Blast from the Past!: Remembering Baguio (February 2010)

  

Since we are going to Baguio tomorrow (January 31, 2014) I would want to recall my last visit there. Here is a repost of my visit to the Summer Capital of the Philippines.

A.M. Central market then took a jeepney to la Trinidad for the strawberry farms. Pick strawberries at PHP 200 a kilo. We just took pictures and just bought a pre selected 80 pesos a kilo.

We took a  jeepney to Bell Church. The Bell Church is a Buddhist, Taoist, and  Christian temple according to Lonely Planet.It is a series of pagoda-roofed structures a little similar to the Taoist temple in Cebu. We had lunch  at the foot of the hill leading to Bell church . The store is “Nathalie’s Food Haus”  that serves delicious Filipino food at 35 pesos 

per set. Meaning 1 meat dish, 1 vegetable mix, a hefty serving of rice, and soup. Filling!

Then we headed to Mine’s View Park. We took a 
Magsaysay jeepney this time. Then walked to Mcdonald’s session road to take a jeepney to Mine’s View Park.  Not alot of  things have changed in Mine’s View Park  though. A shop at the entrance to mine’s view park  got burned and only incinireated statues remained there. The place is 
full of pasalubongs and potted plants.

I felt a little sad seeing St. Bernard’s earning a living for their masters. They were forced to pose before cameras for a fee. I believed they are so tired PETA attention please! Horses were also marketed for this though. Well the elderly 
igorots as well. I wore their traditional costume to pose before the camera for a fee. Knowing that the profit would go to  these wonderful Igorot women. We walked a bit to Good Shepherd Convent  to buy some of their famous Strawberry and ube jam guava jam, and my favorite snawballs! White milk and cashew delicacy. We took a jeepney 
back to magsaysay to go back to Dely’s inn the one beside Benguet Pine Tourist Innat Chanung street… We rested a bit for the night  activities….. At night we went to Abanao street for the Abanao  nights a series of night concerts featuring some popular rock bands.  San Miguel beer and Abanao Square, a mall on that street sponsored the  event. We had a pitcher of ice cold beer, barbecue, and innards. After some time the event got so boring so we went back to our accomodation.

Day 2

Grand street parade

I actually expected alot on the parade day but I was a little disappointed. There were not much variety and the flow was a little boring. The kids were very colorful and graceful. The culture of  the Cordilleras should be kept alive. We went to Baguio Museum to get a  glimpse of “Mountain Culture”. And as usual I was astonished. Other  people are bored with museums. Not in my case I love museums. The  repositories of culture. We headed to SM baguio just to take a look.  The mall does not need any airconditioning and the view from there is  fantastic. We had our late lunch at Jack’s Baguio Restaurant. Our  plate of chicken, pork, vegetables and rice is really filling. I  highly recommend Jack’s on Session Road. A scoop of ice cream from an  ice cream bar finished our meal. We took a jeepney at Central market  to Quezon Hills to visit Tam-Awan village, a park that has some native huts transported from different highland villages. The place is also dubbed as an artist haven.  This is evident in their galleries and  cafe.

Beside Tam-Awan village you can spot a native Ibaloi house that  is accompanied by a tiny photo gallery of native ibalois. They serve  freshly brewed mountain coffee that tasted so organic and healthy. Jen  the one who was our host there was very accomodating. Across the  street there was another art gallery worth visiting. Suddenly it got a bit dark and we saw mist in the air. Jen said ” the heaven went down to earth” wow! We headed back to smoggy ( not foggy  like Quezon hills) downtown to stroll in wright park. The dyed pink  horses are parading their”my little pony” charm and the 200+++ steps  to the mansion was inviting us to start the trek. The mansion is fascinatingly constructed on top of a hill the guards told us that if  we want to get near he have to get permits from malacanang in Manila.  Uh oh! The reflections of the pines in the lagoon is worth taking  pictures of if indeed it’s a sunny day! We wanted to party at night  but I was too tired. Time to hit the haystack.

Day 3

We went to session road one chilly morning to witness the float  parade. And I was overwhelmed. The parade was like a miniature version  of the Pasadena parade of roses which I was hooked on when I was a kid. The parade was short but it was fun….

We know it would be hard  to get a ride to the bus station so we opted to go early. The traffic was so bad and two hours was spent just hailing a taxi. We took our bus back to Manila.

All in all ” Panagbenga” was fun! So go there next year!