Ah, Cagayan Valley. The centre of Region 2 and the place where 80% of my family is situated in. Because of its topography, the place experiences weather extremes, ranging from the hottest summers to the coldest… winters (winters being a very loose term, especially considering how this country does not have winters, and only has two seasons – wet and dry).
The country’s longest river, Cagayan River, snakes through the province as well. And family would always tell me to be wary of the rivers around the area because the village folks believe in merpeople who would entice travellers and bring them to the depths of the waters.
Tales aside, we went around the next day. Even in our obviously haggard states, we braved the heat (such valiant souls we are!) and 2 hour journey to arrive at Piat Church, our 5th for the trip, where we met up with my relatives who treated us to delectable pawa. Pawa is a sticky delicacy made from rice with sugar and peanut filling; incidentally, having been rice-free for four years now, pawa is the only exception to that personal dietary preference.
After Piat, we drove to Callao Caves. Callao Caves is a series of caves found in Cagayan Valley, and where the oldest body in the Philippines is believed to be excavated. (Trivia: The body part that the geologists found was the third metatarsal.) It’s also one of the things I go to all the time when we go to the province because it’s beautiful, it has a chapel inside, and it’s always a new experience going there.
Oh, and it has a beautiful river (Pinakanawan) which you can wade/swim/ride a boat in, and which also provides the best views.
The last place we went to (and also the last place in the GNE) was the Calvary Hills. We arrived 5 minutes too late so the gates were already closed but we were still able to sneak in some photos.
Last group photo:
Six days later, 4 provinces, 7 churches, 4 beaches, 1 river, 1 cave, 1 pool, and a dozen debates on politics and the news (we are, after all, political science majors), here we are. We’re three shades darker and we’re probably still as unsure of the future as we were when we first set out on the journey, but seeing as how life surprised us in so much more ways than we ever imagined since we embarked on the trip, then we’re excited for the rest of our lives to come.
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It’s been a month after the trip, and right now, we’re all readying ourselves for the next steps in our journey towards our dreams — half of us are getting our Masters, and the other half are going to law school. We’re honestly looking forward to that, though: the idea of chasing our dreams and getting one step closer to fulfilling the goals. We’ll probably see each other less often now, but hey, I guess that’ll make us treasure the moments we’ll decide to be spontaneous even more.
Thank you, guys.
Now let’s move on to conquer the rest of the world, shall we?
(All photos in here are credited to Kayle Salcedo.)
Of perpetual finds 
[…] Part 5: Cagayan Valley […]
great photos! traveling is great. 🙂