Lumiang-Sumaging Cave Connection

It's really more fun in the Philippines, that's why we stole the slogan. Anyway, here's one late post. I haven't blogged about our Lumiang-Sumaging cave trek because lately I'v been rediscovering my love for mountain biking. Love that is lost and found again is always sweeter. I have a good reason to be lazy on this blog. Nobody pays me for the hours I spend on this blog. I'd like to think I am doing humanity service with my blogging but I really don't. I am too lazy to give directions but I gladly would if you ask me for some.

I have a life that goes nowhere and a good sense of direction should make up for it. Sagada is a place rich in meaning and winding paths so I strongly suggest getting a tour guide when you go there. Sagada Genuine Guides could greatly help you with it. I don't want to spoil your trip to Sagada--your first time there will be a once in a lifetime marvel. The place is not the most scenic I have ever been to but there's a certain feeling of calm and detachment that you can only experience in Sagada. Probably it's the same feeling of being in another planet. I have taken a lot of photos but I feel that it would be a desecration to the beauty of Lumiang and Sumaging caves to post many of them. So here's just a few that I could throw out:

Just a few tips. Water flows all over the interconnected caves so unless your skin is made of rubber, you are bound to get wet. No need to wrap yourself in a ziplock either. Just get something that will keep you dry or warm when you get out of the cave. Anyway, you will keep moving so you will not feel the cold too much but when you get out of the cave, prepare to plunge from hero to zero. Just don't mind getting wet. The water feels real good you would not mind freezing yourself to death. Also, your Merrell trekking shoes will not work there. Our tour guide James suggested flipflops. They grip better. I cannot suggest any particular outfit but leggings should be in the itinerary.

James is a really great tour guide and he showed us how to pump to get to a higher place. Well, neither the Boss nor me were able to follow that stuff. Beware of the things that look easy. Finally, I would suggest going to the place right after lunch so you will have plenty of time to spare. The whole trip takes 3-4 hours but those hours will pass by like minutes. On sort of unrelated note, the food in the Cordillera Region are bland. Forgive my poor culinary vocabulary. I meant that it seemed that they do not use a lot of salt. Probably because they are far out in the mountains? Well, they have all the salt they could need right now because of improved logistics but they have continued their way of cooking their food.

***

It was evening when we got out of the cave. There were houses nearby but the town was still a 30-minute walk away. We were hungry, cold, and had fun to death. It has been raining for days and I could hear the angry rapids of the river from way below us.

Binuthan Cave: to the other side

Three days ago I went to Binuthan Cave but didn’t go in because I have no light, rope, or anything. Talk about being smart. I did go back three days later....

This is the entry where the photos do more of the talking. I mean, we’re so cute and all that you guys only have to look at us and you’ll be satisfied already.

Inside the cave you’ll probably spend about one hour and 30 minutes. That won’t kill you, for sure. But better bring full battery and don’t buy made-in-China. Take it from me XD.

Things to bring so you’ll get out alive:

• rope
• life vest / floaters / buoyantly fat friend
• light
• fare / cash
• food
• water
• camera (extremely important)
• local guide

If you plan to go to Bonbon via jeep, you will have to wait until the departing time 11am. Of course, you have to tell your friends to meet up at Carbon around 9am because people who agree to meet up at nine usually show up at eleven.


Tips:

• Tell your family what time to expect you so they can prepare for your funer...meal! So they can prepare you a nice meal when you get home
• Tell at least one friend where you are really going (they might look for you at the beach while you are there lying dead at the edge of civilization)
• Make a list of who-gets-what in case you are not fortunate enough to make it back (You could drown inside or fall on your way up to the mouth of the cave).
• Don’t read this blog if you want to be positive about your trip. I don’t intend to scare people or anything, I just have an uncontrollably morbid sense of things.
• Don’t worry really, as long you don’t show off or don’t act dumb nothing will happen to you

First river crossing after a steep descent off the highway. This is the part where you feel cute.


After crossing the river we go up a steep hill will loose soil.


This is when you get itchy all over


Keeping our balance


That's Manong Fermin our guide. He carries a bolo. But don't worry, it's not for you.

And the long climb up the waterfall starts


Pretend you're spiderman and don't look scared. It's easy I swear.


You'll surely need a hand. I mean, other than the two that you already have.


That's Nong Ben, co-tour guide. He led me when I did my recon last Wednesday (People who use the word "recon" all the time are just trying to be cool)


Inside the mouth of the cave. I skipped the photos with the drowning-depth water. It's so beautiful I don't want you to see it


These are...um....rocks?

And more rocks..whatever they are called. Feel free to let me know

If you wanna how bright it is inside the cave, just go to your restroom, turn the light off, and blindfold yourself twenty times...you might wanna consider my tip of bringing a flashlight

These are the reasons why you should be careless and not watch your head when you are inside.

I don't know what it is, I don't know why I took this photo, and I don't even know why you are still reading lousy stuffs up to here.

There is always (green) light at the end of the tunnel...


We did not go home just yet. We checked this other cave Satuhan. Nothing interesting there really. Just a big oppening. You can see its other end at the entrance.

Some weirdos turned the place into a Catholic-church-looking "sanctuary." These cult pips call their organization JmJr. I bet the opening hymn of their mass is bowowow yippie yo yippie yey!

When we went inside I was expecting someone to proclaim the Philippine Indepence here...(Manong anong petsa na?) ps: Makes you miss the five-peso bill

So this is the official name of the place. In acronym, it is TKECGISSICCP..souns like an HTML stuff (I made up the initials, by the way. nyahaha)

Binuthan Cave, Bonbon Cebu

Trip type: Motorcycling + hiking
Technical designation: wala, whatever
Who it is for: for people who hate their boss and have six hours to spare in the morning; people who want break their necks

The mouth of Binuthan Cave

I set out at 4.30am. My eight-hour work kicks off at 10am so might as well be early. I just want to do a recon ride to Binuthan Cave and maybe go back there

on Saturday. It is Wednesday and I am homicidally bored. This is one fine cure.

I am not so sure about leaving this early. You can’t really tell if you’ll meet the good or bad guys in the dark. Besides, just two days ago, a security

guard got killed at a nearby gasoline station (that is, near where I live). It was 2pm and two guys dropped by this gas station and stuck it up. The guard

fought back and the next morning, he was just a figure in the news, arms above his shoulders the way you would when you are about to make a yawn and legs

slightly spread apart in a Vee shape.

I was not sure about riding my bicycle that early so I decided to go motorbike riding. I made a short stop at IT Park. As a self-proclaimed outdoor guy, I

need to stay fit. The only way to do so is to know how others do it. So I watch these people jog at the place.


At IT Park, learning how to stay fit by watching the joggers

Five minutes and I got no glimpse of IT Park jogger and her best friend so I decided so go on. Sorry if I did not let you know of my intention for dropping

by at IT Park. You know anyway, I guess, and you do that, too.

Entry point is about two kilometers from Bonbon bridge. When I had my breakfast at Bonbon, Manang said it is duol na lang. My concept of duol is E-Mall and

South Bus terminal. She did not make it clear what duol is for her.

Teleportation: just by turning by back, I'm in Bonbon already

I went alone and because I have no idea where the cave is and quite likely there is no one you could ask for directions when you get there, I took a local

guide. The guys name is manong Ben and he was just chilling in his payag when I saw him. I was asking for directions and there weren’t too many landmarks to

bring me to the cave so I asked him lead the way.

Manong Ben, my guide, pointing to where we were going

The least number of people you should go trekking with is three. If one falls, one can ask for help and one can watch the other die. Division of labor, it’s

called.

The drop-off is beside a tiny store along the highway. No matter how small a store is or how empty its shelves may seem, trust me, you can still find a

bottle of Tanduay there. And some bitsin, perhaps.

So Manong Ben and I started our short walk to the cave. Some muddy climbs, I had to take my slippers off and use my toes to claw my way up. (I love those

slippers, got them for 30 pesos at Dalaguete six months ago when we went to Antig Tingko.)

He's a retard, don't mind him

Some slimy stones, tiny waterfalls, and not-so-friendly climbs on the way to the cave. And the cave it is. It is called Binuthan because it is quite “treey”

where it is located and you do not expect water to explode from out of nowhere.

Swim or climb, the two ways to get to the other side of the came. Swim: you just swim, is all. But its quite deep and dark where you are heading so you

better bring some rope where you can hold on to. And your lead swimmer, the guy who’ll tie the rope to the other end, better be good because it is real

deep.

Vampire rocks

I would not suggest climbing. It is quite difficult to get to there and you still risk the chance of falling to the pool, which can drown you if that’s what

you want to know.


As we went down from the cave, we saw a crab skeleton (or what remains of it, a claw that grades from white to orange). Ben said it is a “piyo” or mountain

crab. He dug up one for me. If I were the piyo, I’d be mad at him. I was just having some fine time under the rocks and there is goes digging me up only to

put me back there.

"Piyo" aka bukid crab

I twisted my pinkie opposite the bend of its joint. We reached the easy part on our way down and I resumed to my chill2x walk, the kind of walk that you do

at Ayala when you don’t have anything to buy. I slipped, landed on the poor thing.

There is this thing that you should be mindful of. Nipay, it is called. I asked Ben what it is for, he says it’s only there to make people itch. Yeah, there

are things that are just “there” to make you itch.

The fruit that makes you itch

There’s another fruit I found, what my sister describes as a fake strawberry. It is tungaw-tungaw and indeed it looks like a tropical strawberry. (I never

saw a strawberry, much more tropical one. But there’s this thing called imagination. In Cebuano, I’d say it’s mugna-mugna.)

Tropical strawberries

Just to make it clear, the cave I went to is called Binuthan. It is located in Bonbon and is not the same with Santohan, which is at Brgy. (you guessed it)

Santohan. Another cave along the mountain line of Binuthan is called Pangasag. There aren’t too many things that you can photograph there, not a Facebook

kind of cave. But it is where you go to if, for some reasons, you want life to be difficult. And if you want to make your suicide look like a trekking

accident by all means go there.
Pangasag, the cave where you can eat all the bats that you want

Pics ahoy here!

Binuthan Cave, Bonbon, Cebu