It was a hard fight to catch my ticket to Ifugao.

The night before, I got an invite from PHILTOA to join their Ifugao Heritage Warrior Caravan Run as part of the media group. I have a scheduled shoot somewhere in Ayala on the date of departure and I have only three hours to spare to hurry back home, pack, have dinner and leave for the rendezvous point.

It wouldn’t be as hard if the rain didn’t pour. I got stuck in Ayala as I was wrapping up my shoot.

As soon as the rain abated, I walked/ran to the MRT station in Ayala, piled through the unending queue for a ticket, went through another snaking line through the turnstiles, crushed myself inside a train to Taft Avenue, rode a train to Baclaran, rushed down and rode another one to Monumento, boarded the first jeep I saw then jumped a pedicab and finally opened our door.
It was a flurry of showering, packing and eating. I was back in the streets with a heavier backpack in a record time of thirty minutes and was greeting the staff of PHILTOA and boarding our Victory Liner Bus just in the nick of time.

Our bus rolled a few minutes after I crashed my backpack down the last seat. A few reminders and prayers later and the lights were turned off.

The next thing I knew, the morning light was streaming into the bus window; where are we? I’m really not sure but my busmates were outside taking photos of the morning vista. I cannot miss this. Still groggy from sleep, I went out and took a few snaps of my own.

A few minutes after passing the Ifugao provincial arch, we again alighted to a crisp morning in Lagawe, the provincial capital of Ifugao. The air was nippy and we can see our breath misting from the cold.

The local government of Ifugao including their very down-to-earth Governor, Eugene Balitang, welcomed us with a few talks and presentation about their province inside the Lagawe Provincial Capitol before breakfast was served.
Our stomachs full, our bus again roared into the cold morning. The rush of the past night through the dark metro seemed so far away as we swished pass blue cloud-covered mountains and endless cliffs.


Ifugao Provincial Capitol
Address: Poblacion East, Lagawe, Ifugao
Telephone: (74) 382-2129

GPS Coordinates: 16.797403,121.122701
Click to view location on Google Maps ‎

THE IFUGAO HERITAGE WARRIOR CARAVAN RUN IS A FIVE-DAY FAMILIARIZATION TOUR OF THE IFUAGO ORGANIZED BY PHILTOA.