Celebrating our gifts of life in Baguio (Day 2)

Good morning, Baguio!

Sept. 25 - Happy 5th Birthday, Joshua!

Today my son Francis Joshua turns 5. My wife’s pregnancy with Joshua was definitely the most difficult. Thought at first by medical personnel as an ectopic pregnancy and then later suspected as a blighted ovum, this wonderful gift from God came out fine and at times, equally rambunctious as his older brothers. This year, by God’s grace we celebrate his birthday where we want it…in the highlands of Baguio!

Lots of yummy foods abound as sleepy head Joshua looks on

Everyone takes their breakfast

Mother and daughter put on their lip gloss

Off to our great Baguio sight seeing adventure

Massive urbanization: A mountain covered by houses

We couldn’t contact our friend Manong Pat Cutaran for this visit so we decided to hire the transportation services of the driver we met yesterday. We first went to the famous Bell Church, a Chinese religious temple at the outskirts of the city. This place always reminds me of Son Goku and the Dragonball animè series because of its Oriental architectural design and symbols.

First stop – the famous Bell Church

Photo ops for the family

Strawberry fields forever – in the valley of Trinidad, Benguet

From Bell Church we proceeded farther north out of the city to the Municipality of La Trinidad still in the Province of Benguet that surrounds Baguio City. The valley that we went to visit is famous for its strawberries. You can hand pick them and buy what you got. But I was told that many of the strawberries that you buy from Baguio most likely come from some other place in the province. In fact, farmers here do multi-cropping, planting several types of vegetables alongside strawberries. It must have been an issue of economics. Who knows, ten years from now it may be known as the Lettuce fields of La Trinidad.

Reasonably priced food stuff and handicrafts

can be bought in this strip

Robust commerce at the Trinidad Trading Post

Not far from the strawberry fields and the campus of the Benguet State University (BSU) is the equally well-known Trading Post of the province. Here vegetable farmers from various places sell their produce at very reasonable prices. If you are vegetarian or simply want fresh vegetables in your plate, then this is the place to get your greens!

Lovey goes flower picking (Broccoli and Cauliflower that is!)

Our first visit to the Easter Weaving Room

There is always something new to discover in Baguio. Our return back to the city and into an inconspicuously designed building along Easter Road in the Guisad district is testament to that maxim. Ignorant of its existence until today, we learned that the Easter Weaving Room has been around for more than a century.

Missionaries from the Episcopal Church in the United States led by Rt. Rev. Charles Henry Brent founded the Easter School in 1906. In the course of providing private education to Bontoc children, the missionaries developed a deep appreciation for the indigenous peoples’ traditional art of hand weaving. A lady missionary, Deaconess Hargreaves ensured that this art “would neither be lost or forgotten”. Weaving classes were held in this school to preserve weaving as a traditional art form. Products became perfect gifts for families and friends abroad that further spread the weaving room’s prominence for intricate quality work. After the Second World War, the need for native quality products demanded the setting up of an industry. The rest, they say is history.

Appreciating the fruits of the loom

The store surely has something for everyone

Clothing and office accessories, bags, foot wears and native costumes primarily are manufactured using acrylic material but some products are made from polyester and cotton.

At present, the Weaving Room continues to preserve the Cordillera weaving heritage by promoting native handicrafts and improvement of Igorot skills. In response to growing demands, the Easter Weaving Room has also diversified offering other handicrafts like wood carvings, products made out of rattan, paper, shell or coconut, oil paintings, Ilocano and Yakan weaving, including several local food delicacies.

The Holy Innocents Church: Episcopalians run the Easter Weaving Room

The motto “Quality Handwoven Products” is no fluke. It is a hard earned by-word for the Weaving Room that has honed to near perfection its art of weaving through its 102 years of history.

Want a souvenir that combines the artwork of the past and the needs of the present, I recommend that you give the Room a visit. I assure you it will be a pleasant one - a stopover you will not regret.

At the peek of the Lourdes Grotto

For many Catholics who visit Baguio, a pilgrimage to the Lourdes Grotto is a compelling journey one should not fail to take. As many believe, one cannot love Jesus and not be in love with His mother.

Such love for Mama Mary and her Son easily motivates pilgrims who otherwise may be daunted to scale the grotto from the foot of the hill to its peak.

At the foot of this famous Baguio landmark

Noon time has made us craving for good food. No better time than today to try another first – The Sizzling Plate Restaurant. Located in the heart of Baguio, the restaurant is conveniently located in the middle of Session Rd. You can’t miss it.

As the name implies, the restaurant’s specialties are primarily meat stuff cooked in hot iron plates and covered in sauces, in most cases, generous amounts of gravy. While their adaptation of the sisig wasn’t even close to the authentic Pampanga versions, their Salisbury steak and Java rice are very tasty and worth coming back to again in the future. Their prices aren’t that high and, very competitive I surmise with nearby establishments. That factor may strongly account for a midday full house despite the rains outside.

A sizzling lunch at the Sizzling Plate Restaurant

As my family waited for our hired transport to arrive, I glanced upon one of the first establishments my wife and I had gone to as a couple in Baguio. It was a hip coffee shop which opened in the mid 90’s called the Ionic Café. Junior then was only around three and a half years old and Odette was pregnant with Sonny Boy. You had to enter Tom Sawyer Restaurant at the ground floor to get to the café situated at the second floor. We went there in the evening and I remember entering a dim lit room with numerous magazines to browse. There wasn’t much of a coffee culture then in Baguio (or for the whole country for that matter). You wouldn’t see any of the Starbucks or Seattle’s Best, or Figaro or Bo’s we virtually now have at every corner of the street.

Shops like Ionic Café give the city character and a uniqueness that can only be found in Baguio. We didn’t have time to pass by the café on this particular Baguio trip so I didn’t get to find out its current state. Maybe next time.

For the city’s sake, I hope shops like Ionic Café continue to thrive.

Memories of the past: Sipping Mocha Java at the Ionic Café

After the transport finally arrived, we first went to a viewing deck along Kennon Road and did some sight-seeing. The view of the Cordillera Mountains was simply majestic! Baguio City is about 5,000 feet above sea level. At this height, one’s spirit gets further lifted up as you see yourself above the clouds as they gently stroke the mountains which are as old as time itself.

The majestic view of the mountains along Kennon Road

Spending quality time with my growing kids

In Baguio one is truly above the clouds

From Kennon Road we proceeded to nearby Loakan Road passing through the Baguio Export Processing Zone on our way to Fort Del Pilar, the home of the Philippine Military Academy otherwise known as the PMA.

Rain or shine, the PMA is a must see in Baguio

Sugod mga kapatid! (Charge on, my comrades!)

In front of the Melchor Hall

As the local counterpart of the United States’ West Point Military Academy, a great deal of military tradition rests on its aging halls. That tradition had seen some changes in the past decade or so with the acceptance of women cadets, a move that I’m sure elicited both positive and negative reactions from the military top brass.

Far away at the back is the Headquarters building of the Academy

Beside a concrete patrol ship

I believe that is an F-8 Crusader at our backs

In between a PAF trainer plane and the workhorse Huey helicopter

A refreshing site at the PMA – women cadets
(Does Baby Faith have military aspirations? Hmm….)

If you plan to visit the PMA, don’t forget to pass by their gift shop for some souvenirs. It’s a good place to buy all sorts of gifts items to remember your Baguio trip by. I suggest you take a look at their coffee mugs and key chains but the best buys are their durable shirts and cool sweatshirts.

After a quick break and merienda at a small eatery inside PMA, we then went to Burnham Park to do some serious boating. The rains have not subsided and continued to pour on this afternoon. This time it didn’t deter us from renting a boat and just having a wacky time at the lagoon.

Row, row, row your boat….
Boating under a heavy downpour at Burnham Park

To me, SM Baguio is both an eyesore and the most aesthetic of all SM structures

We passed by the Mines View Park late in the afternoon but didn’t alight anymore because of the rains. The Good Shepherd Convent where we wanted to buy delicious Ube Jam on the other hand was already close for the day. It was good that the Pink Sisters Convent was still open and we had the chance to come in and say our prayers of thanksgiving to God.

Saying our little prayers by the Pink Sisters Convent

We bought Ube and Strawberry Jams at the PNKY Home, a bed and breakfast at Leonard Wood Rd. Their version of the Ube Jam is a middle ground between the fine texture of the famous Good Shepherd Convent food product and the courser grind of the Tantamco brand. PNKY’s strawberry jam on the other hand much to my liking wasn’t too sugary to the palate, probably due to the supposed Swiss recipe that they followed.


Upon arrival at the Manor, the older brothers and I rummaged around the Mile Long Shopping Center (located at the foot of the condotel) in search of dinner chow. After a survey of the establishments we decided to order out two Double Brothers’ Burger and an order of Big Brothers’ Burger, a half pound flame broiled monster of a burger. I didn’t have it in me tonight to order the otherwise doubly tempting Brothers Pounder – a two ½ pound beef patty burger topped with cheese. (Maybe it was the price) But that day will come…Oh yes…that Pounder will soon be mine!

We also bought a cake for Joshua from the Everything Nice Cake Shop for his birthday.

By the Manor’s inglenook - Jr. holds Joshua’s b-day cake

while Sonny holds our delicious dinner from the nearby Brothers’ Burger

Joshua holds his “Everything Nice” birthday cake

Happy 5th birthday Joshua!

Joshua visibly had a great time celebrating another birthday in the City of Pines. I know how much he likes to spend time in Baguio, a fondness shared by the rest of our family members.

Years from now, if he ever gets to read back this post, I just want him to know that there are very few things that can give the same special feeling as celebrating the day you were born and spending it well with your loved ones.

Joshua and Sonny Boy combat each other with their “Yugi Oh!” cards

Happy birthday Joshua…happy birthday son.