Wednesday, December 29, 2010 Banaue

Today was my day of nothing but bad luck.  Good to get it over with, there's always one of those days on any vacation.  So I was on the overnight bus to Banaue, in Northern Luzon island, to go see the world-famous rice terraces.  Of course, we made a few stops at rest stops along the way, and then I notice we stop in the middle of the forest.  So that's kind of weird.  Then the driver and companion open the glove box, pull out a wrench, and commence changing a tire (yes, of a bus, with a wrench).  Well this went on for an hour, and then they just kind of stopped and sat there doing nothing.  Everyone was kind of standing around or sleeping in the bus.  I was too impatient to just sit around, so I got my bag and hiked down the road, and caught a Jeepney to the nearest town, where I had to wait for another Jeepney for the 25km ride to Banaue.  Of course I had to wait until it filled up, which was a good hour, and during that hour, the bus I was originally on passed by on their way to Banaue.  The Jeepney finally filled up and we winded through the cloud forests to the town of Banaue, which is tiny and doesn't even have an ATM.  I picked one of the four hotels, the Las Vegas, and checked in.  It was standard, but a plus was that they had a hot shower (meaning a tiny stream of lukewarm water from the hose only).  Nevertheless, I was overjoyed at the opportunity to take a shower, after 72 hours of sweating in the nightclub, on the plane, and in Manila, and not showering (I didn't even shower before leaving SF because PG&E decided to shut off our hot water the one day I needed to shower before the 22-hour flight).  After that I got some mediocre tourist pork adobo lunch, and then decided I had to at least try and see the rice terraces despite the fact it was completely clouded over and rainy.  Of course, nothing is easy here, and so just to get to the trailhead I had to hire a tricycle rickshaw guy, who drove me through the worst flooded mountain roads you've ever seen (don't ask how the tricycle made it through that gauntlet).  Once I was at the trailhead, I had to hike the "saddle", which was basically an even worse road (no cars except Jeepneys can traverse it) of mud and potholes [that's an understatement] and uphill.  But the worst part; I was completely unprepared.  I was wearing flip flops with no support, it was rainy and muddy as hell, my rain jacket was permeable (the inside was wetter than the outside), and I had no water nor backpack.  I was true Filipino mountain villager status.  I finally got to the top of the saddle and it was completely whited out because of fog, so almost a complete waste of time and effort.  Oh no wait, this was only HALF of the hike; the other half was all downhill to the village of Batad, another hour.  The view of the rice terraces is from that village, not the current place.  Ugh!  I was about to turn around, when this Dutch couple was telling me "Well, why not?  What else are you going to do? Sit in your hotel room?  It would be a shame to come here and not even try and see it."  They're so right!  So I sucked it up and hiked all the way down to the village in the rain, miserable.  And of course, it was still fogged up, so the pictures weren't adequate.  So much for the Eighth Wonder of the World.  It was kind of weird, the villagers are tribal Filipinos; I expect mountain villagers to be like Himalayan Sherpas or Hmong people.  Reluctantly, I made the trek back, getting a blister on my foot from my sandals, which were getting to be so annoying in the rain and mud, sliding all over the place.  I spent like $10 (that's a LOT here) on snacks at the shack because I was so dead.  Then, on the final leg of the [4-part hike], I was actually lucky for once today, because this French couple offered me a ride in their Jeepney.  I ended up taking the tricycle back and paid the funny little native driver $20 which is so much, and told him to buy himself a really nice dinner and beer.  Everything I own is wet, and is probably not going to dry in this humid climate.  I knew I wasn't going to like today.  I never really like mountain related things; on the contrary, I like busy, populated, cultural, edgy areas.  I had dinner in my hotel because I was too lazy and cold to go across the street.  Then I used the internet to compose this post.  It was so nice to go to bed in a BED for the first time in 3 nights... so nice that I fell asleep at 7:30!