A beautiful falls, but what a hike!

A view of the rice terraces

SAGADA, MOUNTAIN PROVINCE .. If you don't have an invitation to stay with Dennis Faustino, stay at St. Joseph's when visiting.  From there it is an easy hike to see the hanging caskets -- the main thing to see in Sagada. 

My favorite part of the outreach trip to Sagada was a cultural experience for the kids out into the villages of the area.  William Maske and his family were so welcoming. William began our day with a hike to a waterfall.   He didn't tell us how far the hike was because he didn't want us to decline.   I knew how far the hike was.  I had no desire to hike it on a previous visit.  I had no choice but to do it with students.   I kept thinking as we hiked, "Other people hiked this before us carrying bags of cement to make these steps!"  There were 1,002 steps to get to the waterfall.   The climb down was exhausting but the waterfall was exceptionally beautiful.  

The next day everyone from Manila climbed down a cave.  In places we needed ropes to climb down part of the 250 meters we explored.  At the very bottom of the cave was a pool of water.  My boys assured me that the waterfall the day before was much colder. 

The return to Manila took 16 hours.  We had several stops along the way.  At one place, I saw the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen in the Philippines.  It was a local shop called McDoggies.  Yes, there were roasted dog heads hanging out front.