Weekend in the mountains

E and I decided to take the weekend to travel to Baguio, 7 hours bus ride north into the cooler mountains. Everyone from Manila joined us! This area of North Luzon is called the Cordillera. Its high mountains, reaching almost 3000 meters, are home to the Igorot people.

E says they call Malaybalay City (Bukidnon, Mindanao), where he goes to school, the "little Baguio', I guess because of it's higher elevation, cooler temperatures and similar pine forests.

Baguio was constructed as a mountain retreat in the early 1900s by the American military. Their Camp John Hay was captured by the Japanese in WWII before being leveled by the Americans to take it back. In 1990 there was a major earthquake, which reportedly did a lot of damage, none of which I could see now.

It has grown to well over two hundred thousand people, all in an area of pretty steep hills and narrow valleys. The town business center is jam-packed with buildings (some large but not tall), people, jeepneys, cars, taxis and probably a few unseen things. Up on a hill sits a lovely cathedral which we didn't have time to visit. Blame the bug I got! Over development is a big problem, alas!

In the town center is a lovely park with a large, rectangular, man-made lagoon, where we took a little gondola ride, along with everyone else as unskilled at rowing as I, and enjoyed fresh grapes and strawberries from the mountains.

So let me tell you about our stay there.

We arrived at about 9:30 p.m. on Friday, with no reservations. Dumb! For a while it looked like we'd have to sleep on benches in the bus station! Except that there were already people sleeping on them! But then appeared a saint who found a room within easy walking distance. Whew!

We walked to the "Transient House", went into the small basement room (the only empty one in the whole darn city as far as we knew), rolled our eyes, gulped and said, "Sure, we'll take it. 900 pesos, huh?" $22 seemed like a lot for this room! I wanted to tip the finder and all I had, of course, were five-hundred peso bills, so he was well rewarded! Did I learn a lesson?

When they left us alone we laughed in an "oh my god" way. It looked clean, but somehow didn't feel it. (See the slideshow of the picture painted on the wall.) Only one faucet worked in the bathroom - above the bucket, under the shower. Not the sink or toilet. Well, it would HOPEFULLY be for ONLY one night!

The foam mattress was pretty soft and bigger than the frame. It at least had a sheet. Being in the mountains, it was definitely cool, so I went and asked for a blanket, which wasn't really big enough for two people. We slept with all our clothes on, amazingly. That is, E did. He sleeps through anything! What a talent.

I woke up early to the sound of lots of people jabbering, laughing, etc. Grrr. Don't they know this is a hotel and guests are sleeping? HA. I looked out the door and it looked like a group of young adults, maybe a small tour group, who probably were on a vacation together, perhaps going further into the mountains for back packing. It was their breakfast time and departure. So, awake, I had the remains of some flat, dried pancake like things I'd gotten on the trip up. They were actually quite good.

Obviously motivated not to stay there another night, we got up and went back to the bus station to call other hotels. Thankfully we found one, Korean owned, quiet and pretty nice. And there was a nice view of the mountains out the back windows.

Lunch was a good Korean meal just up the street. Good, that is, until I started feeling yucky about three hours later. Then came a temperature, gut ache, yadda, yadda. By about 8 p.m. I was sure it was amoeba again, so off to the ER. Nice hospital, actually. Student nurses took down information, asked for a you-know-what sample, which I couldn't produce, so home we went with the specimen bottle that had a hole at the top of about a half inch! Now, how the hell is one supposed to shit in a bottle that little?

Home again I slept ok (except for a couple quick trips to the C.R.--comfort room, as we call it here). In the morning we were off again to the Baguio General Hospital, equipped with about a pea sized you-know-what scraped from you-know-where! What a hoot! About an hour later, I started feeling better and found out it wasn't amoeba. Ok, so did that mean I'd recover today? I spent much of the day in bed, just as well, as it rained most of the afternoon.

E escaped to the SM Mall, perched on the highest hill above the city, of course, and which was totally wall-to-wall with tourists and locals taking advantage of the 3-day Memorial Day Sale. We ended up there about three too many times for me. So many people, yuck!!! And huge lines for taxis!

There will be no more summer vacations there for me! The coolness was almost too much, actually, but a good break from the heat of Manila, which is, of course, why everyone goes there! Without heat I would find it way too cool for living, especially inside a house when you weren't active. We enjoyed the comforter provided!

Feeling better by Saturday night, we went to the Hotel Elizabeth, a lovely new, snazzy hotel in the hills above the city center. Their Japanese Buffet was accompanied by a live band with a very good balladeer. I especially enjoyed her "Girl from Iponema" rendition. It was a lovely, romantic, and relaxing evening, and all a new experience for E.

He said his ice tea was the best he'd ever had and he even tried some fresh lettuce salad, a first in his life. And he liked it, and has had some here since! Remember, he called ma a Carabao when he first saw me eat fresh lettuce!

I tried some red wine, which was much too sweet for my taste. Of course it was all a gamble since I wasn't sure I was well yet, and considering I also tried about 5 desserts: a yummy apple crepe, ube cake (ube is a purple root crop similar to sweet potato), custard pie, brownie, and some fresh fruit.

Speaking of food, I still haven't eaten a balot yet. I saw someone crack one open, suck out the juices and proceed to peel the egg. Oh my--blood vessels and baby chick hidden in the boiled egg white. No thanks! A friend from Massachusetts said her father could never get past the chick beak! No kidding! So I'm "chickening out" of my intention to try--for now, anyway! I still hear the man on the street every night reminding me!

Tonight E brought home some skewered chicken and chicken guts from the corner outdoor grill. I said, "no way am I going to eat street food, and especially guts!" Well, I tried a short slice. Yuck!!!! He thought it wasn't very good, compared to some he's had. Well, I did it and don't need to do it again! And who did he say found chicken feet his favorite food?

Oh, by the way, the Carabao we gave to E's parents last June delivered a female calf yesterday! I guess a male is worth more, but it's still good news. But now the mother can't pull the plow for two months and it's time to plant.

Since by Sunday morning I was almost back to normal, we went to the Tam-awan Village up in the hills above town. This is a small village in the woods with reconstructed native houses of the area tribes, along with four artists studios (rotating artists, not studios) and a gift shop and gallery of native art. I purchased a nice painting, some cards, and a wind chime that I love. I also enjoyed watching workers redo a grass roof. (Slide show)

We proceeded on up the slick mountain path (it had rained the day before, remember), to see the view. Supposedly on a clear day you can see the South China Sea, which is quite a few kilometers away, really! No luck, but there was a good distant view. I was pleased that I handled the climb so easily, considering I hadn't been feeling very energetic for a couple weeks, and also considering that I'd been sick and that my ticker has some weakness. I did absolutely fine, and chuckled that E was grunting along too! We enjoyed the view, took our pictures when other tourists weren't in the way, then continued carefully back down the path. A taxi took us to lunch (sounds funny that way, doesn't it?), where we had some decent calamari for appetizers, and I can't remember what else. Probably something vaguely Filipino!

We left town at 12:30 in an air conditioned bus, one of the nicer I've ridden in here. I noticed that full buses were leaving for Manila about every 10 minutes, returning those droves of city folk to their hot abodes!

Through the mountains we rode, up and down, me snapping pictures through the slightly dirty window, hoping that there might be a few that would turn out ok. You'll have to be the judge! The mountains are beautiful. We hadn't seen them Friday night because it turns dark by 6:30. BTW, Daylight here extents from about 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. year round. There are two seasons, Summer (dry) and Wet (monsoon). Wet is about to begin. I need to buy boots!

Down, down we went until we finally hit the flat plains, filled with rice fields. Once in a while I could see mountains in the distance, but I was amazed at the long stretches of utter flatness. It could have been Iowa! Actually I'll bet Iowa could have grown rice before they drained much of it. Maybe it did. Does anybody know?

We were home by 8, a little, no, a lot tired of being in the bus. At least there were two stops along the way. Well, since there are NO comfort rooms on any bus here, I'd hope so! When I was sick I was really afraid that I wouldn't be able to handle those long stretches! Thank God I recovered so soon! It could have been a very interesting trip!

The next time I go up that way it will be off season, and I'll go further north to see the famous rice paddy-covered mountains and maybe the mummy caves! And I'll remember to take my jacket and a long-sleeved shirt!

See the Cordillera slide show. And come visit!