Getting Around Baguio

I just came back from a relaxing vacation in Baguio and just finished scrapbooking photos from my sister and I's trip. We have 80 pictures taken from Camp John Hay we almost run out of pages. We spent about 2-3 hours just taking pictures and walking at the park. We found a playground and a swing. It's been forever since I've been on a swing so I got very excited.

We went to the Cemetery of Negativism, Bell House, Amphitheater and many more. Of all the places we went to, I like Bell House the most. It's an old Victorian house which is a little spooky inside but I love the antique furnitures. I checked out the baby grand piano as well as every room in that house. I felt something strange especially in the dining room. Our digicam kept clicking even if we're not taking pictures. 

Later in the afternoon we head over to SM and cooled down with yummy treats from Cerealicious. I had one of those flavored cereal with vanilla ice cream on top we want some more we returned the next day to try other flavors after we got tired looking for ukay ukay. Our vacation won't be complete without grabbing a bite at Session Delights. We ordered pancit, it's really tasty and banana split for dessert. I miss Rainbow Cafe's "rainbow rice" too which is made up of vegetables, pouched egg, lechon and chicken. This local restaurant is located somewhere near the marketplace it's worth coming to. 

Jugno's Monster Pizza

I'm no pizza fan so I'm not aware that a monster pizza exist until my officemates ordered Jugno's pizza and had it delivered in the office. The pizza box is almost the size of our mini table. I told my sister that we should try Jugno's so one day we ordered a 20 inch size of 2 of their classic flavors "spicy taco" and "beef n' mushroom" in 1 box. Each flavor was cut into 16 slices It's a lot cheaper since for that size the box only costs Php448 compared to Pizza Hut or Yellow Cab. Aside from their 24 hour delivery, you can have more than 1 flavor in a box and customize the slice of your pizza. Jugno's tastes good except the crust. 

I'm not sure if I will order from Jugno's again but it's worth a try. 

Parol in the City

Christmas is just around the corner so I decided to hang our parol in the terrace to feel the holiday spirit. Our lantern is quite an eye catcher at night but some of the lights will not turn on anymore.


There is no greater symbol of the Filipino Christmas spirit than a parol. I thought the history of Parol is worth sharing so I decided to copy and paste the information from this website called MyParol.com in my blog.

The History of Parol Christmas Lanterns

Cultural Origins

In the Filipino language, a Christmas lantern is called a parol. There's no greater symbol of the Filipino Christmas spirit than the parol. All through the Christmas season, star-shaped lanterns can be found hanging outside homes and along the streets of cities and small provincial towns, farms, and fishing villages. For Filipinos, making a parol, decorating one and lighting a parol is an expression of shared faith and hope.

The earliest parols were traditionally made from simple materials like bamboo sticks, Japanese rice paper, crepe paper, and a candle or coconut oil-lamp for illumination; although the present day parol can take many different shapes and forms. Around Manila, parols made of Capiz shell or plastic illuminate the city. One of the most spectacular innovations can be found in the city of San Fernando where 20 foot tall parols with kaleidoscopic blinking lights are paraded through the streets on truck beds. Whatever the material or shape, the parol is a recognizable symbol to all Filipinos and represents the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men to the manger of the newly-born Jesus Christ.

The word parol (pronounced “pah-roll” with a rolling "r") comes from the Spanish word for lantern, farol. According to World Book's Christmas in the Philippines, the roots of the parol can be found in the Mexican piñata. The piñata came to Spain from Italy in the 1300's, spread to Mexico and finally came to the Philippines when the Spaniards brought Christianity to the islands. The book A Child's Pasko: Christmas in the Philippines explains that the parol was originally used to light the way to church to attend the daily Misas de Aguinaldo, or Gift Masses, which begin on the 16th of December, and ends with the Misa de Gallo, or "Mass of the Rooster" at midnight of Christmas eve. The midnight mass is followed by a usually lavish meal at home, which is always anticipated by the kids. The first Misa de Aguinaldo that is held at dawn on December 16th marks the official start of the Christmas season.

To see the peak of the Festival of Lights in the Philippines, one must travel at night from December 16th up to January 6th. There you will see all kinds of parols.

The parol is a main component in the Filipino celebration of Christmas, which has become a Festival of Lights. The festivities cover the months ending with “BER” which are September, October, November and of course December. Christmas music can be heard sporadically in the beginning of September, and one could feel an increasing sense of the coming of Christmas as more and more Christmas songs are played on the radio, and as more homes, businesses, streets and parks become brightly lit with wonderful colors. The malls and department stores are the first ones to decorate, and showcase their mangers and beautiful parols.

A Christian Tradition

The parol was originally intended as one's offering to glorify the Lord. It was an important part of the devotion to faithfully attend the 9-day Misas de Aguinaldo, to petition for special favors. After coming home from church, instead of stowing the lantern elsewhere in the house, they would proudly hang it outside the window. At night, they would illuminate their parols with candles or coconut-oil lamps to display their art. The villagers would walk around to appreciate the work of others and see who had the nicest design. When new stylistic variations appeared, such as different kinds of tassels, streamers, or crowns around it, others would innovate their own creation, and make plans to display his "better" parol the following year. This friendly competition was encouraged by the church, and the Spanish priests offered incentives for the people to invest time and money to make their parol "the best" as a devotional offering to Jesus. That is why during the Christmas season, some made it a practice to visit various churches that yearly display these new designs and better craftsmanship.

The Spanish priests of old might have walked around the villages at night to appreciate the candlelit parols by the windows of his parishioners, and appreciated the beautiful symbol of the star that led the three wise men to Baby Jesus. Certainly there must have been friendly reminders to promptly blow the candles out before they go to bed.

During the Spanish times, the pale colors of papel de Japon were predominant in the designs.

Source: http://myparol.com/abouttheparol.html

Tech Support Baby

I got so stressed out with my niece's netbook last week when my dad bought a SmartBro prepaid kit in SM Baguio but she couldn't get Internet to work using usb modem that came with it. My niece was told to have the system reformatted for some reason. 

I bought buying an HP external dvd writer from Cyberzone located in SM Megamall so I can reformat my niece's netbook.  I got really OC trying to fix her computer I couldn't sleep until I fix the problem. I didn't want my dad to worry, there's no other way for my niece to have Internet access to do her homework in Baguio without prepaid Internet at least. 

Having no Internet these days would be such a pain. 

Typhoon Frank

Typhoon Frank brought major damage when it hit the country last Saturday.  


It took me an hour to get a ride home after my shift good thing a friend of mine stayed with me until a jeepney came to my rescue. I'm still lucky that the flood has already subsided it usually goes up to 2 feet in our area when it rains. There's still a power outage due to strong winds when I got home so I can't cook my food my I decided to eat out instead. Thank God the weather is okay now, the sun's out. 


A flood visited our house here Antipolo during the height of the storm last week so I decided to check if anything got damaged or something buts so far everything looks okay. We don't have Internet access in Shaw, good thing we still have it here so I'm able to can check my email. Mom swing by earlier and had my cousin cook food for lunch so I'm still kinda stuffed. My mom's the sweetest, she just doesn't know that she is hehe. My parents are going back to Baguio later today and I'm not sure when they will be back again. 

Good to Go

I bought my niece an Asus netbook last week so she can use it for school. It came with a Linux operating system but a friend of mine did me a favor and installed Windows XP. I find it complicated to install programs on a Linux system for some reason, to be honest. 


I had the unit replaced because the OS got corrupted I'm not sure if installing Windows caused it to crash but it' have it up and running now. It's fully functional so to speak. I'm able to use it to surf the Internet, I added some programs that she can use too. 


I'm just counting the days and I'll be moving on with my life in another company. I just can't wait any longer because I can't keep up with the high volume of calls coming in every day, it's way too much. The thought of working 11 hours every day is driving me insane. 

Way to Go David Cook

I had an appointment with the dentist earlier to finish the light cure treatment for the rest of my teeth, It still hurts a bit. I'm very patient when going to the dentist even if it's a pain to keep my mouth wide open for about an hour. 

I was watching American Idol this morning in Star World I didn't know that the show is live I think I missed half of it already but it will be aired again tonight so I'll make sure to watch it again even if I already knew that David Cook won. I thought David Archuleta's performance last night was better than David Cook but I've always wanted David Cook. to win and I'm glad that he did. 

My sister said few weeks ago that David Archuleta will win AI. I even want to make a bet for P500 that David Cook's gonna nail it but she refused maybe she have doubts hehe. 

I fell in love with David Archuleta's version of Ryan Gilmore's "In this Moment." David Cook's acoustic version of "The World I know" by the alternative rock band Collective Soul almost had the audience in tears, it was rather emotional. As expected, David Cook won by a landslide of 56% votes over 44% of Archuleta. 

The rest of the final 12 finalists had their share of the stage as well, the all sung George Michael's "Freedom." Jason Castro's really cute in his coat and tie. I thought I saw Paula Abdul cried over George Michael's song I'm not sure if it's tears of joy or sadness or just mixed emotions because Season 7 is over? Simon Cowell owe David Cook an apology for his comment last night that he should've sung "Billie Jean" or "Hello" instead of a new song during the third round because I think David Cook can sing whatever he wants. The "Singer's Choice" round is about personal choice after all. Simon apologized for being disrespectful to him to clear the air. David Cook applauded for David Archuleta, he's such a good sport and it's very sweet of David Cook to do that for him. David cried after he learned that he's the new American Idol.

Well done.

Nature's Wrath

Here comes the rain again. There was a blackout in our area last Friday I had no choice but to do my makeup by the candlelight, it was rather difficult. The power came back just before I left for work (oh great) at least I was able to check if my face look okay. 

I hate it when the weather is being like this, it gets too hot and when it rains, it rains a lot. This whole climate change is getting worst. Poor mother earth, she's been abused too much already I hope it's never too late to save her. 

Few days ago, a cyclone hit Myanmar. I learned about it from a friend when she sent me pictures of the said tragedy via email. It was devastating to see corpses everywhere I can't get it out of my head. Many of the victims are children. According to the news, roughly 133,000 people has been reported dead or missing. 

On Monday the 12th, a huge earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.8 hit Wenchuan, China. Officials estimated death toll went up to over 50,0000. More than 80% of the structures near the quake's epicenter collapsed that trapped a lot including possible survivors. It's scary to think that we can't do anything with nature's wrath but we can help in our little way by giving donations and praying for them. 

Bye Now Jason

Jason Castro got eliminated from American Idol but it's no surprise to me after his performance last night. If bob Marley is still alive I'm sure he will not be amused with Jason's cover of his song "I Shot the Sheriff." I totally agree with Simon and Randy that there's nothing special about it. I was hoping that he will be able to redeem himself on his second song but he fumbled on the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" it was quite a disaster to be honest. Jason's cute and charming but vocally he's not as astounding as the two Davids. 

I thought Syesha will go home and Jason will stay since she's always in the bottom 2 or 3 but she did good last night that. Jason have gone this far for sure there's a bright future ahead of him. Poor Jason he must be really tired of the whole competition already that's why he looked so relieved and ready to go home. 

So who will be the next American Idol? For sure it'll be one of the Davids but we'll see. 

Sagada Getaway

Manila to Baguio

Baguio can't wait. We left Manila at 12:30AM via Victory Liner bus. A 7-hour trip was a pain in the butt. Watching movies and listening to music kept us company. We had a few stop-overs. We arrived past 6PM. Finally. 

Sagada here we come

Our elder brother drove us to town to accompany our sister to school for her law review class at the University of the Cordilleras. From there we rode an fx to Dangwa, Sagada's bus terminal to catch an early trip, unfortunately, it's almost full so we decided to wait for the next trip at 9:30 AM. Lizardo bus left on the dot. My sister brought the travel guide she printed out from the Internet which helped us a lot find a place to stay in Sagada. We had a great view of Benguet mountains on our way to Sagada especially when we're going up the in the boonies. we also sawrice and vegatable terraces. It was a long and winding road it gets scary as we're getting close. There are rough and narrow roads and believe me, I'm not really afraid of heights but when I saw we're literally on top of the mountains, I got nervous I thought it's the end of me so I prayed really hard that we make it to Sagada safely. Thank God we got there safely and found a nice place to stay.

Sagada Guest House

We arrived in Sagada past 4 in the afternoon. We're kinda hesitant at first to stay at the Sagada Guest House because we originally wanted to stay at the Log Cabin but we got tired from the trip we didn't wanna go any further so we chose to stay at Sagada Guest House.

Sagada Guest House is not so inviting from the outside. The building looks new but it needs some fixing. When the caretaker showed us the only vacant room available we had second thoughts. The rate was rather expensive for my sister and I along with our parents so we haggled. It was a big room with 1 king size bed and 3 singles. There's cable TV so you need not worry about getting bored during your stay however when it rains in the afternoon the cable signal gets interrupted. The kitchen is spacious it comes with kitchenware and a stove for cooking. By the way, I didn't realize that there are no ATM machines in Sagada and establishments don't accept credit cards good thing we have cash handy.

Yoghurt House

After an hour of rest, we had dinner at Yoghurt House which is known for their yummy yogurt. We ordered clubhouse sandwich, chop suey and yogurt of course. There are lots of yogurt toppings to choose from but I prefer yogurt with strawberry preserves. Other toppings available are banana, granola, strawberry, etc. Their yogurt is made of thick cream that tastes almost like cream cheese if not for its sweetness. Yogurt is a healthy alternative to ice cream and definitely good for digestion. My sister took pictures of the food and the place. It's really cozy and homey. I think it's a house converted into a little restaurant. I love the beautifully decorated ceiling, colorful lamps and old pictures of locals hanging on the wall. It was a really cool place.

Thanksgiving at Church of SMV





It's our 28th birthday. We heard mass as at the church of St. Mary the Virgin. The place is very peaceful you can hear birds chirping. Some cows are just roaming freely outside the church. It also not crowded unlike in Baguio cathedral. We attended the mass spoken in Ilocano I thought we might have missed the English mass or we're just too early. Locals sing in A capella it makes the mass even more solemn. The locals are friendly, they smile while saying "peace be with you." We also took pictures outside while breathing some fresh air.


Birthay Breakfast at Masferre

I really love taking pictures and looking at old photographs. What I first noticed at Masferre are the framed pictures of Igorot people on hanging on the walls. Picture taking is not allowed as posted on the wall so we discreetly took pictures of ourselves and the place good things they're too busy preparing our food. We're given ripe mangoes as an appetizer and ordered "country farm meal" made of wheat bread, butter, bacon, egg, tomato, lettuce, and cucumber. The serving was huge and the food was yummy.


Echo Valley's Hanging Coffins and Lumiang / Burial Cave

If you're a first timer in Sagada, you're required to register as a tourist at the municipal hall for a guided tour. We paid Php40.00 as initial payment and was later accompanied by a tourist guide to our first destination which is Echo Valley. We had a very little view of the hanging coffins. The reason behind why it was called Echo Valley as explained by our tour guide is because if you scream, your voice will echo in the air. I was like, uhm okay because I thought there's a more profound reason but hey no big deal. Our next stop is at the Burial Cave where we come face to face with century old coffins. The walkway down the hill was quite difficult. It's very steep and slippery so we're extremely cautious and a bit nervous. When we saw the entrance of the cave I realized that it was all worth it. We stayed for a few minutes and took pictures of the ancient wooden coffins. The tedious part was going up especially if you're short legged like me. Each step was agonizing, I nearly hyperventilated we forgot to bring water. We had to stop every few steps thank goodness we were able to reach the top. We couldn't manage to walk back to the municipal hall anymore, our knees were shaking so we asked for a ride home from our tour guide. We paid a total of Php650.00 for the guided tour. Whoa.

Birthday Surprise

Our birthday isn't over yet. My twin and I got really tired from the tour so we decided to stay at the guest house room while our parents went out to buy food. They brought us pancit and ice cream from Masferre for lunch. I love Masferre's pancit, it was very tasty. When it's time for dessert I was surprised when I opened the ice cream container and found out that it's nothing like Brazo de Mercedes at all but iced water. We laughed our hearts out but we can't have iced water for dessert so mom hurried back to Masferre to have the ice cream replaced with the real thing.


Farewell Sagada

It's still dark when we left Sagada Guest House. I got a little scared being followed by a group of dogs I thought they want to bite me. I can't help but get paranoid sine I was bitten by our own dog once when I was a kid. I realized that these dogs aren't as bad as I thought them to be, maybe they just want to say goodbye and thank us for coming to their peaceful town. The bus left at 5 in the morning. When the sun is up I again saw the breathtaking view of the mountains. I'm not sure if I will come back again in Sagada but I hope so.

Mission Accomplished

I can't wait to buy a Shemagh scarf (a.k.a. shmag, keffiyea, ghutra, yashmag, Arabian scarf, balabal for Pinoys, etc.) so I went to Quiapo church and scoured every corner but couldn't find one. I hope I have it already before my trip to Sagada because I plan to use it when I travel and I really like it a lot. I almost gave up I thought maybe I'll just buy pirated DVDs just to bring something home. 


I decided to go inside Quiapo church and ask help from the Black Nazarene to find the shemagh scarf I'm looking for. Believe it or not, my prayer was answered immediately because as soon as I went out of the church the lady in the corner of Carriedo Street approached me and asked what I was looking for so I told her that I 'm looking for a scarf. She asked one of her colleagues to accompany me to the stall that sells lots of colorful shemaghs. I had a hard time choosing the best one if only I can have them all. Prices vary according to the quality of the fabric. The thicker ones are more expensive so I picked the cheapest ones around Php180 and haggled for 150 but the sales lady closed the deal at 170. I did not complain anymore but was surprised that the change for my 1k is P420 which means that since I bought 4 shemaghs they gave it to me for P145 each, yay! I'm not really good in haggling but I guess the trick is to buy more so you pay less. Mission accomplished.


I head over to Victory Liner Bus terminal in Edsa to reserve Deluxe tickets for our trip to Baguio on Friday so the travel time will be shorter unfortunately, the Deluxe bus is already full, the only available time is for the 11:30PM trip so I thought I'll just reserve for the non-deluxe bus and just endure the 7 hour trip.