We had a wonderful experience last week... We went to see the rice terraces of Banaue and the mountains and valleys of Bontoc. The rice terraces are referred to as the Philippines 8th Wonder of the World. They date back to the time of Christ and legend has it the native people were visited by a great White God that taught them how to terrace and plant the rice.
The drive to see the sights was a real adventure too. We went from sea level up over mountain passes. No snow, but we had everything else! The mountains are steep and landslides are very common. You see rocks and mud sliding down the mountainside right before your eyes and there are lots of slides just around the next turn. The roads are always under repair, but they can't keep up with Mother Nature. The road signs were honest though... they said, "Ongoing Road Renovation".
Thanks to the experienced recommendations of President Jensen, we stayed at the Banaue Hotel and had two cool nights and a comfortable sleep. The hotel had great breakfast and dinner buffets. Mom said the flat screen TV was so flat she couldn't even see it! No TV, but hey we don't watch TV anyway, especially when there are some spectacular sights right outside our window. We had a little power outage the first morning to make us feel comfortable and remind us that we are still in the Philippines. I ran the hot water for 15 minutes and it was still coming out cold, so I called the front desk to ask if there was any warm water today. The receptionist said, "Yes sir, just turn on the hot water knob and the cold water knob and it makes warm water!" I laughed with frustration and surprise at her response. During the conversation mom called to me that there was hot water now! I took the receptionists advise and turned on both the hot and cold water taps and got warm water! It was so nice to have warm water for the shower, but don't drink the water or you'll be sorry!
We saw this colorful truck loaded with bamboo on our way up to Banaue.
One of the first gateways we went through as we enter a new province, community or Barangy. "Salamat Po" means "Thank You" (with respect).
We saw farmers plowing their fields with carabau pulling the plow.
We stopped on the road to watch this farmer plow his field of corn and take a few pictures. You can hear the motor bikes, cars and trucks passing by in the video and maybe you can hear the little children across the street call to us... "What is your name?" A nice "spit" bath for the hard-working carabao.
Poinsettia plants grow in the wild.
No two lane highway up here. Hope that no big truck is coming around the bend ahead.
This is a temporary bridge. The original bridge...
...collapsed.
The land is always moving and the roadshave no foundation so they are constantly breaking up.
Banaue Hotel where we stayed. We stayed in the far wing facing the valley.
This is the view we had from our room.
Another view from our room.
And another.
Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. Notice the Nativity in the fireplace. Christmas decorations stay up through the end of January.
This is a hand carved Nativity like the one we got. Carvings are about 12 inches tall and carved by the local people.
The local native people cater to the tourists and dress up in native costumes, play the flute and tell you stories, give you names and pose for pictures... for a small fee.
These were some of the most delightful people. Their English was very good and their sense of humor was great. They didn't know how old they were, but they were definitely young at heart.
I bought a ceremonial head dress and had to have a picture of me in it with the rice terraces in the background.
My new friends, tribe and empty-Nester group!
Me and my esowa (spouse).
This view is printed on the back of the 1,000 Peso bill.
INSERT 1,00 PESO BILL SCAN
Even with all the terracing it is quite a workout to get around to work these fields.
The terraces go on as far as the eye can see in all directions. Water is sourced from springs at the top of the mountains.
The roads are washed out from above and below, covered with rocks and mud and heaved, cracked and torn by the movement of the earth beneath.
The man on the right, is dressed in the traditional warrior costume. The bird head on his head dress signifies that he has taken a human head. The locals were head hunters. The man on the left is an imposter!
He had lots of stories to tell and plenty of time to spend with us. This is a quiet time of year for tourism here.
Looks like a nice stretch of road and a peaceful farming valley.
When you get up close the roads are not all that nice. Notice the rocks on the new concrete. They put them on the new concrete and leave them there forever. Someday someone will come back and work on the other side of the road and move the rocks onto the newer side of the road.
We made it to the Bontoc Museum to see a bit of the history of the indigenous people that live here. They were tribal and taking heads in war through the early 1900's. Missionaries came and brought Christianity to them.
They had some authentic huts on the museum grounds. They were very tiny people.
The community council huts. There is a fire ring inside the walls. I assume they sat around the fire smoking a pipe or chewing their narcotic nuts and talking about the neighborhood barking dog problems.
Orchids were growing in the flower garden in the museum yard.
We had the same roads to traverse on the way back. This was a nice stretch of road.
We stopped along the way to checkout the sights.
This is what mom was looking at.
This field had some unique patterns in their planting rows.
There were circles and words spelled out in their crops. This might be an alien settlement.
Closeup of some mature rice.
Drying the rice in bundles on the road.
Once it is dried they beat it and the rice falls off. The rice is swept up, bagged and taken to the rice mill to have the husk milled off and prepared to sell for food.
Truckload of palm fronds that are mostly used for building sheds for animals.
These posts use to support something in a vertical position. They slipped with the last landslide.
This is one sight along the road.
And this is another sight along the road. You have to be careful not to be distracted by the beauty of the valley views and miss the pile of rocks and dirt in the middle of the road.
No pictures on the way home due to fog, clouds, rain, mud, etc. This is the way it looked on the way up the mountain our first day. Most of the pictures I have posted were taken on our second day.
