Banaue- the hanging bridge

The hanging bridge straddles the river which cuts  through the middle of the town. Made of scraps of iron sheets put together by wires, it swings as it bears the weight of the locals who cross it everyday; this path enables them to reach the lower part of the town in a few minutes instead of half an hour.

The people here are used to heights. They can look down at the river while crossing the bridge and they don’t feel any fear or anxiety in doing so. For them, the experience of being suspended in air, amidst the high mountains and rivers, is a very natural thing.Their kids grow up crossing such bridges in other parts of the mountains.

M, my friend, was so scared of crossing this bridge, more so when three men came down the steps and started walking toward her, causing the bridge to sway. She wanted to tell the men to stop so she can cross over first. The men did not stop; I didn’t tell them to stop because I felt foolish doing so, seeing that there was no real danger. It might have been insensitive of me but I was confident she would be okay. And she was, after going through some scary moments up in the air between river and sky. It was exhilarating despite the fear, but she didn’t venture to cross the bridge again to go back to the same end where we came from.We climbed the steep stone stairs up the mountain into the market instead.

 I could not imagine how fear of heights can be so real to some people. I think this is for people who have grown in the city and have not been out to the countryside so often as to get used to the expansive space above and below them. It is truly a strange thing to me. I guess civilized man started to have the fear of heights and open spaces when he started living in the city and lost the natural human response to high mountains and the vast wide sky. For people in Ifugao and the Mountain Province though, immense heights and spaces will always be part of their reality.