Far up in the mountains of Luzon, the northernmost region of the Philippines and also home to the capitol Manila, lies the 8th wonder of the world: the Banaue and Batad rice terraces.

We were 5 days in Banaue, and truly loved our stay. Not only due to the surrounding beautiful nature and the cooler temperatures at nighttime, but in big part thanks to the wonderful hospitality we had at Brookside Inn (aka. Randy’s). This Homestay was for us truly “home away from home”, and the owner Randy (also nominated as our Filipino father) made sure to take such great care of us. Also, as Randy had been a tourist guide, he explained to us every single hiking option we had, and every day we went to a new terrace on a different route arranged -and almost monitored- by him.

The rice terraces were truly impressive, especially Batad, where they were lying perfectly within a valley and uniquely built with stones. Decorating the terraces were hundreds of beautiful bright red dragonflies, that seemed to also enjoy their breathtaking home. Aside admiring the views, we did our fair share of hiking. In fact, this was by far the most challenging hiking in our trip so far, especially due to the steep terrain. These rice terraces are referred to as the “stairways to heaven.”, we -specially our legs- can guarantee that there are over a thousand, at least, and who knows where they lead to if you manage to go all the way up…

When visiting the terraces of Banaue, we had the pleasure to meet Tony, a wonderful man who had a house just under the viewpoint, overlooking the rice terraces. He invited us to a delicious cup of coffee (something very difficult to find here) which was a good excuse to chat for at least two hours. He told us that several years ago he was to invited to do a coast-to-coast trip in the USA. The history behind this invitation that he didn’t reject was the most interesting part. Brad Newsham, an American taxi driver, decided to make a trip around the world that was intended to finish in a coast to coast trip in the USA on board his taxi, where he would invite one person chosen amongst all the people he met during the trip. That person was Tony. Moreover, Brad Newsham published a book about this experience, “Take Me With You,” and both Tony and him participated in several interviews in the US as well as showing up in a few newspaper articles. After a very nice conversation, Tony guided us on an adventurous hike through the terraces that went up to a waterfall and all the way down to Banaue town. What a difficult hike that was! And Tony did it all wearing… flip flops.

We also learned from Tony that the Banaue rice terraces are in “danger of extinction.” On one hand, the younger generations are loosing interest in mending the terraces given the hard work needed to look after them and the little income they get in return. On the other hand the little subsidies that come from the government are not enough to attract new workers. We could already notice many abandoned areas, and it is truly a shame. Tony was very sad and angry about this, and even said that he could imagine that if this should continue, within 10-20 years the rice terraces could be completely destroyed.

On our final evening, we were pleasantly surprised with a private cultural show. Every evening in Banaue there is this show going on where they dress up in traditional attire and they explain and share their traditions through songs and dances. We were lucky enough that nobody else showed up, and we had a whole show to ourselves. It was very nicely done, and we enjoyed it very much. At the end we even had to dance with them… or at least we tried… ; ).

One thing we were quite shocked by were the deep red-colored mouths many people had, accompanied by the same colored spit marks on the ground. At first, we did not understand where this came from, until we instigated a bit. There is a red plant called betel root that they grow at the bottom of what appears to be a palm tree (you can see it in one of the pictures). They told us that chewing betel nut strengthens gums and prevents tooth decay (later on we found out this has nothing to do with the reality), so therefore many, many people love to chew and spit it out. In fact, there are signs everywhere that say “No Spitting Here,” and we found it quite funny.

On a more athletic note, next to Randy’s was a large basketball court where they had a summer basketball camp. Literally all day from 9AM to 9PM they would have matches, with a referee and a live commentator, as well as the typical blasting music. Throughout all of the Philippine’s, basketball was the sport of choice, with the majority of young guys practicing daily. Josep really enjoyed watching them as he used to play when he was younger, and it brought back a lot of memories.

After one month in this lovely country, we had to move on as our visa was about to expire. We truly enjoyed the Philippines and their extremely kind and welcoming people, by far the nicest of our trip so far. They also speak excellent English at practically a bi-lingual level, this due to the fact that they study it in school as a main language in many classes. We will miss the wonderful people, the beautiful and exotic nature, and who knows, one day we can come back… for now, onto our next destination – the worlds most vertical city.