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Baguio (General)

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marseilles
marseilles
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4 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Ani Festival

  • April 23, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by writeonthespot from Bacolod, Philippines
Ani Festival

Ani, in Filipino, literally means “harvest”. Filipinos, since time immemorial, puts emphasis on their association with their land. And, with the Philippines being a tropical and agricultural country, harvest time has always been a cause of celebration. Since locals get to experience the dry season with cracked land and brown plants, a rich harvest is something every family in the countryside looks forward to. The northern part of the Philippines has always been the country’s rice granary. Even the rugged mountains of Luzon have been transformed to steps of rice paddies which are more popularly known as rice terraces. The Dingras town in Ilocos Norte celebrates the Ani Festival every March with festivities, music, and color. Promoting the local culture of the northern people, Tam-awan Village pays homage to this festival by making it its theme for March. A large signage of “Ani Festival”, with a life-size figure of a man riding a carabao made of hay displayed, greets us at the entrance. Scarecrows and other highlights of the festival are scattered all over the artist village. For farmers, Ani Festival speaks of hope and a brighter tomorrow. For artists, it is the preservation of the culture of Filipino tribes. For tourists, it is a window to the farming and tribal lifestyle of the locals. Overall, it gives one a perspective of how people live life and enjoy it.

From journal Return to Tam-awan

Editor Pick

Arko ni Apo Gallery

  • April 20, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by manlalakbay from davao, Philippines
Arko ni Apo Gallery

Right across Tam-Awan Village (see related review) is Arko ni Apo Gallery (God’s Ark Gallery) owned by world-renowned artist BenHur Villanueva. He happened to be the elementary teacher of our male companions.

After Tam-Awan village, we proceeded to the Arko ni Apo Gallery. The moment we entered the compound, we were greeted by lush plants with beautiful bronze sculptures hanging all around the garden. The signs indicated they were the works of BenHur and his family. The gallery was full of his bronze sculptures, several paintings in various media and forms of installation art. There was even this wooden wall clock that I fell in-love with!

At another corner in the house was a mother feeding two children their lunch. My girlfriend and I proceeded to the stuff for sale, including native coffee, pure sunflower honey, sugar sticks and lumps and muscovado sugar. We both ended up buying the strawberry honey for P180.

We then talked to the lady of the house. The boys explained that her husband was their teacher in elementary. She pointed to the studio where BenHur and one of his sons were blowtorching bits of metal into various shapes for another sculpture.

We were met by a grandfatherly man, happy to see old students again. Though he doesn’t remember the boys (as he taught for thirty years and probably had thousands of students!), he fondly recalled the days during the time our friends were his students.

BenHur showed us around his gallery and explained the sculptures and who commissioned them. He also introduced us to his son Jikko, who took our photo with BenHur. And to his granchildren 7-year-old Nico and 4-year-old Laika who were both budding artists, having already sold some of their sculptures for $20. Talk about genius!

He led us to his coffee shop and served us some soya coffee. There he told us about his brother Roberto Villanueva who was a performing artist in Baguio. He died several years ago of cancer. Baguio artists converged and celebrated Roberto as they gave him a funeral pyre. That was the first and last in the city as the local government banned it afterwards.

Some new guests arrived, so he asked his son Bumbo to continue entertaining us. Bumbo was also very friendly. We asked him why is it that Baguio seems to be teeming artist, and he proved our theory correct. It could be the weather, he said. Especially for them who work with fire, the cool weather helps them stay calm and focused. Interesting, huh?

I could say that this was one of the highlights of this Baguio trip. The creative energy of the Villanueva family seem to come from positive things which through their art they spread around. So when in Baguio do try dropping by Arko ni Apo. You may just be rewarded with great conversation too!

From journal Food and Art Tripping in Baguio City

Holy Sweets!

  • April 20, 2007
  • Rated 5 of 5 by RaquelKato from Metro Manila, Philippines
Holy Sweets!

I’ve read about convents, monasteries, and seminaries all over the world that cook some mean, mouth-watering specialties, most of the time according to age-old secret recipes. In Baguio City, The Mountain Maid Training Center, run by the nuns of the Good Shepherd Convent, has long been known to sell the really good "ube" (purple yam) jam, strawberry jam, and peanut brittle. The stuff that you buy in this shop does not only satisfy your tummy and taste buds, but also help put some locals through school. Inside the shop, you will notice a board posting graduates whose schooling was paid for by Mountain Maid’s sales. Today, Mountain Maid offers a whole lot of other products, like cashew brittle, various types of cookies and peanuts, raisin bread, and blueberry jam. My favorites are sesame brittle, sesame seeds cooked in caramel, and Snowballs, buttery shortbread with chopped cashew nuts and rolled in some confectioner’s sugar. They now also have a snack counter right outside the shop. They sell really creamy strawberry gelato, although it might not be like the gelato that you get in Italian establishments, but it tastes good, especially since the province of Benguet is known for growing strawberries. They also have some items that are more filling: chicken empanada, which is a small pastry filled with pieces of chicken; mamon, a type of local chiffon cake; and, ensaymada, soft bread topped with grated cheese, sugar, and butter. Again, everything is made right in there in the Mountain Maid kitchen. Since I was a kid, we never leave Baguio without passing by The Good Shepherd Convent. While we’ve never stopped by this place to pray, but to shop for goods to bring home, we still have done a good deed: help support the education of some local kids. Perhaps, when you visit Baguio City, you can put this in your itinerary, too.

From journal Baguio City: Rediscovering this Cool City

Editor Pick

Strawberry Farms

  • March 18, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by marseilles from Metro Manila, Philippines
After our artistic stop, we drove down the road to La Trinidad, the town beside Baguio where one of the major vegetable trading posts is. I wanted to go to the trading post to buy vegetables; nowhere else in the Philippines can you buy vegetables as cheap as in La Trinidad. We weren't able to find the trading post; instead, to our delight, we saw a large sign pointing to the Strawberry Farms.

The Strawberry Farms is exactly that, a strawberry plantation along the side of the road in La Trinidad. Visitors are allowed to walk in the fields in which not only strawberry but various vegetables and flowers are also grown. Tourists may pick strawberries for a fee (double whatever the going rate for strawberries is at the time; when we went, strawberries were P70 per kilo [they were in season], so the picking rate was P140 inclusive of the price of the strawberries) and if you want to walk in the individual strawberry patches to take photographs, you have to pay P10. It's free, however, to simply walk in between strawberry patches.

On the side of the road, a row of vendors peddles various strawberry products: fresh strawberries by the kilo, strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream, strawberry wine, strawberry taho (taho is a Philippine delicacy made of beancurd and syrup), and various other delicacies. We sampled a bit of everything before leaving.

Later on, we brought out a kilo of the strawberries we bought and ate them every way we knew how: with cream, with condensed milk, with melted chocolate, with pepper (someone told me about this and it's pretty good!).

To get to the strawberry farms from La Trinidad's main road, make a left in front of the last gate of BSU where a large sign points toward the strawberry farm.

From journal Gastronomical Delights in Baguio, City of Pines

Editor Pick

Arko ni Apo

  • March 18, 2007
  • Rated 4 of 5 by marseilles from Metro Manila, Philippines
After our Tam-awan Village visit, we crossed the street to Arko ni Apo, home, gallery, and coffee shop of sculptor Ben-Hur Villanueva and his family. Ben-Hur used to teach art at the grade school at which my husband and a friend who was with us studied. We walked into Arko ni Apo and admired the various sculptures on display. In a back area, the Villanueva family was having lunch and we waved to them and looked around some more.

Through a glass door, we could see Ben-Hur himself and a young man working on some metal sculptures in a back part of the property. We decided to go up and introduce ourselves; my husband and my friend explained to Ben-Hur that they had both been his students twenty years ago. Ben-Hur was delighted at this revelation and a lively conversation ensued, and within the hour we met two of his sons, his wife, his daughter-in-law, and two of his grandchildren.

Ben-Hur's family is a family of artists. His late brother, two of his sons, and his four-year-old granddaughter are all artists as well.

Ben-Hur showed us his coffee shop called "Cafe Diperensiya," called such because most of the art pieces in the coffee shop were broken ("diperensiya") in some way. He treated us to some interesting soy coffee, and we ended up buying some sunflower honey which was on sale at the coffee shop as well.

To get to Arko ni Apo, follow this map to Tam-awan Village. Arko ni Apo is across the street.

From journal Gastronomical Delights in Baguio, City of Pines

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