Revisiting Tuguegarao, Piat Basilica and Callao Cave : Lakbay Norte Series Day 1

Day 1 : After four bus stops and almost 11 hours of land travel, we finally reached the City of Tuguegarao in Cagayan Valley. It may take forever before you reach this northern province but I really don’t mind since its one of my favorite destination among all the provinces in the entire archipelago. For the unfamiliar, Tuguegarao is the center of trade, education, culture and tourism in the province of Cagayan Valley.

Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral is the seat of the Archdiocese of Tuguegarao

It was almost 6:30am when we arrived in the City and upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by the local tourism officials including the one of the most accommodating DOT Regional Director Blesilda Diwa of DOT Region 3.

Miraculous Our Lady of Piat Basilica

Before heading to our next stop, we had our breakfast and tour briefing at the Parish Pastoral Center in Tuguegarao. Everyone enjoyed the local breakfast, CNCVP made sure that everyone will have a taste of the local fares like my favorite Pancit Batil Patong and the Cagayan Longanisa.

Paua : Sweets from Piat

After having breakfast, we then headed to the Our Lady of Piat Basilica Minore Church – a popular pilgrimage site in Cagayan Valley which is 41 kilometers away from the City of Tuguegarao. This is my third visit to the Basilica but this time I had a chance to visit and explore their museum that houses some religious artifacts which was kept and preserved by the parish pastoral office.

Stairs to Callao Cave

Outside the miraculous church, a number of souvenirs and “kakanin” shops are available if you want to sample local delicacies. I finally got the chance to tryout their popular “Paua” – a sticky rice cake with ground peanut and brown sugar filling much like our favorite chocnut.

The local tourism officials realized that we enjoyed Paua too much so they gave us several plates for us to munch while heading to our next stop – the popular Callao Caves of Penablanca.

Chapel inside the Cave

It was my 5th time to visit this popular spelunking site but each trip brings new excitement and exhilarating fun. The cave is pretty much the same as before but experiencing it with new friends is totally a different story. The whole group was subdivided into three, one of which decided to visit the challenging Sierra Cave… How Challenging? Well this cave can be slippery most of the time.

Having that in mind, I decided to go for the familiar and easy since I’m not really prepared enough to brave the slippery trail. I have never tried counting the number of steps to reach the huge cave entrance but according to the local guides, It will take exactly 184 steps to reach the entrance. Reaching the halfway of the trail will give a birds eye view of Pinacanauan River.

Trekking in Callao

I must commend the local guide who gave us a tour of the cave’s six chambers. On each stop, he always made sure to describe some of the most interesting stalactites and stalagmites formation inside the cave. Apart from the massive rock formations, two skylights and an interesting chapel inside the cave, the local tour guides are now offering another way to enjoy the Callao Cave by introducing a short rappelling adventure.

Lito Luna, Ivan Henares, Vince Araneta and Director Belisilda Diwa

Its almost lunch time when we left the cave to cross the Pinacanauan River for some refreshments and lunch. Upon arrival in the riverbanks, we were welcomed by Penablanca Festival Street dancers wearing colorful costumes while performing in the riverbanks to honor the beloved Virgin Mary.

Pinacanauan River

We were supposed to wait for the daily circadian flights of local bats from a huge bat cave located in a limestone wall within Pinacanauan river but the weather was a bit uncooperative so we finally decided to go back to the put in area.

We reached the city proper in just about 30 minutes and we finally met our hosts. We were distributed in different hotels within the City and  I’m currently staying here in Candice Hotel, few steps away from Paseo Real and Peter & Paul Metropolitan Cathedral.

Lazy Time:)

Im now preparing for our dinner which will be right across the street:)

Up next : Day 2 : Tour of Cagayan Valley Old Churches, Lunch in Pagudpud and Overnight in the City of Laoag.

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