Smiles Around the World: Living on the Ledge

I look to my left. Rice terraces. I look to my right. Rice terraces. I look up and I look down. More rice terraces. It was the most amazing view in the world, but hard to fully enjoy when you are lost trekking in the rain and approaching dusk.

My new friends (John and Eddie) and I started the day by hiring a guide for a light trek. After only a couple hours of a restless sleep on an uncomfortable icy cold night bus from Manila to Banaue we thought starting out easy might be best. Somewhere between then and now our guide decided to back out. So the three type A personalities figured how hard can it be? We can see the city from the viewpoint and hear it is only a two to three hour trek. So off we went.

It wasn’t the rain that poured down on us and made the mud path slip away from under our feet, the sounds of thunder approaching, balancing on ledges where one wrong step and you’d fall to your death, or losing the path home that made me the most nervous. It was when I saw a black snake that was about four feet long and two inches thick slither its way inches from Eddie. Is it poisonous? What would we do if someone was bitten? How I wish I had watched a little more of the Discovery Channel.

After thousands of very careful and deliberate steps we finally approached a shack in the midst of all the terraces and all exhaled a sigh of relief. Safety. And safely we finished the rest of the journey home.

As if that excitement wasn’t enough, we decided to do it all again the next day. This time our guide did not ditch us, however it did not make the journey any less adventurous.

The day began by walking through a forest full of leeches. Growing up in Minnesota I knew of leeches being in lakes. In the Philippines the leeches are in trees and drop on you as you walk by. Even though I was sweating to death with a tank top and pants, thankfully I put my jacket on and a scarf on my head as I soon discovered a leech on my pants. Sadly Eddie did not have the option of pants and ended up with one of the blood suckers on his leg. The leech grew as fast as the economy imploded and I thought calling the leech “The Man” (or a few other names of greedy people my path has crossed) was perfect.

Again the rain started to fall. It started as pure delight to cool us off from the leech protection until the path became narrow and slippery. Slowly and surely we walked step-by-step making sure our footing was secure. John was right in front of me when he put his walking stick down for balance over the narrowest part of the path. To his surprise there was no ground and he lost his balance off the side of a cliff. I shrieked as I saw his leg slip off the side and the fear in his eyes not ready to see my new friend die. Fortunately Eddie turned around instantly at the sound of my shriek and grabbed John’s arm as his fingers clenched on to the slippery ledge that made him fall in the first place. John was back on the ledge again with the rest of us, living.

We continued our strenuous twelve hour trek up and down the mountains to see the remote rice terraces and villages of Pula, Cambulo, and Batad with rice terraces created over 2000 years ago. Even though we must have climbed the equivalent of going up and down the John Hancock building five times I felt embarrassed struggling for breath as we passed the locals returning from Banaue balancing food on their head and wearing nothing but flip flops. That is until we learned from our guide on the last leg of the journey that we were the only people in his 16 years of being a guide that had did the typical two to three day trek in one day. With legs of jello and blisters growing as fast as the leech, I smiled with pride (and maybe a little stupidity).

Banaue