the geek chronicles: Tourist in Cagayan

The trip to Tuguegarao City took us 11 hours from Manila and 11 hours back again. It was LOOOOOOOONG trip and I was more tired from the trip back home. But I had so much fun during my three days of stay. It was my second time there. Alej and his family invited me to go to the province with them because it was their lolo's first death anniversary. It's true that the hottest place in the Philippines is Tuguegarao City because it is nearest the equator. IT WAS SCORCHING HOT. I knew right then that it was already summer.

I had a great time because Alej's whole family is very warm and they made me feel welcome. They even brought me to Callao Cave so that I can see the tourist attraction of Cagayan, which I truly enjoyed. I ate so much too during the time I was there. The food was always good and it's hard to say no if there's so much yummy food. Why is it that it's so good to eat whenever you're in the province? No fast food but just good ol' healthy food like fish and vegetables. YUMMMMYYY.

A mass and banquet was also held in memory of Alej's grandfather. All in all, my stay in the province was FUN and definitely worth the long ride. =)

Callao Cave, Penafrancia, Cagayan
I was warned beforehand that it was going to be tiring-- climbing up a flight of stairs to the cave, which has several chambers inside. That's how huge Callao Cave is. So I braced myself. But lo and behold! After climbing the flight of stairs, I thought to myself, "This is it?". I was expecting the climb to be rigorous. Maybe this was because the trek to the Subterranean River in Palawan was just that-- RIGOROUS. There was no TREK at all (it was being developed during the time) so we had to rely on the trusty "kuya" who served as our guide as we braved the jungles of two mountains, climbing up and down and hanging from roots of trees to prevent us from sliding down steep slopes. It was crazy, that climb. It took us two hours to get to the cave and two more hours to get back to Sabang Beach where our van was parked. There was a typhoon then so no boats were crazy enough to brave the ferocious South China Sea waves.

So this is Callao Cave. It is beautiful inside and I think it's amazing how such a natural wonder even exists. It's a humongous cave with chambers in it. It also has a chapel inside that's so serene that you could just sit there for hours and enjoy the silence inside the cave.

Here are photos by Alej from his awesome new toy, Nikon D60.