Photo by Mark Lester Valle

We are going miles to prove that the average Filipino young professional has little excuse to say “No, I can’t travel.” There are a lot of extended weekends and extended holidays in a Philippine Year, a target of one postcard destination in 365 days is very, very realistic, if not an underachievement.

Save something like Php10.00 (USD0.22)* every working day, and you’ll have about Php3,500.00 (USD74) for your brag-worthy vacation. And hey, when the three grand runs out, let’s just say that’s where the real adventure begins. Hiking partners Carla and Lester tell you how it is done.

The Ifugao Rice Terraces is a world-renowned marvel of engineering: stretches of Cordillera mountains shaped like giant stairways dedicated to rice cultivation, carved by hand and fortified with stone, a couple of millennia before the agony-shortening invention of construction machines. To this day, it remains a major source of sustenance especially for the Ifugaos, one of the more known indigenous peoples of the Philippines. The proud Ifugaos are the builders of the most extensive network of rice terraces in the planet.

I have been to Ifugao, the province, twice before. The first time was a coming-of-age trip with my childhood friends; the next was for a documentary shoot sponsored by its local government. On both occasions, we dropped by a couple of viewpoints in Banaue, one of the province’s major towns, to shoot some impressive vistas of the rice terraces.

On both occasions, too, locals drew us near to tell us, “Banaue has a secret place, the terraces there are spectacular. Amphitheater-like. And they soar high, just below the peak of their most prominent mountain.”

“Where’s that?”

“In Batad. But it’s an hour’s worth of rough road climbing up to the Saddle, your drop-off point. And then you have to hike down a very rocky trail, by foot, for about an hour and a half. There is no other way to it.”

We had to say no every time. It was either my girl-pals’ feet weren’t trained for the challenge, or my documentary crew simply cannot carry those heavy shooting equipment through that tough route.

So, I made a solemn vow. I will one day reach Batad.

For this conceivably grueling task, I summoned Lester, my hiking partner. Fortunately, we saw a window: an extended weekend holiday was declared mid-February, in commemoration of the EDSA Revolution of 1986. That meant no classes for Lester, a budding geoscientist, and for me, a good excuse for day-off from freelance work.

We set off, armed with Php3,500 each. With minimal knowledge about how everything would eventually cost (internet information about Batad seldom have all these details), we threw our cares to the wind. Bring to life Postcard #1.

Pre-Batad. Friday Evening.

First official expense of the trip: a taxi ride from our homebase in Diliman, Quezon City to the Autobus station in Sampaloc, Manila. We shelled out P67.50 (USD1.44) each.

To date, there are only two bus companies with a direct trip to Banaue: Autobus, and Florida Bus Lines. In spite of their notoriety for turning on their air-conditioning units at full blast, I chose Autobus for nostalgia (having ridden it before and digging the friendly crew).  Lester brought some huge jackets with him, a wise move for anyone riding this bus.

We bought a couple of one-way tickets, each at Php425 or USD9.04 (it is advisable to reserve seats beforehand). After a hurried dinner of instant noodles and crackers (which pushed us to shell out Php35 or USD0.74 each at the convenience store right in front of the Autobus station), we hit the road. Right on time, at the scheduled 10:45pm departure.

Day 1. Banaue Town Proper. Saturday.

The bus was scaling the winding roads of Ifugao by sunrise. We arrived at the Autobus station in Banaue at around 8:00am, zigzag-weary, stomachs growling. Fortunately, the bus station had an in-house kitchenette. A plateful of rice and a small bowl of viand costs Php50 (USD1.08). Good food, I must say: the choices are four to five different pots of your typical home-coooked favorites. Of course they had Adobo. That morning, they also had native chicken soup, which we ordered. Very rich.

We spent the next hours in Banaue walking uphill to the nearest viewpoint (where the panorama of the terraces is obstructed by ghastly GI sheets. The better, clearer viewpoint is a Php300 (USD6.38) tricycle ride away!), and then after, weaving in and out of souvenir shops and checking out the marketplace in the Banaue town center; just window shopping, lest we blow our budget out of proportion. We had a filling lunch of bread and cola at a street-corner bakery, costing us Php30 (USD0.64) each, while waiting for our jeepney.

At the town center or Poblacion, the first jeepney for Batad leaves at around 12 noon; last trip is at 2 p.m., so be on your toes. Php150 (USD3.19) per head takes you to the Saddle Point (that mountain top station, gateway to Batad, which in fact looks like a saddle). A rather improbable option is a tricycle ride to the Junction, way below the Saddle, at Php300 (USD6.38) per trip.

Tip for the average turista: never ride anything that does not offer to take you all the way to the Saddle, because the trail is all upwards; try walking from the Junction and you’d be panting your lungs out in no time.

Besides, the hike from Saddle Point to the village proper of Batad is no mean feat.

Once we got to the Saddle Point, negotiations ensued. Three locals from Batad have joined us in the hour-long jeepney ride from the Banaue town proper (apparently a common practice, that is both convenient and annoying), and by the time we reached the Saddle, things were settled: Batad Girl #1 (whose name escapes me) enticed us to buy some rice wine from her store. Batad Girl #2, mild-mannered and courteous Margie, offered her humble home for lodging, and Batad Man, whom we call Mang Bino, volunteered his services as a tour guide.

We became as red as beetroots when we finally got to the village and started buying our necessities. Commonly sold at Php50 (USD1.06), a quatro-cantos bottle of rice wine in Batad commanded Php150 (USD3.19), and we bought two. Yes, it is a necessity! The per-night stay at Margie’s home was reasonable at Php200 (USD4.25) per head: hers was the only house that had electricity in Lower Batad.

To continue Carla and Lester’s Batad adventure, see Travel for Three Five: Batad (Part II)

*Philippine Peso to US Dollar conversion as of March 19, 2009 at Php47.00 to USD1.00