Sagada, and yes it's also the best.

zherwin said...

tina, cave explorer? parang dora the explorer hahaha.

you may want to start in davao, marami rin bang caves jan?

zherwin said...

watson, masaya to! just sked your caving as the last major activity, save the best for last sabi nga, we did that sunday afternoon and then we left for manila monday morning. :)

zherwin said...

jho, you just give an idea for a future post, i have some pics (sagada pics included) that are spooky as they have "something" in it that's not there when the shot's taken.

sample: take a look at our picture at the entrance of the cave, on the upper right part of the pic you can see a bubble-like light there but definitely wala yun nun. marami na akong nakuhaang ganun hindi lang sa sagada. scary? exciting nga eh hehe

zherwin said...

gina, ako rin i am not a confident swimmer. if you'll do caving, a must yung local guide, sa sagada a big no-no yung walang guide. caving is one thing that i really want to do again.

zherwin said...

melai, para makumbinse ko kayo na magpunta rin dun hehe

zherwin said...

eric, thanks for the visit. :) your siquijor suggestion is considered, i really wanted to go to a place which is not frequented by tourists just like siquijor, this early we're thinking of doing batanes next year, medyo mahal lang kaya kelangang mag-ipon! :)

zherwin said...

dodong, exhilirating is an understatement! but we really really enjoyed it.

summer is the best time to go to sagada, plano na! :)

zherwin said...

leah, zherwin and his friends adventures is more appropriate i think. not really my first time to do caving (we did some during my scouting days back in high school) but this one's for the book, grabe to! :)

jho said...

cge, i'll be waiting for the "scary" posts and pics...

Anonymous said...

i continue to be amazed! this is what WOW Philippines is all about! who would think that such gem of a cave ever exists in the philippines. i just hope they are maintained.

zherwin said...

jho, yes and i am thinking of ways to have them posted without taking so much space and memory (blogspot has a limit pala when it comes to posting pictures, mine is like 1G and i already consumed about 40% of it in just about more than six months!)

zherwin said...

sexymom, sagada people are proud of their heritage and what they have, that's why they require a guide for every four persons caving, otherwise di sila pwedeng pumasok. a nice way to protect the cave pero meron pa ring nakakalusot (and vandal the cave!).

Anonymous said...

Nakita niyo ba yung Treasures ni Yamashita? Hehehe :-D

Anonymous said...

wow, those are really great places. parang nakikita ko lang sa tv, sa teleserye :) i would love to go there.
at zambales naman ngayon. dapat ang name mo zherwin the explorer na :)

zherwin said...

snglguy, sana nga pero tomb lang nung alleged anak ni yamashita ang nakita namin. :)

zherwin said...

lady cess, i love the explorer term kaya di ba parang Dora the Explorer ang dating? hehehe we made it, we made it! :D

just came from Anawangin, post some pics later. :)

Lazarus said...

very nice pics, zherwin. Salamat muli sa pag share. Parang gusto ko nang pumunta sa sagada and explore everyplace na kinunan nyo ng picture.

zherwin said...

lazarus, sagada's very far but it's worth the looong travel. sana lahat makapunta dun para mas lalong maappreciate yung ganda ng lugar. :)

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