The Story Behind the “Ulogs” or Heritage Huts
Nurture Spa Village Tagaytay features four authentic Heritage huts, painstakingly knocked down from the famous World Heritage Site Banaue Rice Terraces in Northern Philippines.
When Nurture Spa was just starting out, Cathy and her best friend Ana were looking for unique accommodations for overnight visitors for their projected guests. Cathy wanted to pursue the possibility of converting the Ifugao Huts to guest accommodations, having seen them in Baguio as mere tourist attractions. They jokingly asked their friend Fatima, an Igorot woodcrafts vendor from Banaue if she knew of any Banaue huts for sale. Fatima challenged them to go to Banaue and find out.
A 12 hour all-night bus ride took the friends to the town of Banaue where they met Fatima and her husband Manuel. Manuel trekked to nearby villages to search for huts to buy. They found four intact huts available for sale in a village 6 hours away from Banaue. Manuel and 4 Igorot men knocked down the huts (like lego pieces) and walked 6 hours back to bring the pieces of the huts to Banaue. They then took traveled 48 hours on a 6 wheeler truck to bring the knocked down huts to Tagaytay, where the original team of Igorot natives rebuilt them post by and post.
It was the first time of the Igorot group to visit Manila, and they had one wish as an incentive for finishing the huts ahead of schedule: to visit Manila Zoo! They finished the huts a week ahead of schedule and were treated to a trip to Manila Zoo, and Harrison Plaza as a bonus. Their feedback about Manila? Too hot, dirty noisy and crowded…..(we couldn’t agree more….)
