Baguio Insider

Christmas for me is always spent in Manila while New Year’s Eve, recently, has been celebrated in Baguio. Thus I will be heading down in a few hours to celebrate the noche buena with my family.

I wish to take this occasion to wish all of you a Happy, Happy Christmas filled with family and memories, with gifts of love, and a Christmas table brimming with goodies. I thank you also for all the togetherness this little blog family has enjoyed on my first year of blogging about Baguio. Your comments have warmed my heart for a whole year and this is the best gift any blogger can ever hope to receive.

For those of you visiting Baguio, thanks for spending the holidays here, keep warm, enjoy the bonfires, buy some sausages and marshmallows to roast, check out the EPZA-Loakan Bazaar and take lots of photos before the fireplace. Have yourselves a chilly green Christmas and we hope you visit us again in February for the Panagbenga.

See you in a few days’ time!

Although visitor volume figures aren’t in yet, judging from the bumper-to-bumper traffic on almost all major roads in Baguio, especially Leonard Wood Road (connecting Session Road to Mine’s View Park — with Wright Park, the Mansion, Botanical Garden, Teachers Camp, Baguio Country Club and Camp John Hay, etc. in between), all I can say is that Baguio is back as the favorite Holy Week destination in Luzon.

And the weather cooperated very nicely, too! April showers were just right: two minute drizzles enough to cool the city down by a few degrees and get rid of the dust but light enought not to make Baguio muddy (important for the horseback riding areas). It was cool enough at night to light up the fireplaces for that “total Baguio experience.”

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The Baguio Flower Festival (Panagbenga) is now on its 3rd week and we just finished our very popular, ultra colorful, well-attended Parade Weekend: Street Dancing Competition on 24 February and Parade of Floats & Marching Bands on 25 February. The weather cooperated quite nicely and the crowd, though large, was pretty disciplined and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely. Since this is the first time since 1987 that a special holiday was not declared to commemorate the EDSA Revolution that toppled Marcos, many potential visitors had to either cut their trip short or cancel altogether. Still the attendance was pretty large, the traffic a little less than past years, and the mood just as festive.

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Is anyone from Manila coming up for the Panagbenga street dancing and float parades this weekend?

Without Monday, February 26, 2007, being declared a special holiday to commemorate the “People Power Revolution,” many visitors’ plans to attend the highlight of the Baguio Flower Festival have been cut short or cancelled altogether. Of course, should Malacanang Palace make the announcement tomorrow, there will be a mad scramble for rooms in the different hotels.

Please see this weekend’s schedule of events below:

Feb 24 - Street Dancing Parade along Session and Harrison Roads with a spectacular fireworks display in the evening.

Feb 25 - Parade of Floats & Marching Bands

What other solutions can there be for those who really want to watch the parades? Come up tomorrow, Friday, after school or work, so you can get some rest and find a good vantage point for the parade on Saturday. Leave Sunday evening so you can make it in time for work or school on Monday. If it is declared a holiday, then leave on Monday afternoon after shopping at the market, the ukay-ukay, or that nice factory outlet of export overruns at Camp John Hay.

This year’s parades promise to be bigger and better than the past years’ so it would be really a great excuse to flee from Manila’s summer heat. Visitors from Central Luzon and Ilocos have it good — they’re just 2 to 3 hours away from Baguio!

Of course you can watch the live TV coverage in your airconditioned rooms but, like I said before, you’ll have to suffer the shallow commentators, plus you’ll miss all the parties and fireworks at night!

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Ok, sad news. It’s definite, Monday is not a holiday. You’ll have to squeeze shopping into just a few hours after the parade.

Tip: All “pasalubong” items cost more or less the same everywhere, so buy them before going down at the bus terminal or at the stalls along Kennon or Marcos. As for veggies & strawberries, sorry, you’ll have to go to the market for that — and you can imagine prices will be higher than usual.