We had no opportunity to say goodbye to our hosts in Apayao since it was still early when we left. From our accommodation in Casa Lacuesta, we started what would turn out to be our longest one way road trip to date, beating by slim margin the 21 hours when we were en route to Bulacan from our Ilocandia loop.
We left Luna, Apayao at 06:00 AM, an hour late from the planned 05:00 AM. After two hours, we have reached Tuguegarao City, reliving some memories from recent past. The last time we were in Tuguegarao though, we took a plane. The second time around, we were on our road trip of a lifetime.
When leaving as early as we did, one thing could be certainly expected.
We had our breakfast in a fast food chain in Tuguegarao City Mall, after which, we resumed our journey.
Much like our Quirino trip where we went to the province via Aurora and left through Isabela, and similar to our Ilocandia trip where we traversed a different path on our way back home, our way going back home from Apayao would be a different route.
The first official pin on our map on that day was the province of Kalinga.
For a Tagalog who is not familiar with the local languages of the Cordilleras, it would be easy to associate the name of the province of Kalinga as the Tagolog word for care. The name of the province, however, is far different from anything that has something to do with giving care. It came from the Ibanag and Gaddang term for enemy, fighter, or the one I chose for the title of this entry, headtaker. It is said that the name came from the held tradition that the Kalingas, in antiquity, are considered by those from Cagayan and Isabela as foes because they performed headtaking attacks on their territories.
Two and a half hours from Tuguegarao, we finally reached the boundary of Kalinga.
Like Apayao, the province of Kalinga came into existence in 1995, after its split with the former when the then bigger province of Kalinga–Apayao was divided by virtue of Republic Act No. 7878.
As it has been ritualistic, we took our photos by the welcome arch. As they say in the age of the internet: it ain’t true if there is no photo.
Our stop at the Kalinga Welcome Arch was just the beginning of a literally long and winding road en route back to Malolos City. The plan was just plain road trip with occasional stops if we see something interesting. No specific destination has been determined for our route, and we had no idea how interesting the trip would really be. What was in store for us was more than what we could bargain for.
Renegade Junctures 
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