Day 3 is the final day of this long weekend adventure for the Stokedtraveler. Two things remained to be done, take a bite of the famed longganisa and go spelunking on the even more popular Callao Caves.
Before this day came, the
group bid farewell to their luxurious private villa stay at Sun City and
transferred to a more reasonably priced nearby accommodation – Country Inn
& Resort.
Country Inn & Resort
The group took a
tricycle from Sun City to Country Inn. They passed through some local houses
and went deeper until they reached the location of this humble yet very homey
place to stay.
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| Photo credit to owner |
To the Stokedtraveler’s
amusement, they were warmly welcomed by wide smiles and assisted to their room
by the resort staff wearing colorful flowery headdresses. J Such hospitable reception is a rarity in this
part of the country. Having dealt with difficult locals in the past days,
staying here felt like being in an imaginary bubble separating this tiny spot
from the rest of the non-tourist friendly locals.
The family room was
big enough to sleep all six people. The rate was modest and the food available
at the in-house restaurant was fairly priced. It was more like staying at home
far away from your own. Between Sun City and this, Country Inn wins hands down
in making the Stokedtraveler want to return to for a weekend stay or more.
Checking out was also
a breeze and they even offer to call a UV express van to fetch the tourists
going back to Tuguegarao for no extra cost to the regular fare of 180
pesos/head. It takes 3-hours from Sta. Ana to Tuguegarao so that P180 is
actually fair priced.
Because of a
ridiculous mumbo-jumbo policy Victory Liner Bus liner imposed on advanced
booking that weekend, the group failed to secure an early return trip back to
Manila. They ended up reserving seats for an 8pm standard aircon bus.
This meant they have
lots of time to kill between 1pm and 8pm. They agreed to rent a room in a
nearby inn (Carmelita’s) to store their bags and continue their weekend
adventure to Callao Caves.
Callao Caves,
Penablanca
Callao Caves is a cave
system of 13 chambers with only 7 of it accessible to the public. What makes it
unique is that it has 7 holes directly above the passages which makes each
section cool and breezy. One of chambers was converted into a chapel with rock formations serving as the main altar piece. A local movie once shot a wedding scene on this chapel.
The Callao man which
pre-dates the human remains in Tabon Cave was discovered here. This discovery
earns the Callao the spot where one of the oldest human fossils in Asia is
found.
Penablanca is also
considered to have the most number of caves in the country with more than 300
caves located in one area.
There is a P20 fee
from the tricycle drop off point to Callao cave. This covers the boat transfer
to the other side of the river and the entrance to the caves. Those who want to
take a river cruise may also do so at a fee of P500 / boat. The river has the
same emerald-like waters found in Puerto Princesa’s Underground River.
There are 184 steps
from the tourist center to the cave’s entrance.
Two tricycle drivers
offered a packaged rate of P600/tricycle for a return trip from Tuguegarao to
Penablanca and back. The ride took around 45-minutes per way.
The group went back to
city proper just in time for one final task to check of their list, have a
taste of the Tuguegarao Longganisa.
Tuguegarao Longganisa
They were asking all
day where they can buy a cooked longganisa but no one could tell them where.
The rest of Q&A between the travelers and the locals are less interesting
to blog about. There’s nothing much to say with the local specialty. If
anything, it was harder to find than it was worth searching for. The longganisa
they bought was served in a carinderia and was probably cooked in the morning.
It was served right off the food display without being reheated. As unappealing
as it looked, it was for the benefit of satisfying the craving that it was
consumed. The taste was unremarkable for the foodie in the stokedtraveler at that point.
After an early dinner,
they went back to the bus terminal. This is where the long weekend trip to the
northern most tip of Luzon came to a close.
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