Senior Missionaries Big Adventure

Standing in front of the Hapao Terraces wearing a jacket made from handwoven cloth.

This was a busy week preparing for and traveling to three-zone conferences.  We were rewarded at the end of the week with a Senior Missionary outing to the ancient rice terraces.  I was very excited about this trip because we were going to travel on a road I had never been on and see the Batad Rice Terraces.  The Batad Terraces are the background photo for my blog.

After staying the night in Santiago, we left early the next morning to begin our adventure on a remote narrow road that quickly climbed in altitude and meandered through small villages.  Elder Allen was our driver and was so kind to stop when I saw something that I wanted to capture in a photo.

 At one point, along the steep slope of the mountain, the road turned from concrete to mud.  We had to pull as close to the edge as possible so that a bus could pass by.  That was a new experience for me.  I was grateful for our experienced driver.

When we reached the Batad Terraces, it was time for a rest stop.  The restrooms here are referred to as the 'Comfort Room' or more commonly as a 'CR'.  After our experience of passing the bus and other vehicles on the primitive road, we were grateful to be able to pay 10 pesos to relieve ourselves.

We took a short hike to the Batad Village where we could better view the rice terraces.  It was cloudy and all of the rice terraces had not yet been planted, but still, the beauty was magnificent.  It amazed me to think that these terraces were built with primitive tools at least 2,000 years ago when Jesus was on the earth.

We stayed the night at the Banaue Hotel where we ate dinner and had a fun card game of 'Phase 10'.  It was very cold!  I wore two lightweight jackets.  Stephen didn't bring a jacket and had to layer himself with three shirts.  I was so cold, that I wore his dirty socks from the day before.  I never dreamed that I would get cold in the Philippines. 

After taking photos in front of the hotel the next morning, we continued on our adventure. Like most of the rice terrace communities, Banaue is built on the side of a mountain.  

We got stuck driving up a steep road to visit a small village. The road was made out of concrete, but was very narrow and bordered with thick clay-like mud.  The men had to get behind the van to push it.  The women were grateful to get out of the sliding vehicle and observe with their feet planted firmly on the ground.  This experience added excitement to our adventure.

We stopped at Pedro’s in Lagawe on the way home for some yummy pizza!

To conclude our adventure we stopped at a museum where we learned about the culture of the Ifugao people.  It was surrounded by a garden of beautiful flowers. 

Across from the museum was located a war memorial.  It is the site where the Japanese surrendered to the Filipino Army.  This photo was taken from a look-out tower.

More Photos from our Adventure: