sagada again and again

this was my third time to visit sagada in a span of a year. i would always leave my heart in sagada and that could be why i've kept on coming back. this time, i've decided to do less trekking and do more talking to the locals. i've met new friends and saw new things to explore.

sagada lemon pie house. i've always visited mang joseph's lemon pie house in dagdag for a slice of his famous lemon and egg pie, combined with their home-made freshly brewed coffee. i've realized it is time for everyone to know where the lemon pie house is. i've dropped by mang joseph's place to talk to him about my proposal. i wanted to make a video clip about him and his business and feature him in biyahengpinoy and clickthecity. i've told him that i was willing to do this project at no cost. all i wanted was his cooperation and willingness. i am currently making their video and i hope that it would help them with the business.  read more...

here's a list of things we did:

• ✓ cleaned the store and the garden
• ✓ rearranged the store's furnitures and woodworks
• ✓ fixed the store's lightings
• ✓ took pictures and videos of the garden and the store
• ✓ interviewed joseph and katrina daoas
• ✓ made a lemon pie house blog

ug-uggo souvenirs, store's name used to be johngansmackay prints, named after their kids, until just recently, the store owners, andrew pekas and safe pekas, decided to change the name to ug-uggosouvenirs. we've been good friends ever since my first visit to sagada. it's only a 2-minute walk from george guests inn, where i've stayed at last year. the couple were so nice and warm, always smiling. i've visited their store many times to surf the internet and buy souvenirs.

rice planting. planting rice could be very exhausting but it was actually fun, well, maybe just for a day. but i've planted rice in sagada twice and it was a very fun time for me. getting into the mud wasn't hard, but staying in the mud for hours was a major torture. instead of getting out of the mud, after long hours of work, my body started to feel heavy, and so i found myself resting my elbow on top of my knee. i've never thought that it would be such a relaxing position. you think that's bad? let me tell you what's worse. i forgot to bring a spoon to use for lunch and my hands were full of mud. i couldn't find clean water around to wash off my hands so i've decided to use the water coming down from the water supply off the rice terrace. the tips of my fingers were all full of mud so i ate right on my palm. i wouldn't forget that day.

i am not sure if this would be appropriate to tell (and i'd tell you anyway) but the warts on my fingers and on my toe which i've had for more than 3 years just vanished. i've had them surgically removed a long time ago but still some of them came back. i couldn't tell if it was the cold climate, the minerals in the caves, the food i ate, the water i drank, or the mud on the rice fields that cured it. "isa itong himala!"

jamming with tebag. it was the last day of the fiesta and i've thought of wondering around poblacion. i was checking one stall after the other, making sure that i wouldn't miss anything. then i saw jackson bayang (a tebag member), playing his guitar and singing with robert pangod, a representative from an organization called the montanosa research and development center. their song sounded so familiar. soon i realized that they were singing songs from the albums "tebag" and "malinggis." they saw a few songs which i've enjoyed so much. after singing "dam," robert invited me to come back later that night and maybe join them in their jamming, and so i did. watch their jamming video, soon.