One of the Eighth Wonders of the World

The last stop on our Philippines itinerary was the rice terraces of the Cordillera Mountains in north Luzon, the island where Manila is located. The 2,000-year-old terraces are carved out of the mountains and are supposed to be an engineering feat on par with the pyramids of Egypt.

After our experiences on Palawan, plus the flight to Manila and a day waiting around the city, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of yet another 8-hour bus ride to go and see rice paddies, of which anyone who has been to Asia has seen a million. Granted we were to have much nicer buses this time around, but with the air conditioning turned past cryofreeze, the overnight trip was a sleepless one. We reached a town called Banaue at 7 in the morning and did the standard awkward haggling for a half-hour bumpy ride on the back of a tricycle, and then a pack-laden 2-hour hike over the mountains to reach our destination, a little, and I do mean little, village at the base of some of the most impressive terraces in the region.

I'm rather a mountain person, and I did enjoy the sight, but by the time we got to Batad I was tired and I wondered how the title of 8th wonder of the world actually got us out here. If I had a nickel for every supposed "8th wonder of the world" (we saw two on this trip alone), I would be very, very rich.

First, we checked into a guesthouse, which had lovely views of the terraces.

The view from Rita's Guesthouse.

We were both exhausted, but since we had to leave the next day and it was already the afternoon, we knew we had to get started on our hike to the village. There's a waterfall beyond the village that has a natural pool that's perfect for swimming, and we wanted to get there and back before dark.

Although the rice terraces are quite famous, they're remarkably unspoiled, especially in Batad (probably because it's such a pain to get to!). We didn't see any other tourists until we got back to the guesthouse, when we met a girl from Florida who was staying there as well.

We had to climb into the village down steep, half-eroded steps. When we finally reached the terraces, it got a little easier because we could walk along the walls. It was a little tricky finding the path because some of the terrace walls are quite tall and they have "steps" (basically, little stones sticking out of them), but that was half the fun.

Walking along the terraces.

It had rained earlier in the afternoon, but by the time we got deep in the terraces, the sun came out, and then we realized how the terraces might have come to be designated as the eighth wonder of the world. The valley turned into this magical place where the rice was almost glowing and the dragonflies flitted in the golden light--I just can't even begin to explain how marvelous it was. No wonder they call it "staircase of the gods"--the terraces really did seem like a stairway to heaven.

Magical afternoon light.

Stairway of the gods.

The village was pretty cool in itself. Around 1,000 people live in the area, and at least half seemed to be kids. Most people don't have running water or electricity. They're living almost the same way as their ancestors did--not many people in the world can say that.

Kids playing in the churchyard.

View of the village from the bottom of the terraces.

We made it to the waterfall after an hour of hard hiking, but we were disappointed to find that after the recent rains the waterfall was much too powerful for us to go swimming. It was still an impressive site, and Joel got to try out the Steripen water sterilizer that his dad and stepmom gave us as a going away present. (We didn't get sick from the water, so it seems to have worked. On a side note, did you know that river water tastes the same way a river smells? Tasty, but strange.)

We spent the night and then headed back to Banaue the next morning, sorry that we couldn't stay longer. Before our trip, I was all about the beaches, but in the end, the rice terraces were by far my favorite part of the Philippines.

Batad: Best stop in the Philippines, hands down.