The past couple days in the Philippines have been good and rough. A couple days ago I split away from the group for the afternoon and headed down to see the Hanging Coffins, a burial site where the locals hang their coffins from the cliffside instead of burying them. From there I descended a muddy trail into the valley and way soon trekking my way through the jungle. It was a pretty wild trek, at one point I had to lose the shoes to cross a river, climb a giant, slipper boulder, then climb up a mud chute with the aid of a plastic pvc pipe that had been tied off to a tree at the top of the chute. Unfortunately I couldn't complete the underground river trail because I didn't have a flashlight, but I still made my way up the valley back to town. Then Matt and I indulged in the cheapest lemon meringue pie I've every had, at roughly $.55 a slice. Then we ate some dog with the locals. I didn't like it.
The bus ride back was along the same route, only this time it was dry and clear outside, giving the bus driver the green light to do mach one along the perilous mountain roads, nearly hitting a couple cars on the way. Matt even tried to point out a dead bus that has gone off the road into the rice terraces below some time ago, but I was too late to see it as we rounded a bend. After filling our faces with McDonald's at Bagio, Matt and I jumped on a night bus for Manila, and rolled in around 5 am, myself only managing a couple hours of sleep. Today after Skyping some family we headed out to do some last minute shopping for gear, each picking up a tent and sleeping pad.
I'm sad to be leaving a country as amazing as the Philippines, but I can look forward with a smile, straight at the adventures that await us in Papua New Guinea, only hours away from us. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain the frequency of my posts, but in a country that is one of the most primitive in the world, I can promise nothing.
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