My first morning in Sagada, I decided to take a tour to the caves in town. It is a loose structure to the tours in town. A bunch of guides show up at the tourist office. People who want to do one of the various area tours show up. The guy in the tourism office groups people together and off they go. Payment is left to the guide and the tour-takers. I met a couple from Manila, Gerry and Karen, the night before and we arranged to meet for a tour. I duly met them and off we went. The tourist office man added Pierre, from France, so we were a group of four, the suggested size of a group for the caves. We took a nice walk through town and passed the local rice terraces. It's really quite an impressive sight.
There are no machines in the valley, so the whole of this area is tended by hand.
Then it was into the caves. The first cave we visited was called Lumiang Burial Cave. As I mentioned before, the older members of the native people of the area practiced a form of burial that places coffins on the sides of cliffs or at the mouths of caves.
It is possible to do a cave tour called the Cave Connection, where you can go from the Lumiang Cave to the Sumaging Cave on the other side of the hill, but under the hill. My companions weren't up for that, so we just walked around instead. That is when we had the view of the terraces above. The second cave had stalactites at the entrance and numerous formations inside.
At the front of the this formation is a bunch of cascading pools. Behind them is a formation that looks like the top of a crocodile's jaw.
When I had visited the little gift/snack shop at the top of the cave, I had seen a postcard calling the cave the Porn Cave. I asked Alfred, our guide about this, so he took pains to show me the formations in questions. They are, in order, the pregnant queen, the king, the princess, and the baby prince.
While we were in the caves, the guides all carried lanterns, creating a fairly eerie sight when viewed from below.
And we took a group photo in front of the King's Curtain.
Then it was into the caves. The first cave we visited was called Lumiang Burial Cave. As I mentioned before, the older members of the native people of the area practiced a form of burial that places coffins on the sides of cliffs or at the mouths of caves.
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