Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Today most of our group took an excursion to Sagada. Sagada is famous for three things: weaving, caves, and hanging coffins. We will explain the three in reverse order. First, the hanging coffins. We did not spent too much time investigating this, but the burial rites in this area include suspending the coffin of the deceased from the face of a cliff. From the place our guide pointed them out, we did not have a great view of the coffins. Later in the day, we were taken to the entrance of a cave where coffins were stacked. Enough discussion of the morbid; although Adriana and I did talk about how a culture’s death and burial customs shed a lot of insight into their religious beliefs.

Most of our time in Sagada was spent in the caverns; at least for Adriana, Alayna, and Thomas. This was not the tourist enabled trip that one would expect in the USA. There were no handrails, installed lighting, or signs. The only way we could have done it was with the help of our guides. For the initial descent, stairs had been formed into the rock. But once we got beyond site of the opening, the surface changed and we were told to take our shoes off. It was not just our shoes that would end up getting wet. We walked through waist deep water. We descended and ascended over rock with water flowing across the surface. At 2 different points, ropes had been fixed to make access possible. The first, a rope allowed you to cross over a deep pool by holding the rope and finding your way along the rock surfaces above the pool and then down into another pool on the other side that was only waist deep. The other was dropped down to us from a very steep incline so we could walk pulling ourselves up along the way.

The cavern was a fantastic experience. I got to see my girls overcome fears and inhibitions. At one point, we came to a pool at the base of a waterfall. Many of us were jumping in and swimming. (Yes, it was cold. But it isn’t like you get to do this every day.) Adriana decided that she wanted to jump in as well. I was proud of her. Alayna, too, needed to overcome her fears in order to complete the journey.

(Sorry the pictures are grainy, but the lighting wasn't so great. But you are seeing some of the last pictures taken on Kevin's camera/phone. The ziplock bag must have had a hole and the phone wasn't interested in swimming.)

Lisa, Alexie, and Annalise spent their time strolling around town with Becky and Abby. They had fun looking at the various shops but the real treat was eating in a quaint restaurant surrounded by flower gardens.