It was the high time of summer and that week was also recorded as the hottest week of the month in that province.š
So armed with sun glasses, caps and lots of sunblocks, we went on a 1-hour airplane ride to the northern tip of Luzon.By the way, it can also be reached by land and that would be a 10-hour travel time by public or private transportation. So you're best option will be by air to maximize your stay.
CAGAYAN
is one of the five provinces of Cagayan Valley. It is located in the northeast part of Luzon.
When I did a research about this province, I was excited to learn that they can speak my native language-Ilocano,I can easily converse with them. It also mean that I am in my comfort zone.
Our top 3 to do list:
CALLAO CAVE
This is where that scene in the movie happened.
Callao Cave is composed of seven chambers .
Before we entered the first chamber, our guide told us a little history of the cave.
According to our guide, a man discovered a fossilized remains in 2007 that belongs to a
67,000 year old homo sapien
And it is believed to be older than the Tabon Man who was recorded as the earliest human remains in the Philippines.
And then he pointed us out to a section of the cave's entrance, I went on to look at it and saw bones. I asked him about it and said it could probably belong to a human. To my horror, I was already holding a piece of it and threw it away immediately! Then he laughed, it belonged to an animal! And I never touched anything he points out inside the cave.
So what's so special about it?
Other than the discovery of the fossilized remains..
It has a chapel inside it.
I brought with me my DSLR cam, unfortunately I couldn't figure out the right exposure that time. So please bear with the photos, it is more beautiful in person. š
The cave was packed with tourists but nobody attempted to talk, except for the guide. I sat in one of the pew and said a short prayer and also made a wish. I always make a wish whenever I went to a church/chapel for the first time. Someone told me about it a long long time ago that whenever I visit a church or chapel for the first time, I had to make a wish and that wish will be granted. And I always forget my wish so I don't know if it has been granted or not. Haha
For that brief silent moment, I felt at peace, I felt serene..
Here's a view from the upper chamber.
After a few minutes, we moved on to the deeper part of the cave.
We passed through the different stalagmites and stalactites formation. It's really amazing how they formed a picture of something else. Whenever our guide pointed a formation, we would immediately go to it and take a picture. Haha (I was born and raised in the Central Region of Luzon, I only see plains, rice fields and far far away mountains. So whenever I see something different from where I've been raised I get overly excited. I wanted to take a lot of pictures so I can have lots of memories to treasure.)
We weren't allowed to touch the formation but I can't help it, I slide my hand on the formation when the guide wasn't looking. It was wet, cold and rough.
We reached the end of the cave. There is a big hole above us, but that's not the exit of the cave. So you have to exit where you enter. Before we head back, we did what we love best, taking photos! Haha. It was an instant photoshoot. We were the only group left at the end of the cave. Our tour guide became our instant photographer. He also made a good job guiding and entertaining us during the tour. (By the way, most of the guides are still students and the fees they received from tourists were allocated to their schooling. There's no fixed amount for the fee. It's the discretion of the tourists on how much they will give.)
What I love about this trip was that it challenges my imagination.
The problem was I am a very imaginative person, when I was a kid, I used to look at the skies and see clouds in different forms. I sometimes see birds, robots, fish, dragons etc etc.. So when the guides says it's this form, I see differently. Haha
One of the formations I took. And I'm still trying to remember what the guide said about this formation.
7th Chamber
The hole above was the one I mentioned earlier. I thought we would be climbing that. It would have been exciting, unfortunately it wasn't the exit.
The skies were already turning from indigo to grayish when we reached the exit.
We were already famished.
PANCIT BATIL PATUNG
Pancit Batil Patung is a popular noodle dish in Tuguegarao, Cagayan City. It is a must try when you get to Tuguegarao.
From what I gathered online, Jomar's Pancit Batil Patung has the best recipe in Tuguegarao. So we told our trike driver to take us there.
We haven't eaten a decent meal when we arrived. As I have said we were famished from the caving activity, so we ordered medium sized bilao (a flat round-shaped wooden tray). It was indicated in the order form that it's good for 5-6 people.
We opted to seat outside because we can't stand the heat inside even if there are electric fans.
When our order came, we we're shocked to see our tray of pancit. What should be a serving for 5-6 people actually is for 10 people. It's a super sized serving.
They laid the pancit batil patung in our table together with a broth.
When I was doing the research on what to eat in Tuguegarao, I saw a picture of this Pancit Batil Patung with soup on the side.
The ingredients for the pancit are noodles, liver, hotdog and pork.
The soup is composed of poached egg with sauteed vegetables and meat.
Those are the basic ingredients of the pancit. After I saw the picture, I moved on to the next list.
So when our order came and placed on our table, the waitress left. My friends and I looked at each other and said,
We didn't want to look stupid,so we asked for the waitress to teach us how it's done. So basically the two components (pancit and soup) should be present when eating this dish to achieve optimal flavor. Per the waitress, we should pour out the soup on top of the pancit and stir. And eat. Haha
When I ate it, it's really rich in flavor. The sauteed liver adds flavor to the pancit. Soup goes well with pancit. Even if we're famished, we didn't get to finish the whole bilao. We got a well fueled tummy, we just needed rest for our next activity.
I forgot to take a picture of the bilao. But here's a picture of the plated pancit we ordered.
CAPE ENGAĆO
We woke up super early in the morning to catch the earliest van ride to Sta. Ana Port.
The ride to Sta. Ana took us 2 hours. When I woke up, we were the only passengers left. We dropped by a market to buy some foods for our trip. We don't know what to bring so we just bought what we thought we needed... chips!haha
After the market, we went straight to the registration area to negotiate for the boat that will take us to Palaui Island where Cape EngaƱo is located.
It was super slow considering it was a motorboat. I was becoming impatient and wanted to take the wheel from our boatman. We've been overtaken by the other motorboats going to the island. I remembered
we even stopped in the middle
because the motor died down! Well, we can't do something about it so we just laughed it off. I just occupied myself with taking photos of my surrounding.And finally, the motorboat came to life again.
The island is slowly becoming visible to us. We're drawing closer to our last activity.
We docked in the island past 10 am. We just brought the things we needed for the trek as per advised by our boatman. I grabbed my camera, sunglasses and pashmina for cover up. We docked far from the registration area so we had to walk under the scorching heat of the sun. When we arrived at the registration booth we were already sweaty and we haven't started the trek yet!
Octopus caught by one of the boatmen. Daing is the drying of fish or octopus under the sun. When it totally dried up, it can be fried and served with rice.
After signing in, we were given two girl guides. Funny thing was, you can see the trail from the registration area and it looks easy. It's just that it has no shaded areas so we'll be climbing or treking under the heat of the sun, so there's no point on local guides. But since it was a protocol in the island, we abided.
It's a 45 minutes or less trek, depending on the pace of the person and how many stops to take a break and take pictures. Haha
So there's us. Guilty of taking longer on treking. But how can you resist not to stop when the view of the island was so picturesque. Every angle was worth taking photos.
After thousands of photos and uncounted stops, we finally made it to the top.
The top of the mountain is where the Cape EngaƱo lighthouse located. It is an abandoned lighthouse overlooking the 360' view of the ocean and it's surrounding islands.
Cape EngaƱo Lighthouse.
It was breathtaking.
I went outside the lighthouse and sit in the lawn area. I wanted to lay my back and roll over due to the happiness I'm feeling that time. It was a good spot for meditation.
We stayed there for a good 2 hours if I remember it right.
And there goes my hottest summer experience. All thanks to that local movie, had I not seen that movie, it would never cross my mind to visit this place.