Kalinga Adventure

It started out while my friends and I were enjoying coffee and dessert early this year. We talked about possibly going to Sagada in late 2014 but I told them that a trip to Mountain Province isn't ideal during the rainy season because of the possibility of landslides and blocked roads. What is ideal during the rainy season is white water rafting. It had been 10 years since I went rafting in the Chico River and I had such an amazing time that I suggested it to my friends. Everyone else seemed to think that was a great idea so last August, we all made our way to Kalinga.

Funny thing about this trip, though. When I went rafting in the Chico River a decade ago, we stayed in Tuguegarao in Cagayan. As such, I figured this is where we would be staying as well. However, since my friend who was going with us used to work in a travel agency, he made almost all the travel arrangements including the hotel booking and the itinerary. It was only when we landed in Tuguegarao and boarded our airport pick-up that I realized we were going to Kalinga instead. The Chico River, which is where the rafting would take place, is actually a river system in Kalinga that empties into the Cagayan River. It was a pleasant surprise because I got to visit a Philippine province that I hadn't been to before. Cool!

We stayed in Davidson Hotel and they organized a package tour for us. We stayed there for four days and three nights and apart from the rafting, our itinerary also included rappelling down a bridge...

...and a trip to the shooting range.

We got to do a few more things when we were there. I'll be writing in more detail about this amazing Kalinga trip over the next few blog posts. Stay tuned!