The road
to Sagada takes off from the Halsema Highway at the junction in Dantay. It zigs
and zags its way up the tight bends and steep slopes winding through parts of
the mountainside villages of Kilong, Tetep-an and Antadao, collectively known as
Kiltepan.
The road to Kiltepan
|
People here have waited generations for these road concreting works. |
The I-Sagada have common ancestors with the I-Chonglian. Certain oral accounts passed on through the generations, tell that the early ancestors came from such places as Ma-eng in Abra and Dallik in the north. These forebears founded villages including Fidelisan, Demang and others that now form parts of present day Sagada municipality. The Mainit people too have ancestors from Abra, Fidelisan and Belwang. The Sagada and Mainit territories are delineated on Mt Kamingmingel or Kaman-ingel in Aguid.
‘I was born on this mountain, this mountain’s my home,’ but I don’t remember much of my early times here. See I left here when I was a few days old J. Sure I’ve been back a few times, and listened to the whisper of the pines. Their whisper is now getting fainter, more like a hushed murmur.
In Sagada, you’re caught between a rock and a hard place. Yes Sagada is rocky and the nearest towns are hard places to live. Life is hard all around the mountains. In town you’ll see houses built on rocks and roads built through rock. (You’ll even sight a hard rock tribute to local legend Cosi the 2nd or Cosi II).
Sagada presents various pulls to her many visitors. The idealist and environmentalist, vacationer and traveller, adventurer and thrill-seeker, hippy and self-styled revolutionary, writer historian and anthropologist, elitist and artist, atheist or religious, student rambler and gamboler, city slicker pimp or gambler, slick smooth-talker and fixer, joker and thief, merchant or sucker, the pilgrim, the walking contradiction, the stoned problematic, the high-flyer, the angel flying too low, the mountain sailor home from the high seas. They all see Sagada through the prism of their own conceptions. Often the visiting balikbayan or homesick child of these mountains regrets coming home. This mountain retreat used to be unspoiled by commercialism and modernism. But no longer. Around every street corner is a cafe or shop boasting exotic offerings from overseas or even the latest techno gadget. Sagada is not immune to the undesirable types. Characters running from the law or from their demons, those looking to do a quick fix, or offering get-rich-quick schemes, even those that come to use or abuse.
And in the midst of Sagada’s tourist rush, many a promising lad has fallen to the temptations of easy money and easy living. The dap-ay used to guide young men to adulthood and responsibility. Has the dap-ay ran its course? Is the door to traditional learning, the cultural classroom that was essential to community and society, closed for good? I am hoping not.
I haven’t got much more to say about Sagada, there’s many sources of information around and online. I’ll just let my photographic refractions do the narration.
I haven’t got much more to say about Sagada, there’s many sources of information around and online. I’ll just let my photographic refractions do the narration.
Parts of
tarred single lanes still remain, like this half-tunnel section.
Main
street.
Piles of
timber are ready for the next house construction. These would have been sourced
from some Batangan (Pine Forest) owned by a family or clan or even by the
community.
The
tree-lined road south of town has also been paved but is still relatively
narrow.
The rice terraces of southern Sagada radiate their verdant sheen,
while shadows cross the mountains green.
The shade
of a straw shed is tempting to a huffer and puffer passing by.
I wanted to blow the house down but I saved my breath.
Madagdagan pa ang hirap ko sa pag-akyat sa Dagdag.
The
resting place of the departed.
A young local lad explains the history and significance of his ancestors' coffins to tourists.
The dim
shadow of dense vegetation beneath the road, hides the mouth of a graveyard
- a
smaller burial cave.
We went
exploring the bigger caves.
We found where the caveman lived. Nice cave, Nick, or whatever the boatman's name is.
Going back
up the same road to town, and I saw some of the commercial establishments that I
tried to ignore on the way down. I bought some smoked etag.
I need a
harness for this. Maybe I should just do as Tarzan does.
That’s kid
rock’s brother, treasure rock of sagada.
Or maybe the brother town of little rock Arkansas.
Houses
built on a rock. Their owners are wise. When I
retire, I am basing myself in Ambasing. Won’t need a rockin’ chair. Instead I’ll
have a chair in rock.
This thing below, which someone named “Losin Cosito”, is not like “Losin’ love” or “Losin’ lately.” This rock hard totem apparently resembles Cosito’s phallus.
The dedication must have been from his lover. Onya Cosito. Only in Sagada.
Breaking news!
Tradition is alive and well in
Sagada. Reports hot off the press, state that elders have closed down a backyard
refinery plant in Fidelisan. This illegal mill, the source of contaminated waste (cyanide), had been polluting a river that irrigates the ricefields of Northern Sagada. The Kiltepan
people have been tilling these their priceless heirlooms, since their ancestors first settled these mountains. The leadership unity and cooperation of the elders and officials of
eastern and northern villages of Sagada proves that indigenous systems still
work.
Ipeyas nan gawis!
Very good write-up about Sagada. Didn't know you are from there. Baket(Inez Killip) is from there too. When we go home, my runnning route is from Na-ngo-nogan to Agid and back. Did run up to Kiltep-an & back and down to Dap-dap-panan and back once. The Agid route is nice, all cemented, my favorite. Thanks for writing about Sagada, concise, to the point and you told it like it is. Very nice pics too. I will tell the folks here to read your blog. Take care and have a good one.
ReplyDeleteAgain thanks Mr Joe. I may have just missed you in Sagada last May. Do you visit there every year? might follow your footsteps to Aguid next time. Yes say hi to your Sagada folk. I think I know one or two of them. cheers.
ReplyDeleteps are you running NYC marathon in November? i'll be cheering you on young man.
Will be running my 15th NYCM Nov.4 & possibly my last one. The fun in participating is almost gone.Too crowded, starts late(almost noontime),registration fee keeps going up and too many restrictions. Thank you for cheering this old man. Baket & I go home almost every year. Your greetings will reach & be extended the Sagadians. Wasdin menlamlamin.
DeleteNice. Very nice. And the puns make it even better!
ReplyDeleteThanks. You do admirably yourself - writing or speaking of gray areas...
ReplyDeletei dunno if i should be flattered or insulted. hehehe
Deletethat was meant in all sincerity apo. an aspiring blogger like me can only try. but of course am very transparent in my feeble black and white attempts at writing. keep the dap-ay torch burning.
Delete