When we had our 3rd Quarter Regional Assessment regarding our work/accomplishments in the provinces, our regional coordinator for the program we are implementing spread the news that the National Program Office is planning to hold the 5th National Convention for the program implementers this year after seven straight year of not holding such activity. The news also builds my eagerness to look forward to it for the proposed venue is Baguio City.
The anticipation keeps building as the schedule is drawing near. It would be my first experience of what Baguio City is. I have been dreaming of taking a vacation there but my finances wouldn’t warrant such junket. I have been hearing from my relatives and friends, who have gone there, good news, praises, etc about the place. I have also heard and have a glimpse of the place in movies, newspapers and televisions, even on postcards and posters being distributed and marketed at various stores across the country.
On December 4, 2005 at around 7:00 in the evening, I had my first foot set on the soil of Baguio City in front of the Supreme Hotel & Convention Building. I had the first taste of the city’s air after disembarking from the Victory Lines bus.
Later that night (at 11:00 P.M.), I had the chance to walk on the city’s streets with a couple of friends. I put on my city short, t-shirt and wore no cap and jacket. It gave me the opportunity to feel on my skin the city’s climate and temperature especially that we went back to the hotel already past midnight.
On December 7, 2005, I was able to visit the ever famous and talk-about John Burham Park for I was intrigued of the lake which is always being featured in many Filipino movies with lovers go boating on it. My grandma was even bragging to me the beauty of the lake. I was wondering how it looks and where the water in it sprung.
My curiosity on the existence of a lake at that high altitude/location was answered by the taxi driver. It was made clear to me that it was sculpted by the hands of man. Knowing that piece of fact intensifies my desire to see the lake.
With a higher expectation on my mind, I was frustrated to see that it wasn’t that nice and beautiful as it was portrayed in the movies and relayed to me by my grandma and friends. The water has a brownish color which to my mind fish wouldn’t even thrive there but dengue-carrier mosquitoes. It is not to brag but we have beautiful rivers and lake-like pristine bodies of water in our place. You surely would enjoy boating and diving to its inviting clear waters.
I stayed four days in Baguio. My friends and relatives who have gone there have told me about its freezing/cold climate. That it would make you shiver in its coldness. So my grandma was so insistent that I should bring with me a thick jacket which would consume the whole space of my backpack. Instead, I brought a corduroy jacket intentionally sewed by my mother for the trip. Unfortunately, I had used it only once while I was there. It was the night when we bar hopped with our coordinator from the head office.
The climate of Baguio that time, for me, wasn’t really cold that it would send your body shivering. Perhaps, it would bring people form urban areas like Cebu, Metro Manila and Davao to shiver but it is understandable considering that these urban dwellers are used to temperatures above 32oC. Surigao has an average temperature of 23oC year-round. During the months of September to February, our temperatures are even posted below its average temperature.
I really had a pleasant time at the city even I had only a short stay there. I love their freshly picked and harvested veggies and fruits. How could I forget the first taste of a freshly picked strawberry fruit? I would say that I have a very distinct description of a fresh strawberry fruit taste. Who would even think that my description would be like this: “minus its flavor, it is like a macupa or tambis fruit sprinkled with sesame seeds. My colleagues burst into laughter upon hearing my description.
Anyway, I really wanted to feel and experience the freezing cold Baguio can offer. Unfortunately, a kababayan taxi driver told us that the coldest month of the year in the city is February. Hope to be back to the City of Pines, the Summer Capital of the Philippines, the City with Uneven Terrain, etc..
