On the move

We just spent three days on the most fantastic farm I think I will ever be priviledged enough to be on. We hiked an hour down to the small farmhouse and surrounding nippa huts, nestled into a series of terraces in a small valley. It rained a little, we did a lot of weeding, a little carrot planting, played some balderdash, ate good food, hollered at the seven dogs that followed everyone around. Good farm stuff. It was really cool to meet yet another of Anna's friends, Sherry, whose host family owns the farm and is looking to use it for environmental education. The farm was actually just classified as a WWOOFing (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), so people from around the world should be able to visit the farm and do a little work to earn their room and board.

Jeff and Anna had to rip me away from the farming life and throw me on the night bus to Banaue. It was an eight hour trip over frighteningly curvey, steep roads in a bus with brakes that worried Anna greatly, and thus, me even more greatly. We got into Banaue at 5 this morning, and have spent our time since then eating breakfast and trying to figure out exactly when the jeep leaves to go to Batad (apparently Batad is the ultimate place for rice terrace viewing). So far, people here have told us the jeep leaves at 9, 10, 11, 2, 3, and 5. But we know there is only one regular jeep, so it seems whenever this jeep leaves is really anyone's guess. Or we could hire a trike. Actually, we had just decided to take a trike, when a jeep driver said, no, he would leave in 1 hour with no special charges, and he will even come find us in the internet cafe when he's ready to leave. Or at least that's what he told me. We'll see.