Stairs and Ladders
Me and my good friend M conspired to spend a part of the long week-end backpacking in Baguio. Maybe its the long desired change of scenery, the opportunity to get away from the teeming Metropolis or simply satisfy our wanderlust. So during midnight at the start of the weekend, we hurled ourselves to good ol’ Victory Liner station armed only with our trusty (newly-bought) backpacks, a bottle of mineral water and walang kamatayang lakas ng loob!
The trip was worth the hassle and the heavy rains. It was an opportunity to exert more than my usual allocated effort. Being a city-born lazy ass–my exercise consisted of typing letters away in my trusty keyboard (to work, blog and basically surf the net). At least, I’ve built some worthy muscles not only for my fingers but also for my wetpaks. I’ve come to think that the trip toned my tights and butt which seriously needed work-out.
What do I think of Baguio? Well, it’s crowded even if the place was the closest thing to heaven and it gave you the opportunity to commune with nature (in Manila, what I do best is commune with myself). What only sucks is–aside from the awe-inducing fog, the ambiance and the pine trees–maaaan, Baguio is getting pretty crowded. There is not one space where there is not a mass of people (usually annoying tourists like us). A good part of session resembled a bit of Quiapo and thank god for the cold air or I wouldn’t have known the difference.
But unlike Manila which is so over rated and annoying–especially during summer (with the crowds, traffic and what-nots), Baguio gives you a sense of peace which is quite hard to find in other places. It’s a mixture of modernity and simplicity which you will only find in a place like Baguio. Being on top of everything–you feel like you’re one with nature and the feeling of any shite there is can be arranged as soon as the fogs descend from the heavens.
Baguio is heaven on earth. even if.
What I did best while there? any of the following: walk, hike, jog, trudge and even run. I’ve burned enough calories to make a dent from my usual collection of lard and my legs screamed pure agony. I needn’t undergo another leg of supplication when holy week comes around simply because I’ve already done my share while there. I’ve managed to walk from Botanical Garden to Mines View and even be upbeat while at it. while i am barely breathing, my legs giving away…it is still one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Me–the usual klutz that I am–also managed to find and hurt myself on any of the possible opportunities: trip and disappear on a side-street curb due to eagerness for ukay-ukay, stomp and bury myself in mud and even the occasional mindless trip while walking. I declare–I am the queen of klutz and proud of it.
The following are what I’ve learned while in the City of Pains…errr…Pines:
1. Distance is relative when you talk to people who are used to hiking kilometers and still consider this "near and walkable". On the course of our backpacking adventures, we’ve survived through the compass known as "magtanong sa paligid". Good meaning manangs, manongs and kuyas always assured us that a place (like Mines View) is walkable (from Session Road) and that is "malapit lang" Only for us to find ourselves doing an hour’s hike and our legs giving way. Suffice to say–we’ve developed an innate fear of the word "malapit lang"
2. Baguio folks have an innate love affair with Stairs. Everywhere I look, there are stairs! At the cathedral steps, the grotto (where I did 28 years worth of penance), the side street to this way and that—THERE ARE STAIRS! even to good ol’ SM Baguio (which I must say is waaay prettier that some SMs in Manila). Obviously,it’s because Baguio is situated atop the mountains (DUH) and people wouldn’t really get anywhere without them…but for a city lazy-ass like me, it was a new (and excruciating) development. This has made me think that maybe this is why Baguio peepz are so freaking buff and healthy, they have that great tanned and red-cheeked combination going on and they looked like cardio is just a normal morning thing for them (everyday commute). Unlike me–a born city dweller–who needed to develop a serious exercise and in a seriously bad shape 
3. Some Baguio peepz lack a sense of direction–and you can always expect a good natured Baguio peep to save us just when we are lost. Since we’ve arrived till the time we left, people are giving us wrong directions left and right. We’ve been running around like chickens with our heads cut off since we are given wrong street names (456 street, hello? more like 456 building with the street beside it), wrong location of bus stations, wrong place to turn to left or right. Just wrong! Good thing there are nice people there who always managed to save us at the last minute (hello, unsuspecting guy out to buy coffee who we managed to corner and ask for correct instructions on how to get to the Victory Liner building). To ask for direction, we had to confirm and reconfirm everything before we go on our way.
4. You have to pay for everything–you wanna pose with the humongous dog? that’s 20 bucks. with the ifugao posse at the Botanical Gardens, that’s 20 bucks again per person. with complete costumes to look like a true blue native on Mines View? that’s 10 per person. You have to pay for everything! But since you are a tourist and photo ops really your thing–then go ahead.
I’d really like to go back when I have the chance. Maybe someday. Klutz and stairs and twenty pesos non-withstanding.
