I have travelled and seen how beautiful Mountain Province is. Well, if you are a nature lover, you would deeply appreciate everything that you will see there. The trees, the mountains, the rivers, the lush green forests, rice terraces, and even the local people there.

Speaking of rice terraces, I was able to visit Bayyo Rice Terraces located at Brgy. Bayyo, which is one of the 16 barangays in Bontoc, Mountain Province. You can reach Bayyo Rice Terraces approximately 30-40 minutes (jeepney ride) from Bontoc Poblacion. This place maybe less known to others unlike the famous Banaue Rice Terraces, but just in case you are travelling going to Sagada from Banaue, you might want to stopover in this little village.

When it comes to sorce of living, Brgy. Bayyo’s farmers make use of the Bayyo Rice Terraces for planting crops like rice and vegetables which they deliver mostly in more commercialized town, the town of Bontoc.

I love visiting this kind of place, very far from the urban life in the metro. At Brgy. Bayyo, they live a very simple life. Look at this barangay hall. The topmost part serves as the office and the ground floor area serves as a cooking area.

We spent our lunch there together with some of their barangay officers and we ate the famous Igorot cuisine called “Pinikpikan”. It is made of native chicken, etag (cured and smoked pork), ginger and sayote. It’s like the Tinolang Manok counterpart.

That’s me and Rey Belen of www.Lifestylebucket.com enjoying our Pinikpikan food trip moments.

After our belly-busting lunch, we walked around a bit and saw this yellow church called San Pablo Chapel. This church was built by the American Episcopalian missionaries who were also the ones who developed the town of Sagada and also built a church there called Church Of St. Mary The Virgin. Read more at: www.girlandboything.com/places-to-go/visiting-the-church-of-st-mary-the-virgin-in-sagada/

People were really nice there. Chatting with us while chewing “Nganga”. They say it’s very good for your teeth, making it more clean and strong. Was curious to try it but I did not.

Life is simple there in Bayyo. It also became diversified. The population in Brgy. Bayyo is not just solely local Igorots, some are not even locally raised there and came from Metro Manila and then transferred there for good with the reason that they love the simple life in Bayyo.

If you are planning on your next trip, don’t forget to include and drop by Bayyo Rice Terraces.