Months before this epic Sagada journey, I shared a blog on
FB regarding Sagada’s famous Cave connection that I want to take. I am afraid
of darkness but that cave connection is one of the things I wanted to do before
I die… Having cold feet if I could finish that adventure, I braced myself. I
prayed to God that I can go back to home alive and kicking (morbid mode
ako :D)
Our van dropped us on the Entry point, Lumiang Cave, wherein
as per our guides, Lumiang Cave serves as Sagada’s burial site except for women
who died giving birth…
We started to descend to Lumiang Cave.
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| going down to the cave's entrance |
At
entry point of the cave, we saw so many piled coffins that have been restored
for about 500 years. The latest coffin being buried there was 26 years ago…
1986!
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| piled coffins |
Our guides provided us some information regarding piled
coffins. According to them, they believed that people’s position after birth
and once he died should be the same “fetal position”, thus explains why the
coffins were small. I don’t want to imagine how they do it… it’s creepy. They
also believed that family members should be the first one to carry the coffin,
because once they were stained by the dead’s blood, they will gain good fortune
and blessings in life…
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| They believed that gecko symbolizes long life... |
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| Briefing session |
We had our briefing before going down. Our guides, Janu James,
Kenneth John and Tarik, told us different kinds of crawls that we will be
doing… spider crawl, basta madaming klaseng crawl ung sinabi but one thing that
I will not forget on that briefing is that we should “TRUST” the ropes and
listen to the guides…
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| our guide Kenneth John Justo |
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| our guide Janu James Luken |
I listened very well that when I asked how are going do in order to get down on the cave, they told me that we would jump… and I actually believed it… gullible me L sinabi ko na nga sa kanila na masunurin talaga ako eh kea nauto na naman nila ako J
Our line up inside the cave, pag 1 ka una kang makakaranas ng obstacle :)
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| No 1 aka Michelle |
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| No 2 aka Grace |
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| No 3. aka ate Christy |
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| No 4 aka Tin |
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| No 5 aka Labli |
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| No 6 aka Jb |
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| No 7 aka Raine |
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| No 8 aka RD |
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| Group picture before Cave Connection |
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| group picture before our first descend |
We started our adventure; going down…. Hop from one rock to
another… then got down 10 feet using a rope (wow! Rumarapel na)… it’s about two
to three descend using rope :D… with the help of our guides, they served as our
human ladder, nakakahiya tinapak tapakan namen sila J
As we proceed, we had to cross this rock sideways, just like
we encountered on Pongas falls, one wrong move and your dead… bit nervous with
this one, no rope to hold, just cling on the rocks… and listen to the guides
instruction..
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| behind was the rock that we had crossed sideways |
After that stint, we took some rest… and piktyur moments..
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| two places at the same time?! north and south part of the cave :D |
Moving forward, we had to cross a pool, which is so cold…
then ascending using a rope…
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| the pool |
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| pool |
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| pool... |
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| ascending |
Obstacles kung obstacles, then we passed through some
slippery areas until we reached some rock formations such as nipa hut roof,
Christ face, and rhinoceros.
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| knee deep water going to the rock formations |
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| nipa hut roof formation |
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| rhinoceros |
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| nipa hut roof |
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| face of Christ |
Then climbing up to the dance hall where we had a break :D
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| rock formation going up to dance hall |
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| resting |
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| jumajump shot sa dance hall |
We were able to take some pictures of cauliflower, after
that we have to descend again… Rapel ulit :D
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| the "cauliflower" |
We passed through the
first pool, where Raine and RD practiced their swimming skills along with
Kenneth John.
After that, we also passed by the Frog pool, where there is a frog like rock formation… another series of piktyur piktyur for us :)
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| frog pool |
Spider crawling ulit, going down… our slippers were already thrown by our guide…barefooted all the way :D
We passed by the some amazing rock formations like the "King", "Turtle head", "king's curtain", the "queen" and "chocolate cake"
The “King’s Curtain”
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| "King's Curtain" |
The "Chocolate Cake"
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| the "Cake" |
The famous Queen, others called it “PORN”
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| The "Queen" aka "Porn" |
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| amazing rock formations |
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| flow stones |
After taking some pictures, our guides asked us if we want to continue and check the tunnel. That tunnel is a small passage that you will enter and you need to pass through a very slippery limestone rock before you submerge into the water. Being the “tallest” among us, they asked me if I’m willing to continue. I just asked them, how deep it is. They told me “chest deep”. Chest deep to them might be neck deep for me… For the sake of finishing the cave connection with flying colors, I took the challenge.. Andun naman sila to guide us, so I don’t need to worry that much :D
Here comes the tunnel, wow! Exciting, then the slippery limestone…
Carry naman eh… Until they told me to hold the rope and then let go… with
Raine, already there, I let go and fell into the water…
The water is so cold… we were shivering, funny that I don’t need
to go to Korea to experience that kind of temperature… Umuusok ung bibig namen
pag nagsasalita Love it!
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| "chest deep" water inside the tunnel |
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| inside the tunnel |
We headed back to the king’s curtain… climbed it using
another rope… then headed out to sumaguing cave… When we saw the light coming
from the mouth of the cave, we got excited to the beauty of the “outside world”.
But wait, there’s more, we still had to finish our last obstacle! we still need
to take that 245 steps ascending… J
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group picture after cave connection with our guides
L-R Kenneth John, Grace, Christy, Raine. Michelle, Janu James, Tarik, Tin, Jb, Labli and RD |
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| finally! there is light! |
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| you'll appreciate this beauty after being stuck inside the cave for 3 hours |
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| that epic 245 steps up to the main road from Sumaguing Cave |
Note: During our Cave Connection, stupid me forgot to bring my digicam... pictures were taken from Raine and Mitch's cam... cheers to Raine and Mitch :D
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