This is P and me in Baguio circa 2003. To date, Baguio has remained our favorite Philippine city and at the flimsiest excuse, P and I would hie off, with a few days’ worth of clothing, to cool our bums in the summer capital. We started going there in our early twenties, often with a group of friends, sometimes with P’s colleagues when he had work there, but lately just the two of us. :)We go twice or thrice a year, in summer for our anniversary and in November for my birthday. Usually P would set aside money for our vacation, which we’d spend on accommodation, food, and pasalubong, and then we’d go home nearly broke, with only a few hundred pesos in our pockets (that we would still spend on a movie and dinner upon reaching Manila). Why not, right? God, we were fools.
Being the creatures of habit that we are, we observe little rituals when there . . .
ON DAY ONE:
1. Arrive early; coerce hotel staff to admit us ahead of check-in time, sleep a little.
2. Breakfast either at the Swiss Baker (ham, eggs, and coffee) or Café by the Ruins.
3. Go to the usual tourist traps (like the Botanical Gardens, Mines View, Maryknoll or Tamawan, etc.).
4. Lunch maybe at the Star Café, Rose Bowl, Mario’s or Sizzling Plate, or the Prince Plaza Hotel.
5. Back to our hotel for a nap.
6. 3 PM—walk along Session, peer inside stores, etc. (ASIDE: One time when we were headed to Swiss Baker for tea and cakes, we saw a guy hawking alimango. Good seafood, like crabs, shrimps, fish, and other shellfish, are a novelty in Baguio because it’s just not situated near bodies of fresh or salt water, so I thought this guy must have come from the lowlands. The hawker caught the eye of an old couple, both Baguio natives, and started to sales talk them. The woman asked the guy where the crabs came from. The guy answered that they were from Pampanga. The woman said, “Are you sure it’s Pampanga and not Tarlac?” The guy said, “Opo.” The woman said, “Kasi 'yang mga alimango sa Tarlac kumakain ng tae.” Hahaha! Good grief! But, seriously, is there truth to this? E-mail me an explanation at polarisns@hotmail.com. Believe me, I kill for this kind of information).
7. . . . or go to Narda’s, the Easter Weaving Room, Pink Sisters’ Convent.
8. Merienda maybe at the Swiss Baker (white chiffon cake and tea), Café by the Ruins, or Forest House (carrot cake and tea).
9. 5 PM is always Camp John Hay to catch the setting sun, which provides perfect lighting for kickass pictures.
10. Dinner at Salud (when it was still there), or Forest House (love the suwam na mais and bagnet before the entree), or Manor Hotel.
11. When the bar scene was still great, it was usually Legarda St. for music, beer, and R. Lapid’s chicharon until 12 AM.
12. Sleep (wink).
DAY TWO:
1. Aimless walk until Mass time.
2. Mass at the Baguio Cathedral or St. Joseph’s.
3. Lourdes Grotto for special intentions.
4. Good Shepherd’s and market for pasalubong.
5. Lunch.
6. Head for home.
We hate SM Baguio, it forced a lot of establishments to close shop and drove Salud (with its lovely Mediterranean cuisine) to Laguna (where they only offer so-so Philippine/Asian [fusion?] cuisine), but then how can anyone stay mad at SM? Now, we go there for toiletries and massages (at Body Tune).
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Btw, this is our current favorite boutique hotel in Baguio (the interior is said to have been designed by Tessa Prieto-Valdes). As far as Baguio accommodations go, it’s a bit pricey at PhP3K++ a night, but, hell, we deserve it.
