Turista, Part Two - City of Pines

Initially appeared on vox.com on 5/10/2009.

While the 48-hour delay caused us to miss at least one significant life event - notably, my brother's swearing-in as a lawyer - the rest of hour itinerary remained relatively untouched.  So, less than twenty-four hours after touching down at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, we found ourselves in transit to the summer capital of the Philippines - Baguio City.

The road trip itself was not unpleasant.  The ubiquitous traffic - which we had been looking forward to with equal parts gusto (from me) and dread (from Gianina) did not seem quite as bad as i remember.  The slowest going was to be had at EDSA and Urdaneta (which has had horrendous traffic for as far back as my memory allows), but otherwise we seemed to coast along fairly smoothly.  I was quite impressed with the improvements made to the NLEX and the apparent quality of the SCTEX.

It actually seems to me that the government is being proactive with laying down all this infrastructure; after all, with excellent roadways like those, the area should be ripe for investment (mental note: when i make enough money, invest in the northern provinces).

My only regret (yet quite a big regret it is) regarding this trip is that Baguio is no longer the city i remember.  Granted, i only visit roughly once every ten years, but my fond memories vis-a-vis the reality is so jarring a juxtaposition that i'd much prefer to just retain my fond memories and ignore what my senses tell me.

Gone is the cool mountain air filled with the scent of pines; in its place is the oppressive Manila heat dense with smog from hundreds of jeepneys.  Gone is the quaint architecture reminiscent of pre-war times; in its place are multitudes of sari-sari stores and shanties suggesting the inexorable creep of squatter colonies.  Gone is the unique "Baguio-ness" of the area; in its place is an SM mall and the same hustle and bustle found in Manila and Makati.

(Of course the Baguio of my memories may be a fictional construct, an idealized version of what i prefer the "City of Pines" to be, but i have a sneaking suspicion that it isn't.  Also, i was told that coming in the summer doesn't really do the ambient temperature justice.  Although - if the "Summer Capital" is as warm as the real capital this time of year... what's the point of going?)

To be completely fair, the trip was a success.  We spent night in an aircon-less hotel (at least the night air still cools down enough to be comfortable), met up with family at Vizco's (a local pizza-and-pasta place), managed to snag some plastic jars of peanut brittle at Good Shepherd, and of course - Adrian got to ride a horse.  But somehow it was just not the same as i remember.  Or as i think i remember.  Oh well.

Surprisingly, we managed to bump into one of the last people i'd expect up there.