Conquering Lumiang and Sumaguing Caves in Sagada
February 17, 2016
As we all know Sagada is located in the mountainous area of Northern Luzon thus, making it a perfect spot for mountain climbers or those who are just simply looking for thrills and excitements. Your Sagada moment is surely not complete without trying extreme activities especially spelunking both Lumiang and Sumaguing Cave.
Almost 3-4 hours cave exploration, hundreds of meters underground, squeezing into tiny holes, crawling, bending into weird positions to go through a spine-tinging passage, walking through the unknown darkness. This activity is surely not for the faint hearted. You must exert extra caution and never ever enter the cave without a guide or you will end up getting lost in the unknown. Okay, I'm not trying to scare you here, I'm just setting up your expectations, at least you already know what it is like down there (gives you the idea to make the decision of whether to go or not but is suggest you go haha).
My heart pounded fast to the excitement as we drew closer to the entrance of the cave. I've been into different caves before but this one was really different as there was no trail or handrails to hold on to (free style caving! woooh!). We were greeted with a lot of wooden coffins piled on top of each other at the entrance of Lumaing cave. Ancient people of Sagada used to place the coffins at the opening of the cave with the beliefs that the light coming in will protect the deceased from bad spirits and will light their way to heaven.
You will notice that almost all coffins are of the same size, that is because the deceased bodies are placed in a fetal position as they believed that when people dies they go back to birth. This area is sacred for the locals, you are free to take pictures but please refrain from touching the coffins and don't take anything. You may spot a gecko carving in some coffins, this is a sign of prosperity, peace and long life.
We started descending into the dark paths of the unknown with a kerosene lamp as our only light and with our 3 guides. The view underground was spectacular. It's as if we were in a huge kingdom in a different world underneath the earth. Huge rock formations, numerous stalactites and stalagmites , it was very overwhelming. We continued our journey down to the very bottom where probably we are allowed to go to and breathing without an oxygen tank is still possible (as we all know, the oxygen becomes thinner as you go underground). A lot of challenges, fun and excitement. There were times that we have to rappel up/down using a rope and some instances that we need to squeeze in a tiny hole and fully trust our lives to our guides. They were our only chance of surviving in that dark place so we carefully followed their instructions. The were even times that we have to step on our guide's shoulders, so be nice with them and give them a tip :) they deserve it.
It was chilling cold down there and the water was very clear and cold. We can see smokes coming out from our mouths every time we breath or talk (that was fun, i enjoyed it! haha) There were mini pools that you can relax and swim for a while. Just make sure to ask your guide first if it's safe before plunging into the water or sometimes they will proactively ask you if you want to swim into the cold blue and green water.
At the last part of the tour our guide asked us if we want to continue as there were parts of the cave that we haven't explored yet. Others have declined and went out of the cave while 3 of us agreed to explore further (i like adventures!). Our guide showed us different rock formations such as Kings Curtain, Queens Curtain, the Rice Terraces, Pregnant Woman, Alligator, Turtle, Snake head and many more. According to our guide there is a river down at the bottom but unfortunately we were not able to visit it due to the strong current of the water. There was a storm during that time (yes, you read it right, there was a storm when we explored the cave!) so t'was dangerous for us to go to the underground river (sigh!)
We exit out at Sumaguing cave and as we climb up we noticed that there's a lot of sticky things around. We thought it was just mud but our guides laughed at us and told us to look above and there we saw a lot of cave bats. Haha, yuckie! but that was part of the tour, lol.
Overall, I really enjoyed that moment. In-fact I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures because I was so busy appreciating the beauty of the underground world. I was seizing the moment and enjoying the experience that I didn't bother to take pictures. Well, memories are the best pictures after all so, it's ok with me.
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