I’ll let Neil take over for a while . . .

“It takes a windey nine hour bus journey to get to Banaue, the central drop off point for the relatively few but steady visitors to the rice terraces. From Banaue, the mission was to reach the rural mountain village of Batad, accessible only by foot. From our hotel room (one of the most expensive hotel in Banaue, at roughly $6 AUD each), a tricycle (motorbike and carriage) dropped us off at an isolated junction on a dirt road nestled within the mountains about an hours drive away. We hiked for a while before we were overtaken by an elderly local who beckoned for us to take his ‘short cut’, a very steep hidden trail which tunnelled its way through the dense fauna on the mountain face. It was paved with stone steps and for a brief moment my long term fantasy of being like Indiana Jones was fulfilled.

The lookout area at the top of the track was the final point that could be accessed by vehicle before beginning a sharp descent into the rice terraces of Batad. On the way down we passed a group of extra fit locals transport huge sacks of rice up the steep track on their shoulders. Before beginning our descent, a local named Darwin unobtrusively offered to be our guide for the day. We were very sure that we didn’t need a guide but his words ‘we help you to help us’ resonated and in future we will be more conscientious of the fact that it was necessary to have a local guide, after all, we were hiking through their private land, their communities and at times their homes.
One feature of my experiences of touring in the Philippines is learning to let go of your expectations and questioning the necessity of your own standards. This happens for most accommodation you stay in and most food you eat. If a bus is parked somewhere, it’s a bus station. If tourists sometimes stop here for a rest, it’s a tourist information centre. If it contains a few crepe bandages, it’s a clinic.

Philippine, we had been treated to an assortment of new experiences contained within such a short getaway, such riding through the mountains on the top of a Jeepney (an elongated US army jeep which is a remnant from WWII, good for about 14 passengers), and tunnelling into a huge cave with swarms of bats at the entrance, but gorgeous waterfalls, pools and rock formations at the base 300 below the entrance. All of these experiences were made possible and most worthwhile through the assistance, generosity, trust, modesty and good humour of Philippinos. ”

OK, that’s all he’s written for the time being so I’ll keep going. . .

The 40 minute hike down the hill into Batad proper was a welcome relief from the hot, muggy uphill walk we had just made from the jump off point. We got to know Darwin a little and he pointed out their local crops and talked a bit about the town and his life there. When we finally descended into the main part of Batad we were pretty awestruck. It was amazing this town nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains and rice terraces. It was beautiful. Darwin took us down through to a part of the town where we stopped a traditional Ifugao hut with a woman and her children. We asked if it was ok to take a photo – she said sure as this was the house of our guide! We met Darwin’s wife and his small children who were gorgeous.

Neil with Darwin's children

We then started a walk along the actual rice terraces themselves on the way to see a large waterfall. It was amazing that after every few meters a slightly different view of the town, rice terraces and framing mountains would be revealed. After a while we started the decent down towards the waterfall. The landscape reminded me of the movie Clear and Present Danger where the army guys all get left along the river in the South American jungle. Fortunately at this time there isn’t any military activity going on in this area!

Walking down through the Rice Terraces

About half way down we hit the dirt track and I head someone slipping behind me. Of course it was Neil, but when he didn’t answer when I asked if he was ok, I quickly ran up to see if he was alright. He was, but he had sliced his leg open on a sharp rock. I quickly grabbed a little towel I had in my bag which we tied around the wound to stop the bleeding as it initially looked like a pretty deep wound. Of course we had left the medical kit in our larger bags back in Banaue so there wasn’t really any antiseptic to clean it off. And the water around the area probably isn’t the best water to clean a wound with. So we walked back up to find the chemist – how stupid of us. This is a tiny little village in the middle of the mountains with no road access – as it there would be a ‘chemist’ here! But there was a health clinic worker with some access to bandages and betatine type stuff.

Walking down to the waterfall just before the accident

Neil was feeling a little better by the time we met with the clinic worker (the main health worker who was also the village midwife, was in Banaue for the weekend), Neil felt a little better about his wound, but had met another man who had cut his foot which looked like it had gotten infected. So he bought him some antibiotics and other stuff as well as donating some money to the local clinic for them to buy more supplies. They rely on funding from the local government – but they hardly get enough funding for medicine let alone salaries and other equipment which means their supplies are always very low. They also receive occasional funding from private sources or from politicians around election time. And some of the things they need are as basic as aspirin, bandages, antiseptic and medicine for dehydration and stomach amoebia bugs. It pretty amazing to get a glimpse into the needs of this remote mountain community which is probably a lot better off compared to many in the surrounding area as at least they have income from tourism (which unsurprisingly we were told has both positive and negative effects on the village).

Anyway, by the time all this finished we were pretty exhausted and hungry, so we had a great home cooked meal and then got ready for the long hike back to the junction point. Unfortunately we had a pretty strict deadline as we had to take the bus back to Manila at 5.30 that afternoon.