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by Patchi Layug (Thanks, Patch!)
Last February I went to Cagayan with 11 more folks (most of them friends from work) for a quick adventure fix. It was a fun, extremely hectic, and adrenaline-pumped weekend. After a 10-hour bus ride from Manila to Cagayan, here's what happened:
Time |
Activity |
6:00 AM |
Arrival in Tuguegarao and a sumptuous breakfast at Casa Carag* |
8:00 AM |
A thirty-minute jeepney ride to Penablanca |
8:30 AM |
Arrival in Penablanca for spelunking activities at Callao and Sierra Caves** |
11:00 AM |
Kayaking basics at Pinacanauan River |
12:30 PM |
Barbecue lunch by the river |
1:30 PM |
Ride motorized banca upstream and run your kayak down river to Callao |
6:00 PM |
Watch the circadian flight of bats*** |
7:30 PM |
Dinner and rest for the night in air-conditioned accommodations at Hotel Lorita or Casa Carag |
Time |
Activity |
5:30 AM |
Breakfast |
6:00 AM |
A two and a half-hour jeepney ride to Pasil, Kalinga |
7:00 AM |
Arrive at Tabuk, Kalinga and proceed to Pasil, our put-in point |
8:30 AM |
Arrival at put-in point |
9:00AM |
Start whitewater rafting from Pasil |
1:30 PM |
Late lunch at Tabuk |
3:00 PM |
Leave Tabuk for Tuguegarao |
4:00 PM |
Back to Hotel or Casa Carag |
6:00 PM |
Dinner |
7:30 PM |
Depart for Manila by air-conditioned bus |
* Casa Carag - the house of our tour operator/tour guide/gracious host, Anton. I thought I'd lose weight with all the activities, but he made sure that he fed us to the brim! Ang sarap ng food! He even had the most adorable black lab named Oprah!
** I learned that in the over-100 caves of Peñablanca, caving as a sport was born in the Philippines . At Sierra, some of us went through Celina's passage (a 5-minute belly crawl in complete darkness and mud).
*** Interesting to witness hundreds of bats flying out from one cave to the other side of the valley in one stream for feeding. And oh, they stink too. :P
* Before kayaking and white water rafting - Listening to Anton give the safety tips, trying to memorize them and imagining what could happen to me gave me the most anxiety. After that, braving the Pinacanauan and Chico wasn't so hard (shrieking ohmygod helped too).
* Kayaking - Was a lot harder to do on the river than on the ocean. Though I didn't capsize (thank God), on the first bend I ran into a bush and one of the branches scraped my eyelid, and bumped my kayak into a lot of rocks all the way down the river.
* White water rafting - Aside from our 3 guides, I was with 4 other girls. Our peals of laughter were heard throughout the valley, and our giggling signaled the rafts that followed us downstream that they were about to hit white water. Cagayan's such a pretty and serene place, screaming my lungs out was such guilty pleasure. Hahahaha. Noise's such a city girl thing to do.
* The waters of Chico river - cool and clean. I think I swallowed a liter when other rafts would spray us with water with their oars, or when our raft would hit a rock/rapid. When I jumped off the raft to take the swimmers' rapids (a short stretch of white water that was safe enough for us to float downstream), the giddy sensation of surfing on our backs kept me laughing (and consequently swallow more water).
* Knowing that I could do something like this. The water-phobic creature that I am is actually considering trying my hand out in surfing. I also realized that before my trip, I was looking kind of pale. It's great to sport a bit of color... tan lines, bruises and all.
More info at www.whitewater.ph.
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