I woke up early the next in Sagada, sadly for me, it was already time to leave. I such a short while, I had grown to love Sagada. The mysterious and scenic town can really get to you. The wonderful weather is a welcome break from the non-stop heat back in Manila. At the main square, there was a waiting bus to Bontoc, the capital of Mt. Province. It didn’t really take long for the jeepney to fill up since a lot of people go to the big city to work.
In the jeepney, I happened to get to know this not-so-elderly lady from England who was travelling alone. She was told me that we was on her way to Banaue, which also happened to be my destination. Great! At least I will have someone to talk to on the way back. The jeepney followed the same highway we used to get to Sagada, winding through scenic mountain passes and over the Chico River. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my own car so I couldn’t stop and take photos of the wonderful scenery.
When we got to Bontoc, we needed to switch to another bus which was headed to Banaue, fortunately, it is much easier to get this bus since they seem to have a lot of buses travelling between the two cities. This time we didn’t need to wait very long unlike the other way around where I needed to wait several hours for the jeepney to fill up on the way to Sagada. The highway passed by truly scenic mountain vistas, which hardly a soul to be seen. Once in a while though there were construction work being done on the mountain slopes to prevent landslides which are very common here.
After an hour and a half of travelling, we came to a rest stop, which was the same rest stop as before. It was Mt. Polis, which was a no-man’s land, with only a few stalls meant for the dirty, badly shaken and weary traveller. It took some time to take photos of the surrounding scenery at Mt. Polis. The stopover is at a very high point in the mountain and it overlooks a huge valley below. Further, you can see the mountains looming over the horizon. I was lucky that day, since the previous time I was there, the place was obscured by clouds. But not for long, since a huge cloud was already starting to cover the rest of our way to Banaue.
Oh well, there wasn’t really much to see here in Mt. Polis anyway. Maybe when the mountain resort they are building is finished will we get to see more interesting places but for now, it is just a simple rest stop.
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