Baguio in Spring
The strawberry farm in Benguet
I have been to the City of Pines before, enjoying its pleasant chill and its usual sights like Mines View Park, Burnham Park and Camp John Hay. But it was only my most recent visit to Baguio City that I saw another side of this mountain haven most famous for its cool weather.
My latest trek coincided with the Philippine Military Academy’s alumni homecoming last weekend. It meant that the premier military school had an “open house,” allowing visitors to actually see for themselves the barracks of its snappy cadets. It was my first time to enter Fort Gregorio del Pilar and I was immediately awed by the hundreds of pine trees that grew by the mountainside in between buildings.
What caught my attention while walking through one of the barracks of the cadets (I think it was home to the Echo and Foxtrot companies) was the neatness and orderliness of the bedrooms.
Each room housed two double-deck beds, all neatly made with the bed sheets tightly tucked and smoothened out, without a single crease.
Underneath the bottom bunks, shiny shoes were lined up side by side, with the shoes’ gleam competing with that of the white-tiled floor. Cadets were required to keep their rooms neat and tidy at all times, and this apparently extended to their desks and closets!
A peek at one of the closets would certainly send an obsessive-compulsive neatfreak nodding in satisfaction. All the coats and pants were neatly hung, while shirts and sweaters were color-coordinated as well. Shirts with the PMA logo were folded in such a way that the logo was prominently displayed. On the topmost shelf, even toiletries were arranged symmetrically. It was like looking at displays in a store!
Later in the day, my friends and I decided to unwind at the famous Baguio Craft Brewery along Marcos Highway. It had an amazing view of the city’s lights at night, not to mention the chill that contrasted with our freshly brewed beers. The bar had a taplist of 16 freshly brewed beers, ranging from fruit beers to various ales. You can actually see the nozzles from which they fill our glasses with.
The ladies managing the bar allowed us to take a sip of their brews so we could decide what to order. The fruit beers like the lagud (strawberry fruit) are a bit sweet, while the Hop Attack (imperial India pale ale) was more bitter. They also had specials like hot buffalo wings, smoked pork belly, yakitori and other dishes to munch on. However, don’t expect any non-alcoholic drinks in this bar! They really offer only beers, no coffee, tea or mocktails for the non-drinkers.
The bar itself had that genuine brewery feel. Enormous casks served as tables while sacks of malts and hops give it that storage-like feel.
Other customers prefer to sip their beers at the roof deck, which offers a great view of Baguio City at night. A live band belted out acoustic ditties, while an enormous heater did little help to chase away the cold weather.
The following morning, we got up early to go strawberry-picking at the strawberry farm in La Trinindad, Benguet. I have been quite curious about the strawberry-picking experience, not because I loved strawberries, but because I hated them. However, I changed my mind as we walked through rows and rows of bright red strawberries, so ripe that the sweetness just invaded my mouth when I tried one.
Our group paid P450 for the experience and to pick one kilo of strawberries, while booths outside offered half a kilo of strawberries for P125 (for bite-sized ones) or P150 (for larger ones). The packed strawberries came in sturdy plastic containers which lessened the risk of the fruits getting squished during the drive back home to Metro Manila.
I used to say that Baguio City was so over-rated because of its crowds, the traffic jams during tourist season, and the usual sights that are already too common. My visit last weekend proved otherwise, that each place always has something new to offer – you just have to open your eyes.