Sagada and the warm heart of the Filipino Family
Trip Start
Jul 07, 2011
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Trip End
Aug 17, 2011
Sagada, Luzon, Philippines
Friday, July 22, 2011
Matt, Lindsay and I arrived here last night in time to grab a final bite before they flew back to Saigon. It was a long bus ride down from the mountain and Manila is always a bit shocking to the soul but we did manage to enjoy our final hours together in the Philippines.
Last week, we spent three wonderful days in the mountain paradise of Sagada. Sagada is a peaceful, outdoor adventure paradise; complete with century old caves, preserved and practiced cultural traditions, and the home to my dear dear friend and potter Siegrid and her family. While the bus ride from Baguio to Sadaga up and over steep mountain peaks and valleys can induce heart failure (which I think it did for Matt and Lindsay). The priceless views of terraces and communities along the way and the views once you reach Sagada are worth the trip! We enjoyed walking the town filled with pine trees, great food and a lovely dinner with Siegrid, Steve and Chico (their adorable two-year old son) our last evening in town! Siegrid also took us up to the Sagada Pottery Studio, which was great to see. Siegrid and a few other potters have been making pottery for the last five years or so. The studio is set back on a hill on the way out of town and they use nearly 80% local materials for their clay. It is always fun to see the new pieces Siegrid is working on and since Matt's brother and sister-in-law are potters I know he really enjoyed seeing the space and supporting Siegrid's work!
We headed back down to Tublay on Wednesday and enjoyed a lovely dinner with my host cousin Dimples and her parents. Uncle Peter is a renowned indigenous peoples expert and Dimples and Auntie Aurea made a lovely Filipino meal for us that evening. Complete with beef sinigang (a popular sour soup based sauce), bbq pork chops, chicken amaretto and rice cake and carrot salad for dessert! A feast for sure and in classic Filipino style meat was the theme of the meal.
Our last evening in Tublay, Matt and Lindsay were gracious enough to cook a meal for my host family. So often sharing a meal together is a wonderful way to break any ice between new people and this was a lovely way to spend our last evening with the Cosalan's. My host cousin Dimples is a phenomenal chef so she helped us prep the dinner and Lola Carmen was sweet enough to turn over her kitchen to Lindsay for an Italian inspired meal, with some Filipino flare. We made sausage and peppers and squash penne pasta. But in classic Filipino fashion, the sausage was extra sweet, so did not quite have the spicy taste Lindsay had hoped for. But it was still a delicious meal and wonderful time spent with the Cosalan’s.
Touring people in a place that is familiar always helps you see things and that place in a new light and it also reminds you of how far you have come to adjust and find a home in a seemingly foreign and oftentimes difficult place. This is indeed the feelings and emotions that have come from showing my dear friends my adopted homeland of the Philippines. Despite the cockroaches and grittiness of Manila I know they enjoyed being here and Lola Carmen singing them a goodbye song yesterday when we left Tublay, was the tip of the iceberg, we where all in tears!
I have a meeting later this afternoon with the WWOOF Philippines directors to sort out the financial issues we are having with them charging volunteers to access the farms information and then ENCA Farm seeing none of this money! I am happy to play the bad guy in the meeting and I do hope we are able to come to some agreement on how to continue to work together in a way that benefits ENCA Farm and the WWOOF experience as a whole.
I am anxious to return to the mountains tomorrow and continue our meetings and planning for the non-profit!
More news to come soon and sending love to you all!
Sherry
Comments
It looks like you've had such a great time with Lindsay and Matt! Your photos are incredible--I love the photo of you guys at dinner and the photo of the hanging coffins is both eerie and amazing. Good luck with your meeting!!