Etc... etc... An amazing, and too short, trip to the rice terraces of Ifugao

We all went our separate ways on Saturday morning, Leon left for the USA, the Singapore girls for fun in the sun on Boracay island, Joan and Cassandra left for an adventure in Palawan, and George, Steve, Christy and I headed north with our driver Joey for an exploration of Northern Luzon.

The drive took about 10 hours, and we were much more comfortable than we would have been if we took the lone redeye bus that runs from Manila to Banaue. It was a great trip up, the first part was all freeway, but after about 2 hours it became a 2 lane road for the next 8. We went through fields of rice farms, main streets of small towns, and then began to climb up the windy mountain roads.

Rice drying on the side of the road.

Collapsed bridge on the way, yikes!

We arrived at the Banaue Hotel in time to catch sunset, and booked a suite with a spectacular view of the Banaue terraces and mountains beyond. I asked Joey to drive me to the peak, right at the entrance to Banaue so I could catch sunset on both sides of the mountain, and it was great.

Dinner time in the valley. Fires are burning.

George is called up to dance with the Ifugao natives. He pretty much rocked it.

Sunset view from our suite

Good morning Banaue

The next morning Christy and I got up early for sunrise and watched it for a little while from our room, then took a walk through town. It was quite a sight to see, the houses and hotels cantilevered over the side of the mountain. The air was much cooler than Manila, but the sun was hot. We walked up for a while but came back to meet up with George and Steve to begin our real day.

Wouldn't want to be caught in this bad boy.

Not bad for a backyard

We picked up the Jeepney at our hotel, and Darwin, our guide along with driver Noah took us to the Batad terraces. We heard that these were the best ones and that if we had only one thing to see, that was it. I of course saw the roof and saw an adventure awaiting me, and how much fun it was! The roads were super rocky, and our minivan would never have made it, 4 wheel drive only!

Reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom bridge.

Darwin teaching us about the terraces

The rice terraces are all privately owned. The rice needs a lot of water to grow, so the terraces have to be flat. The green patches are nursery plots of rice that will be replanted when the rice matures. In may the terraces will all be green and verdant... And then he fields turn golden in august around harvest time. All of the rice is planted by hand, and actually isn't enough to feed all of the people in the Ifugao region!

Stairs from terrace to terrace

You can see the landslide that wiped out some terraces on the left side a few years ago. Hopefully these can be rebuilt soon, but more awareness needs to be raised.

Only the strong survive

The tiny hut in the middle is where we started hiking from.

The hike back up the mountain.

I was surprised at how few American tourists go here, mostly European and Australian. But it was truly a sight to be seen. It was a little scary to see remnants of landslides everywhere, but we survived :) the hike it was basically all downhill, and it was a very long way back up... There is no vehicular access to these areas at all, and many villages don't have electricity either. Sometimes trekkers do a multi-day trek from village to village. Next time for sure

That line down the middle is a stairway connecting all these terraces.

We ended the wonderful day with a trip to the bar with Darwin and Noah... Which was awesome. There was live music and they took requests... But everyone there loves country music. Darwin requested John Denver, and they played 2 Denver greats in a row :). Bars there close at 9 though, so it ended up being an early night, despite many bottles of Red Horse becoming bottles of dead horse!

Day 10- Friday- Saying goodbye

Our team accomplishments:
Ground leveling for 10 units
Gravel bedding for 10 units
Rebar tying for 10 units
Concrete pouring (slab) for 10 units
Hauling of sand 669 sacks
Hauling of gravel 688 sacks
Hauling of concrete hollow block (CHB) 955 blocks
At least 30% of 10 units, equivalent to almost 4 complete houses.

Our last trip to Navotas...This parade was not for us.... Or was it?

Wrong in many ways....

We learned a few days ago that we were not scheduled to work on Friday, but it was pretty much a no brainier for us to head over to the site for one final goodbye. We came bearing gifts, which were the least we could do for a cause that is so important to us. Those workers have a lot more homes to build, and in the few short days that we were hauling sh!t, we thought they could definitely use a couple more wheelbarrows.

We also put together bags and bags of clothes, shoes, and toiletries for Cherry and the other partner families and the workers. Interestingly enough, it seemed that we all considered our work gloves too important to leave to just anyone. Most of us gave our gloves to the fathers of the children who worked right next to us. I gave my gloves to Shanel and Nonoy's father, and could only come up with the words 'your kids are great'. By giving him my gloves, I hoped he realized how special i thought his children were and I hoped that it gave him a little encouragement to keep fighting for a better life for his family.

The workers only make about 250 pesos, or $5 a day, some made 350 pesos. I knew that coming into this trip, but hearing it from Cherry made it a lot more real. 250 pesos will buy about 2 containers of rice and some vegetables and 2 containers of water, barely enough to get by. Many families can only afford to have meat or fish a couple times a week. It is a hard life for the workers. They do not have work boots, they pour concrete in bare feet. They do not have Bobcats to transport building materials; they have a cart, a couple wheelbarrows, and empty bags of cement. They do not have OSHA standards, but they do have families to support. It is a thankless job, and I can only hope that when they saw us dancing, laughing, working hard, and snapping pictures at every spare second, they felt our gratitude for the opportunity to work next to them.

We had the pins made for each of the kids that worked with us because they don't get to see themselves very often. Digital cameras are the coolest thing to these kids because they get to see what they look like. We want them to be proud and know that we think they are all beautiful, inside and out. Leon got the kids basketballs, which we entrusted to Cherry, and the Singapore girls got the kids Angry Birds t-shirts, which were a big hit.

Saying goodbye to the kids was really hard, they probably took it better than most of us did. A lot of children came over once word got out that we were giving out gifts, but of course a special place in our hearts goes to the kids that were there every day. The kids that held our hands after every trip to and from the rock pile. The kids that jumped on our laps no matter how hot or sweaty we were because break-time for us meant play time for them. The kids that screamed and shrieked with joy when our van pulled into Navotas, and ran after it wishing us goodbye and waving when we left. We leave them hoping that they someday understand how much joy and inspiration they brought to the lives of 9 energetic (but not as energetic as them!) travelers... That they understand that they are good kids. I have to stop talking about this or our driver will notice that I am becoming a hot mess.

Our last dinner as a team was at Mango Tree, the awesome Thai place we checked out only because they had 5 free beers if you spent P1999, which we easily did. Cassandra and Joan asked some great thought provoking questions... What is your greatest memory? We all thought that hearing Cherry's words of gratitude were special. Leon remembers the moment when someone noticed that he was tired and set him up with some wire cutters and gloves so he was able to continue to contribute to the team effort. I also mentioned my experience of the first day when we had to level that rocky foundation. I just thought to myself 'wow this sucks', but persevered with motivation from others. Joan also asked us if we could share one story, what would it be. My thoughts immediately went to the spirit of all of the people that I met. How they were curious, but so very welcoming. We also talked about meeting each other, and how we had preconceptions about each other that we threw out once we got to know our teammates. Needless to say, it was a very nice farewell dinner, even without bottles of Red Horse.