Our primary objective was to see the famed Ifugao Rice Terraces. Dubbed by Filipinos as the "eighth wonder of the world," these rice terraces are said to have been been carved by hand a couple of thousand years ago. They start from the base of the Cordillera mountains up to a height of about 5000 feet. They were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 and were put in the endangered list in 2001. Part of the reason I agreed to do this mountain trip was that I wanted to see these terraces before they really deteriorate (due to erosion and giant earthworms).
Rice terraces in a number of communities are actually included in the UNESCO designation, but the most well-known are probably the ones in Banaue proper. These terraces, specifically the one where you can see all around the mountain (right below), appear on the back of the P1000 bill.
So, even though we could see some terraces from the inn, we figured we should see this specific viewpoint. In Banaue, there are two viewpoints, or at least that's how many we went to. We first went to the higher viewpoint, where we took the picture above and these ones:
We then went to the lower viewpoint, where you could take pictures of elderly Ifugaos in traditional costumes (with a "donation"). That renders it inauthentic, of course, but it's cool anyway.
The following pictures are also from this lower vantage point:
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