Yo parents! If you look in the souvenir shops in Sagada or any other person who’s bought some Sagada T-shirts and worn it, maybe the popular message is “I survived Sagada†or “Sagada Survivorâ€. Check out the T-shirts we bought:
(insert pics here)
Sagada dangers are real. The thrill is there while “doing†it. Caving, Trekking, Water Falling, Rice Terraces walking. Sagada dangers being real is a point of view from us city born and raised weaklings. Yes, I admit we are spoiled urban domesticated weaklings of humans and are used to the comforts and levels of safety where slipping in someone’s shop you can sue the shop. That kind of suing for injury mindset is not in the consciousness of Sagadans.
Sagada warning: Sagada is for real people, real humans, or as the Igorots here quip: FBI – Full Blooded Igorots. Sagada is full of cliffs and dangers all around you… in the outskirts, in the town proper, in the water falls, in the caves, in the treks. The thrill is discovering just how human we can and should develop to be. Strong, hardy, with stamina, good sense of balance, a calibrated sense of what is dangerous. What we city slickers think is dangerous is child’s play or a teenage romantic date for a Sagada native.
The rice terraces, vegetable terraces, are indeed beautiful. You can get close to them and walk around them on the “pilapils†or walk ways… which may be cemented or just packed dirt. Some have railings, but most do not. The walks are long and tiring for city slicker standards. And if you are not paying much attention, you can and may fall down a 10 to 20 foot drop. And the Sagadan children just blissfully play around the terraces as this is their default environment.
Sagada Parental Duty: Our 2nd boy, my 8 year old boy FELL 10 feet from a dirt walk way down to a rice paddy in the terraces! My wife saw the live action from 200 feet away and screamed: “Mish fell!†First words that came out of me was, “Told you we should make 10 of him… then we’d have spares.†and when we were nearer… “Is he still alive?â€
Good news. The rice paddy was all wet and muddy. There was an elderly woman farmer tending to the rice paddy and she had a hose of running water. My wife’s scream alerted the tour guide of the situation and he was immediately able to attend to our son. His left leg was all muddied and his left side had mud too, as well as some splashed on his face. He got hosed down and had to walk on his shorts alone with no pants and no shirt.
My son was lucky. No injuries. He got a bit shook up for the latter half of the day but watching some cartoons later on made him forget and we went on to 2 more adventures the next 2 days. Still, when we get back to Manila, my wife will take him to the Chiropractor just to be sure.
Go to part 02