Tagaytay to Baguio

Sunday, February 27th, 2011 in: News, Travel

We bid our farewells to the Gunns after spending a lazy Sunday morning teaching Dillon some yo-yo tricks and showing him the major yo-yo news and tutorial sites. I gave him a yo-yo I had been carrying around with me since I first left for China, originally intended  to be given to Janet’s cousin in Cebu. Since i won’t be going to Cebu and meeting Janet’s cousin, and Dillon expressed an interest, I decided to gift it to him to replace his old and busted Duncan fixed-axle Butterfly. With his penchant for self-taught skills, I think he could get really good if he sticks with it. He was desperately looking for a way to return the favor, but I assured him that all I ask in return is for him to keep practicing. He was a bit emotional about our departure, and I realized it must be hard for him, with guests coming infrequently for short periods, making it hard for the young homeschooled kid to make lasting friends. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of man he grows up to be, I’m sure we’ll meet again someday.

With Christie pressing peanut brittle into our hands for the ride back, we boarded the bus and rode back to Manila for a brief stopover before heading north to Baguio and beyond. Janet and I had made plans long ago to go up to northern Luzon to explore a part of the Philippines to which neither of us had been before. I now thought that Joemar would be coming too, but he decided to stay behind in Manila and concentrate on making money. This year would be the year for careers, they had decided. Joemar left his post at Bahay Kalipay in Palawan, where he had been practically unpaid for two years of service, and Janet decided she would spend some time with the Gunns, making crystal jewelry for them.

The bus ride was cold but uneventful. Maxed-out ACs are common on the night buses in the Philippines, where the cold air and loud stereos are believed to help keep the drivers awake. We arrived in Baguio at 6am and were greeted by guys holding signs for hotels, offering us a warm room. No thanks, we’re just here for the day; they quickly ignored us once they realized we meant no business for them, and we were left to our own devices. The walk to Durhem park was a brisk stroll through the busy part of town for the city really woke up. Only a handful of people were milling about the streets, preparing themselves for another day. We found the Cafe by the Ruins and waited for them to open. The breakfast there was one of the best I’d yet had in the country, and when I saw civet cat coffee on the menu I had to try it. If you’ve never heard of it before, you should look up Kopi Luwak. It was surprisingly good, with a smooth finish and very little aftertaste. We chatted with the older couple next to us, trading itineraries and bits of travel advice.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM-4Iw7stgM

We set out to walk to Tam-Awan, garden in the sky and “traditional Igarot village.” The village was just a small collection of huts, separated by small gardens and gift shops. We bought some things and caught a  jeepney to La Trinidad for strawberries. The pickers offered us a box, pointing to their muddy feet as reason enough. We rode back and got lost trying to find a temple on a hill overlooking the city.  Lunch at Oh My Gulay was a vegetarian delight (gulay means vegetables), leaving us certain that the best things about Baguio were the food. We set about finding a bus to Banaue, our next stop in the center of rice terrace country. We walked all over the city from bus station to bus station in the pouring rain, trying to find the right company to get us there, getting pointed in the wrong direction three times before we stopped at a travel agency and asked them for help. Our travel agent savior pointed us in the right direction, to a bus stop right by Cafe By the Ruins, where we waited out the rain and bought some  civet cat beans for souvenirs. So beat from the day, we headed to spa next door for some much-needed massages. Having all the world weariness beaten out of us, we floated over to bus station to begin our second 9-hour bus ride in as many days.

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