Callao Cave - Tuguegarao City

Now, don't worry you're not the first and only person who asked "What is there to see in Tuguegarao anyway?!" And we suppose, you wouldn't be the last person who would hear our reply - "That's the exact point of going there." You have no idea what to see or if there's anything worth seeing, that's why you have to visit the place yourself.

So vacation leaves were filed and we started planning our trip to Tuguegarao - it wasn't easy, considering how far Manila is from Tuguegarao and we had to look after our expenses since it was a 1-week trip covering Tuguegarao, Ilocos Norte and Sur destinations. I wouldn't be surprised if you would have second thoughts of traveling to Tuguegarao - most people prefer going to destinations that have shorter "how to get there" list - you just get on a plane, ride a traysi, or a jeep, or a cab and you're there.

Nothing worth having comes easy and we thank Tuguegarao and its people for not failing to meet our expectations.


Ingredients:
Plane or Bus
Jeepney or Tricycle
Banca
Feet fit for 120 stair steps


Cooking Time:

• An hour plane ride from Manila to Tuguegarao (you may take a bus from Manila, travel time 10 hrs)

• From Tuguegarao airport, you may ride a tricycle or a jeepney taking you to the road that leads to Callao Cave Resort leading to the Pinakawan River - travel time is roughly 45 mins, to an hour (Php 35.00 per head)

• At Pinakawan River, ride a banca to get across the river to Callao Cave - less than 10 minutes (Php 40.00 per ride not per head)

• At drop off point, you will need to pay an entrance fee of Php 20.00/head and local kids will approach you asking you if you would want them as your tour guide.

Nutritional Facts:
Touring Callao Cave doesn't require a guide really you can go spelunking Callao cave without the fear or risk of falling into deep pits. But we suggest that you accept the offer from 1 of the local kids to be your guide. They are smart, ranging from 10-15 years old and most of them started at a young age of 3.  Most of them dropped out of school and decided to work as guides for tourists. They will tell you almost everything and anything about Callao, its people and the cave.

Wait till you see Tuguegarao airport's luggage carousel.. ahihihi

Pansit Cabagan - this is no ordinary pansit, there's just so many things going on with this pansit. From the airport, we hop into a traysi (there are no cabs in Tuguegarao, by the way) and asked the driver to take us to a food corner that serves Pansit Cabagan - we do not know the Ilocano dialect well, so lahat kami nagnosebleed, it was like "earth to manong driver" conversation..hehe. Note that, almost all Filipino food corners ("carinderia") in Tuguegarao serve pansit cabagan and each has its own secret ingredient making the taste a bit unique. Make sure to tell the driver to take you to the place known for the BEST served Pansit Cabagan in town. We tried to search for that 1 place serving the best cabagan but due to language barrier we just ended up with a randomly picked food corner which was not that bad at all. Now, we ordered 2 pansit cabagan and while we wait for our food, we noticed that almost all local customers are ordering cabagan - parang rice na hindi mawawala sa kainan. We absolutely had no idea what it tastes like. They eat Pansit Cabagan with chopped red onions and lots of calamansi. Pansit Cabagan is also called Batil Patung.


After our cabagan experience, we asked for directions on how to get to Callao cave - which turned out to be another nose bleeding moment. I just don't know what's wrong, I believe I did ask the right question and a simple one -"Paano po pumunta ng callao cave? Ano po sasakayan namin?" and they were like, "Huh? Callao??.." then, Ilocano terms were all over the place. That was a perfect situation where I could use the famous Rush Hour line - "Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth???" I mean, masakit sa ulo definitely... Despite that, we were able to get directions.. but it was a funny experience. All's well that ends well.

Tuguegarao has wide landscape. You'll see lots of rice and tobacco farms as you travel your way to Callao cave resort.

We took another traysi ride to get us to the terminal where traysis head toward Callao cave resort where Pinakawan River is at.

Pinakawan River - the clearest we have seen so far. This is the point where you ride a banca to get to the other side of the river where the main entrance to Callao cave is at.

This banca was boarding a family of 6 who was having an outing. Locals were kind enough to give us a ride to get across the river since we were waiting for more than 10 minutes for an available banca to get us to Callao cave's entrance.

This is the 120-stairstep that we're talking about - we didn't count it. From the entrance, our tour guide Jeric told us to bring water and prepare ourselves for the steep 120 stair steps.

 

Finally, we have arrived!


Known for having a chapel inside the cave. Weddings are sometimes held here.


The cave has 7 chambers. When you get inside the cave sunlight streams from above to shed light - high noon would be the perfect time to take photos of the chapel and the rest of the cave as the sun moves directly above the cave producing perfect light.









After Callao, we headed back to Tuguegarao's kapitolyo, where we looked for a hotel to rest and spend the night as we prepare for the next day's trip to Pagudpud.

It was an awesome experience. We spent the night at Hotel Carmelita with a few beers and pizza to celebrate the wonderful experience. Cheers!