the clock of the bell tower person's 2 minutes early. the
huge bell is already ringing in the 18th hour of the day.
2 minutes pa mga bro, hinay lang. ehehe...
woah. such a tiring day. my butt and legs are so freakin
sore...
my family and i went trekking and caving today in sagada,
a small town located around 42 kilometers from Banaue,
high above the Sierra Madre. This place is so high up, it
feels as if i can touch the stratosphere. ...or not...
hehe... labo.
arghh... my tummy's rumbling. which is kinda funny coz i'm
not really hungry. we had lunch at this place called the
Yoghurt House, THE food joint here in Sagada. The food was
great (our house tea contained a surprise ingredient: BABY
COCKROACHES! oh yeah... and they found their way into my
tea cup), and the ambience was funky, there were a lot of
black and white photos displayed, taken by the renowned
pinoy photographer Tommy Haffala. there were a lot of
foreigners hanging around too. (funny how it seems as if
more foreigners know about sagada than pinoys.)
BUT BEFORE WE TASTED THAT BIT OF HEAVEN...
we left our room around eight o'clock in the morning, had
a filling breakfast at St. Joe's (their breakfast menu's
definitely superior over their regular menu. i had
pancakes with butter and strawberry mulberry syrup, and
florida's orange juice. YUM.), and set off for the
municipal hall. tourists have to register to get a tour
guide, which in turn is required to get inside the cave.
no liscenced tour guide, no entry.
hmm... i heard something about shady bunches of people
going in the cave and wreaking havoc, reason for the birth
of this system, but i'm not quite sure. there were also a
lot of nationalistic posters all over the municipal hall,
encouraging people to report suspicious looking
individuals lurking about. i guess uso ang NPA dito,
SCARY.
we met our tour guide, Mr. Peter, after that. weird... i
thought locals here would have indigenous sounding names
like: Maarkumsalam, or Pokopapalopapo... so far, our tour
guides have been Mister Johnny, and Mister Peter, american
sounding names... hrmm...
we WALKED (oh, the operative word) to the cave, a MEASELY
45 minute trek along rough roads, and a few areas with
smooth pavements. the view on our way to the cave reminded
me of this movie i watched back when i was in kinder and
we were still living in Cainta, Fern Gully... i can't
really recall the whole plot of the film, but i do
remember that the lead characters were a black haired
fairy and a blonde dudester. one of my childhood faves.
HARUMM...
when we reached the cave, we descended a long set of
stairs... i had a punishingly tight death grip on my elder
sister because i was afraid of toppling over and falling
into the dank crypt. the thought: FEAR OF HEIGHTS, FEAR OF
HEIGHTS kept flashing in my mind... and: no more gg...
hehe.
Stairway to Heaven? ehehe... these are the set of stairs
we descended to get to the entrance to the enormous Sagada
cave.
Besides holding onto rocks and boulders, we used other
techniques to navigate through the cave as well. the one
that fascinated me the most was the "SQUASH MISTER PETER
TO GET DOWN 90 DEGREE CLIFFS." i wonder how mr. peter
survived having his thigh being stepped on by my dad...
haruumm...
another technique was the "hold on to a rope and walk
against the wall" technique, which is my least favorite.
there was absolutely NO ledge to cram my toe into, and i
just crept against the wall. somewhere in the middle i
lost my footing, and started laughing. the pit below me,
for all i know, opens into the core of the earth, and i
just guffawed and held on for dear life. my family stood
at the other side, frozen, and mr. peter assisted me the
rest of the way. EHEHE. SCARY.
They call this rock formation the King's Crown or the
Queen's Curtain. ehehe... they probably coined both names
to appease both sexes... pano sa mga bakla? ehehe...
kidding, kidding... BADOINK.
~*~
woohoo... and all of these i did... during my second day
of menstruation. YAHOO... cramps and a soaked pad while
rappeling down ledges and cliffs. grabe, when i got back
to our room, i went to the bathroom pronto, and my napkin
fell off. super nakakatawa... i practically swam in the
cave because there were parts where we were totally
submerged. yeah, MODESS IS DA BEST, i am officially
endorsing it. mwahahaha...
mwahahaha...
mwahahaha...
baliw talaga ako.
nakuuu...
ano na kaya nangyari sa mga chinovela na sinusubaybayan
ko? ohoho... ultimate guilty pleasure. :D
definitely no longer searching for utopia, an ergaslophobic student and aspiring thespian, a true blue Filipina and Assumptionist, existing in a state of utter discombobulation, *BROKE*, and fattening myself up in time for the next human sacrifice ritual in tondo, manila...
Stars and Nebulas
aLi
bea
cathy
caMs
[[twinstaR]]
[[fRienD]]
kaTrina
gaDDi
iSSa
jOnesie
[[myky]]
[[nica]]
pam
[[stephie]]
synty
[[tasia]]
trizza
wissa
Flight
Alanis Morissette
Carbon Stereoxide Studio Notes
Cold Play
Dashboard Confessional
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Haruki Murakami
Milk&Cereal
Miss Saigon
Paulo Coelho
Rent - the Musicale
Shawn Mullins
System of a Down
The Simpsons
The Sims
The Used
::Credits::
Image By:
|j3concepts|
Layout By:
|Niknoi|
||December 2004
|January 2005
|February 2005
|March 2005
|April 2005
|May 2005
|June 2005
==:::A Few Friendly Reminders from your Resident Sane Psycho:::==
life is an unequivocally fast paced string of events, where the essence of a lifetime can be captured in a single breath, love can develop in a second, and where a long journey can feel like just another ride in the metro rail...
so put on your pink tinted glasses, wear your cheesiest smile. life's too short and much too precious to waste with the frivolities of a shallow existence.
let's limbo!
change is the only constant thing in life.
though it is most difficult to cope with change, we must.
it is survival. it is evolution.
but then again,
what if this change is brought about by paranormal sensations and emotions, unforeseen circumstances, hormonal imbalances, and... the weather?
what if this change is caused by things that are not things. forces that are immaterial?
how do we cope?
how do we end the relentless and crazed see-saw of intense emotions churning deep within us?
how do we stop misery?
how do we prolong happiness?
with a four millimeter bullet?
with a cup of peppermint-tasting cyanide?
with prayer?
i don't know.
i can't even begin to pretend to know, or to comprehend.
and i'm sure,
neither can you.
and it scares me.
it scares us.
that this we cannot understand.
everything else --science, mathematics, ratios, proportions, wars, peace talks, chocolate sprinkles and gum drops, ponies and rabbits, Nobel awards-- we know.
but this,
this simple shift of light and darkness,
this slight distinction,
this sudden rearranging of matter, molecules, and sensations.
this indescribable phenomena.
this we cannot even begin to grasp.
illogical, senseless, strange, odd.
fleeting, momentous, gargantuan, colossal.
what is the meaning behind this change in mood? in feeling?
what is the real root? the common cause?
perhaps we have been doomed to be this way.
to not understand.
to be left in the dark.
doomed to be able to adapt with everything else but this simple swing.
this simplistic issue.
never to find a way to evolve around it.
but perhaps.... in this case,
evolution is not survival.
for if you can just grin and bear it.
take it for what it is.
let go of the logic behind it.
perhaps then, survival is possible.
change is not imperative.
accepting is a prerogative, the answer, the key.