pagnapagna: "Binanga" Falls and Caves

"Its waters are at its coldest in these days of the year"

-pagnapagna

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-my pagnapagna-

It was a cold morning that day as i entered the lobby of La Trinidad Municipal Hall. After looking around, I went to the information desk and inquired about some of the tourist spots in their area and how to get there. I was particularly interested with the waterfalls.

La Trinidad Municipal Hall

With the information i got from the Municipal Hall, I rode a jeep bound for Acop and i let the driver drop me at the Shilan Barangay Hall.

I talked to councilor "Aris" at the Barangay Hall got instructions on how to get to the waterfalls.

I walked further down the road to where there was an intersecting road at Tacdian Elementary School. There, i rode a taxi which they call it "garage". It was a short ride going down to a turning point area and i walked from there until i run into a road construction. They were concreting a stretch of the road. The road was basically a one-laner.

I asked one of the workers directions going down to the waterfalls and he said that it was just at few meters i passed by.

Road concreting.
I've known from one of his co-workers that he was a student before,
probably a scholar from India but the one who gave him scholarship is
having financial problem that's how he ended up as a worker.

I went back and found the trail going down to the vegetable gardens and eventually down to the creek where the waterfall was.

the one going to the left is a trail going down to the
vegetable gardens and into the waterfalls

the owner of the vegetable garden near the waterfalls

Lettuce along the way

"Binanga" Falls

It is a small waterfalls with about 15 to 20 feet drop. One of the locals said that it is also called Payogpog falls (this is also the name of the waterfalls farther upstream) and it is interchangeable with the other name Binanga falls as it lies along the Binanga river which is frequented by locals during weekends and holidays.

The "Binanga" Falls

I felt its waters were very cold as these days of the year were also among the coldest.

I stayed there for a while and did a sketch. After which, I went back up to the road and looked for the upper waterfalls but did not found it. Instead, at the nearby vegetable garden, i met the two gardeners who hails from Dumaguete (a city in the province of Negros Oriental at the southern part of the country in the Visayas). They were workers and caretakers of the garden. We had some conversations and i mentioned to him about some caves along the area and he verified that there were two caves just below the gardens along the creek.

"Tignan natin" (let's take a look) i said to him. He nodded and we went down to see.

The caves

From the outside, the caves have small openings and although we never dared to go inside, they looked shallow.

The first cave we went to see has a bigger opening and i can hear water dripping inside while the second one has a smaller opening and bats came out from time to time and although i'm not expert on caves, it looked like it's man-made. The two were distant from each other as one is located downstream while the other one at the upstream higher from the other side of the creek.

One of the vegetable garden workers at the mouth of the first cave

At the mouth of the second cave

We went back up near their shack and had a coffee. As a token, I gave him one of my shirt (sleeveless with www.pagnapagna.com at its back), thanked them and went walking back up to the road until i reached the main road at Tacdian Elementary School.

I was also planning to go to Mt. Kalugong that afternoon but I was running out of time.

I rode a jeep going back to Baguio City where I took a mini-bus that eventually led me back to Home Sweet Home.

-end of pagnapagna-