Pottery, Weaving & other things to see in Sagada

We skipped the caves in Sagada and decided to take a walk around to see what else was there. Sagada is known for its traditional pottery and woven products, so that’s what we wanted to check out first. We saw the famous weaving shop when we arrived, so we decided to start there.

The weaving shop was only about 2 to 3 kms away from our lodge, so we decided to walk up the street so we can look around the neighborhood, too. Where we were was just a street with different lodges and small restaurants run by locals. There were plenty of small food places to choose from, but since it was our first time in Sagada, we opted for the ones that looked clean and well-kept. It helped that some of them were listed in the recommended places by our travel group agency.

I’ll talk about food in another blog.

Sagada Weaving

The shop by the road is actually the site where the sewing of different woven products are done. This is also where they display them. There were purses, bags and other local products. They even sell coffee! Jay wanted to try their Arabica one, so he got that. Because we’re now older, we sometimes experience side effects of caffeine, and my husband was told that Arabica won’t cause palpitations or trigger anxiety or panic attacks.

Taking photos were not always welcome, but the sign above said to seek permission before clicking. The message on the board went along the lines of — they are not a showroom but an actual work places, and expect the tourists to be mindful not to distract their staff as they do their tasks.

I decided not to take photos and instead check out the products. We bought a purse and a sling bag which I use all the time nowadays.

The man who managed the store told us to go to the building behind if we wanted to see the weavers at work, so we walked down the path towards the other building. We’ve seen Sagada weavers at work with their looms before, at an expo at SM Aura, so it wasn’t really anything new to us, but we were curious to see how their workstations look like where they actually originate from.

We had cocoa right outside that building before we proceeded to Ganduyan Museum. The weather at that time of day wasn’t very cold, so we weren’t really able to enjoy that moment that much. But the drink was delicious, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that we associate drinking cocoa and coffee with cold weather when in the mountains, that’s all.

Sagada Weaving has been around since 1968, providing many locals of Mt. Province their livelihood.

Sagada Pottery

Sagada Pottery is 1.9 kilometers away from Sagada Weaving. We took a tricycle going there because we weren’t sure where it was, but we walked back to our lodge after the kids did their activity.

At first, only Judah was excited to try pottery, but after watching him mold the clay into a bowl, both Pablo and Lukas became curious, too, and took turns in trying to creating their own bowls.

We met Ceramic Artist, Teresita Baldo, who told us that pottery was introduced in Sagada by an American named Archie Stapleton who saw the potential of clay and soil pottery as an alternative livelihood for Sagada locals. Stapleton, born to missionary parents, grew up in Sagada in Mt. Province and only left when he entered his teenage years. 40 years later, he came back to organise workshops to teach the Igorots how to make pottery.

Teresita also told us that the clay and soil used to create their pottery are of the highest standards. Did you know that their products are not only beautiful, but also oven-safe?

I mentioned in my blog, The History & Sights of Sagada, that it’s the Americans who introduced many things to the people in this place? Pottery was one of them

The kids enjoyed learning how to make a stone bowl. We only paid Php 100 for both the History lesson and the activity, but the clay was put back into their stash because we opted not to have it delivered to us. You have to pay Php 300 and the shipping fee to have your bowl sent to your house. It takes time for the bowl to set and you won’t have time to wait for it, so they’ll have to ship it to you.

 

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After leaving Sagada Pottery, we decided to walk all the way back to our lodge. The tricycle was a bit too pricey anyway and we love walking a lot and just taking in the locality of Sagada. We love passing by trees and we peeked at steps leading down to private villas, possibly by wealthy locals. It also made it easier for me to appreciate the architectural designs of mostly cafes and restaurants along the way.

We went to Lemon House to check their famous lemon pie after an early dinner but they ran out for the day. We placed an order for the next morning, but we weren’t able to pick it up because we all left much earlier at 4am the next day to have breakfast and coffee at Cafe by the Clouds with our travel group. We just opted to buy a lemon pie from the restaurant below our lodge instead, and gave the claim stub for Lemon House to one of our guides. I hope he’s not sick of eating it, haha! I’m sure he’s had that too many times growing up.

Cafe by the Clouds

Cafe by the Clouds is also known as the first inverted house in Sagada. It has a deck that provides a spectacular view of the sea of clouds in the morning. It would’ve been a really nice place to hang out at, except that I felt that it was a bit too crowded with tourists. Nevertheless, I feel that the inverted house was a must-see sight in Sagada, so all’s good.

(READ: The Sea of Clouds & Marlboro Blue Soil in Sagada)

We only spent three days in Sagada. Most of our first day was spent being lugged around in the van by a driver as he desperately tried to find a spare tire for our busted one. We were on our way to Atok (which turned out to be closed) right after breakfast on our third day and I honestly felt like we should go back one day soon and stay a little longer. Perhaps, have the courage to spelunk at Sumaguing Cave and hopefully, we also get to see Bomod-ok falls which I felt was a huge miss. The boys, I think, would’ve enjoyed the hike because they loved the hike up to see the sea of clouds and say they want to do it again.

I asked them to choose what they prefer – the beach or the mountains – and they all answered — the mountains.

I feel the same way.