Me, Spelunking?

Three hours jeepney ride away from Banaue is the quiet and mysterious Sagada. Matagtag(Pilipino naman ang mga nagbabasa nito eh, walang dating ang “Bumpy.” Parang isa sa mga dwarves ni Snowhite.) took on a new meaning for me. Maalikabok din(Dusty? See explanation in previous sentence) but I learned the meaning of that word last month in Mindanao.

Sagada has now become a memorable place for me because of one big cave: Sumaging.

The tour guides asked us to fall into a single file and walk down the cave from the main road where our jeepneys were parked and other officemates who didn’t feel adventurous that day stayed. One long line of people, walking, blindly following orders from several men reminded me of a historical event: The death march. Oh no. This is not the time for me to have an overactive imagination.

I was number 15 in a line of 42 people. Probably the 15th too, among those wondering what made them enter this cold, dark, wet cave. Now, I am not really the adventurous type. Go figure, I don’t even eat the unhatched duck in balut. Going back to the cave, I pulled up my loose jogging pants to my knees and determined, “I’m going to go through this. Too late to back out now.”

It was a grand cave with sharp stones, lime formations, stalactites, and resident bats who, thankfully, were anti-social. The path was treacherous. Every step must be firmly planted lest I slip. If I did slip, I’d lose more than my dignity. I’d probably lose my consciousness too. And so we walked. No, make that stretched, climbed, struggled. Halfway through, I wondered out loud, “Wala bang patag?” I heard laughter. So does that mean no?

Giving me an extra dose of courage is seeing those ahead of me successfully completing each stage of our exploration. There was a portion in which we had only a nylon rope to hold on to, ice cold basin of I-don't-know-how-deep water behind us. I couldn't find a protruding rock to land my feet on so, with feet suspended, I had to pull myself, using sheer upper body strength. We waded through almost chest-high deep water while stepping on rocks and soft sand I couldn't see (I thought of quicksands and the movie Anaconda). We had to cling tenaciously to rocks especially in tight, narrow spaces as if our lives depended on it (It did). Another thought entered my mind: Mahirap palang maging kuhol.

Oh, before I forget, we saw beautiful limestone formations inside: The Elephant, The King's Curtain. On our way back outside the cave, I thought we've had enough of the challenges. That is, until I saw this long blue rope suspended approximately 15-foot against a limestone rock. Rapelling with no harness and safety net? The sight of it almost turned my knees into jelly. This time my logic whispered: Walang ambulansiya sa labas. Kayanin mo ito. So with the remaining willpower left in me, I held on to the rope superglue tight and walked the 45 degree incline. I could hear my officemates and tour guides shouting: "Kahit anong mangyari, huwag kang bibitaw!" Got that loud and clear!

After rapelling, the rest of the way back was relatively easy. No more death-defying stunts for me. After several more minutes, we were standing by the mouth of the cave. I've never been so happy to see sunlight in my entire life!

And so I made it. It helped too that my officemate Arnold kindly lent his services as my designated guide and counselor, coaxing me to take the next step. I owe him two hours of my life, that is, our time inside the cave. (I thanked him with a well-deserved Sumaging postcard the next day.)

That's enough adventure for me, at least for this year. I'll be walking on paved, leveled roads for now, thank you very much. But it was one great experience I'll be looking back on--will be talking about it, writing about it, thanking God for it.

So I don't eat balut. But hey, I have one big, scary cave to brag about*.

-----------------
*Pagbigyan n'yo na ako. Pinaghirapan ko talaga siya.:p