Brian's blog

photos made in 2008 and 2009 in the towns

Sagada and Suyo in Mountain Province, Luzon, Philippines

rooster in Suyo

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view of Suyo from a rice paddy near the river

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Suyo’s kids were curious about me

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riding a jeepney to Sagada from Bontoc

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a Sagada Guest House southern view of downtown Sagada

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weather-beaten limestone of Sagada

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I’d like to have for a vacation home one of the two houses atop a bluff overlooking the north end of Echo Valley.

- what a view from the top –  The one on the left was being built.

a river flows underground from North to South and emerges in Echo Valley

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I enjoyed hiking the length of Echo Valley

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more craggy, eroded limestone in Sagada, south of Echo Valley

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From a distance one might see coffins strapped to a niche in limestone south of  Echo Valley

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observation is easier in afternoon light

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rather uninteresting snapshot of Sagada, Mountain Province — from Sagada Guest House

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When in Sagada, I enjoyed delicious ‘mountain tea’ in cafés

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coffins in Echo Valley

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approaching Lumiang Cave in Echo Valley

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entrance to Lumiang Cave

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mouth of  Lumiang Cave in afternoon light

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A guide told me that this is a coffin of a chief  (because two lizards were carved in the lid)

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caribao and farmers beside the river in Suyo

coffins in the south of Echo Valley

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This coffin had fallen and was open to the weather and leaves and twigs falling

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Beside it were a skull and bones which had likely spilled from the coffin

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I wondered how the end of this coffin was opened

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Notice that the skull is perched precariously at the near end

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Did nature just weather and erode the end of the coffin? Or did a vandal/thief pry it off?

A case can be made for carving coffins from logs, rather than assembling them from boards and nails which rust.

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cows near Mount Ampucao

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entrance to Sumaging Cave (the ‘big cave’)

Sumaging Cave

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Korean tourists, guides and I spelunking in Sumaging Cave

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lousy, grainy photo from first visit to King’s Curtain in Sumaging Cave

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King’s Curtain calcite formation in Sumaging cave

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King’s Curtain

All these calcite formations and the smells made Sumaging Cave exploring an ‘otherworldly’ experience

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We enjoyed wading and swimming in very cool pools of water hundreds of feet below ground

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emerging from Sumaging Cave at the south end, near Sagada Cave Man store

See also the weblog posts which mention Sagada, including this: (click here)