Ifugao indigenous people

I spoke to the woman with my limited Filipino and learned that the two men are her brothers. They are presumed to be in their late 80's and the one furthest on the right may even be in his 90's. Their date of birth is not known because birth records are not kept by the Ifugao.

I confirmed with our tourguide and he said they can be found sitting out at the former offical look out point to make extra money. It also turned out that the older man has a concave nose because of eating a local hallucinagine plant commonly used.

Rice Terraces - Banaue Philippines

My mom and I went on a 5 day tour along the Cordillera region north of Manila. We arranged the tour through our hotel; had our own tour guide and driver. This may sound pretentious but very common in the Philippines.

The drive to the Rice Terraces took 8 hours so we stopped in a few villages along the way. Our tour guide, Ed was extremely knowledgeable of the area so besides short naps and sight seeing he gave us history lessons of the places of interest.

We drove through the mountains and reached one of the highest elevations of the area. Some of the roadways were not completely paved, which made for some cliff hanging moments.

The mountain terraces have been around for thousands of years and the irrigation system is ideal for rice harvesting. It was once known to be one of the eighth wonders of the world or the 'stairway to heaven.

Rice is no longer the top export of the Philippines and the country is actually importing from places such as Japan but Banaue is still home to Ifugao/Bontoc indigenous people who still live traditional lives without running water or electricty. They are still found harvesting rice.

Sagada - Hanging Coffins

We took a long hike through the forrest lined with pine trees to see famous hanging coffins nestled along the limestone walls. The oldest coffin is thought to be 100 years old and the most recent only a couple decades old.

The elderly expecting to die carve their own coffins otherwise if they are too feeble to do so another relative will take the responsibility.

There are other burial sites in near by caves otherwise some can be found stacked ontop of each other. Unfortunately, because the areas are not regulated some of the coffins have been tampered with - bones taken as souvenirs.

Sagada weekend market

We had a clear view of the market from our motel. People traveled from nearby cities to buy the fresh produce and meats that the Sagada farmers sold. Preparation for the market began as early as 4am. You could hear the women talking as they laid the tarp and arranged the various vegitables.