Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
DIRECTORY
Banks and exchange
There are plenty of ATMs in the
centre and you shouldn't have much trouble finding banks
with currency exchange; for emergency cash transfers try
the branch of Western Union on Session Rd down from
the post o
ce.
Internet access
Gayyem Internet Café, Abanao St at
Chuntug St (daily 7am-10pm; P15/hr;
T
074 424 3772);
Kamsahamnida Internet, La Azotea Building, Session Rd
(daily 7am-midnight; P15/hr).
Police
24hr police station on Abanao St (
T
074 300 9230).
Post o
ce
At the junction of Session Rd and Governor
Pack Rd (Mon-Fri 8am-5pm).
Kabayan and around
An isolated, one-road mountain village 85km north of Baguio, in Benguet province,
KABAYAN
makes a thrilling side trip - although because of the rough road you'll need
to spend at least one night. here was no road here until 1960 and no electricity until
1978, and this extended isolation has left the place rural and unspoilt, a good place to
experience the culture of the
Ibaloi
. The area around Kabayan is excellent
trekking
country, and climbers are also drawn here for the chance to ascend
Mount Pulag
, the
highest peak in Luzon.
Kabayan came to the attention of the outside world in the early twentieth
century when a group of
mummies
, possibly dating back as far as 2000 BC,
was discovered in the surrounding caves. When the Americans arrived,
mummification was discouraged as unhygienic and the practice is thought to have
died out. Controversy still surrounds the Kabayan mummies, some of which have
disappeared to overseas collectors, sold for a quick buck by unscrupulous
middlemen. One was said to have been stolen by a Christian pastor in 1920 and
wound up as a sideshow in a Manila circus. Some remain, however, and some have
been recovered. O
cials know of dozens of mummies in the area, but will not give
their locations for fear of desecration. You can, however, see several of them in
designated mountaintop
caves
.
3
Opdas Cave
At the southern end of Kabayan village; follow the signs from the main road • P20 donation
Before heading on to the other burial sites, be sure to visit
Opdas Cave
at the southern
end of Kabayan village. It contains around two hundred skulls and bones estimated to
be up to a thousand years old, discovered in a pile but now arranged. Nobody knows
why they were buried together, but one theory is that they died as a result of an
epidemic. Call at the caretaker's house (the green corrugated iron building); a member
of the family will open the gate and encourage you to pray to the spirits, asking them
to allow you to enter and leave safely.
MAKING A MUMMY
The history of the Kabalan
mummies
is still largely oral. It is even uncertain when the
last mummy was created; according to staff at the town's museum, mummification was
attempted most recently in 1907 but the wrong combination of herbs was used. It's
possible that the last successful mummification was in 1901, of the great-grandmother of
former village mayor Florentino Merino.
What is known is the general procedure, which could take up to a year to complete. The
body would have been bathed and dressed, then tied upright to a chair with a low fire
burning underneath to start the drying process. Unlike in other mummification rituals around
the world, the internal organs were not removed. A jar was placed under the corpse to catch
the body fluids, which are considered sacred, while elders began the process of peeling off
the skin and rubbing juices from native leaves into the muscles to aid preservation. Tobacco
smoke was blown through the mouth to dry the internal tissues and drive out worms.
