My Baguio Escapades

BAGUIO has always been a point of interest for me. I’ve always wanted to visit it since I was a kid. I’ve heard a lot about it: the climate, the warm people and exciting places. Last October 21, my dream finally came true.

Day one

The night before I hit the bus, I felt kind of scared. I was worried about the possibilities of a surprise bad weather on the way to the City of Pines, scared about possible landslides and earthquakes (which, by the way happened while I was sleeping at a friends house that same night). But since I was wearing my scapular, I told myself that everything’s going to be fine and God will protect me all the way.

Anyways, from 8pm to 12nn, I was really wide-awake. We planned to catch the first trip at 2:30am but despite that, I really wasn’t able to put myself to sleep. Later on I figured that aside from anxiety, I was also quite excited and pumped up to go to “the” place that my adrenaline couldn’t allow me to cool my heels. So as not to waste my time, I started imagining myself strolling along Burnham Park, then being with the Igorots and even going to the Wagwagan shops, which Baguio has recently been famous for. Funny, but I felt like a kid again who is about to go to the carnival or the zoo. Gosh, I missed that feeling!

At 2:00am, we finally arrived at the terminal and after a few minutes, the bus went off (well, not literally ha?).

The travel time from Cavite to Baguio is 8 hours so you could just imagine how long our trip was. So in order to keep my sanity, I tried to mix some activities that only a bus ride can offer. First, when I felt sleepy, I took a nap. Then, when I’m awake, I tried to take pictures of my seatmate, Ces and me. I also tried to enjoy the rice fields, the carabaos and other interesting sites along the way. When I felt bored, I tried to recall my geography class and remind myself that Baguio is just a few kilometers away. Luckily, these things surely helped in preserving my energy and enthusiasm.

At around 10:30am, we finally reached Baguio City, called for a taxi and went to the hotel to drop our baggage.

The first thing I noticed was the cool and soothing breeze of the Summer Capital. All along, the books and other travelogue I watched on TV were true! Baguio really has a very fine climate. In fact, the sun was already up but we were still comfortable wearing our jackets!

Then, at 5pm, we’ve decided to go to SM Baguio. I was so surprised to learn that the mall doesn’t have airconditioning at all save for, probably the cinemas! Henry Sy can’t to that to Manila or Cavite or else we’ll all die of heat stroke!

Anyways, we walked around the mall and played some video games in Quantum. When we got tired, we went home.

At around 7pm, we had our first ever dinner in Baguio. We went to this grill house and ordered for some T-bone and sizzling chicken. The food was amazing and I felt very satisfied after an eternity of munches.

Our next stop was at Burnham Park. It was already nightime and the wind was so cold (good thing I was wearing a thicker jacket) but we still opted to saunter around the very popular park. There were several people strolling all over the park, too! From Burnham, we have an awesome view of the SM Mall. It (SM) was really a good site from there with all the lights showering the mighty structure.

After almost an hour, we came home and retired.

To be continued…