The Not-So-PC ABC Guide to BC | Basta Pinas | TravelBook

Every Holy Week, the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC) captures two to six Baguio "virgins" (first timers) and takes them around the city and to nearby La Trinidad. The BCBC lets them indulge in activities a Baguio tourist is expected to experience: boating at Burnham Park, visiting the Philippine Military Academy, strawberry picking, ukay-ukay shopping, nightclubbing, and the like. Even the "official" travel blogs will give you the same thing.

Ho hum. Luckily, no one asks me or my better friends, "Is this all you do?" because within this 52 square kilometer area, there are still some things that spell fun to us that cannot be found on any tourist guide or website. For me though, fun is not enough. It has to be thrilling, risqué, edgy, and unpredictable. That said, here is my list of interesting things to do in Baguio that your guidebook doesn't want you to know about:

The Not-so-PC ABCs of BC

Art Deco Hunting

Baguio was cosmopolitan even before World War II, and still remains so. If you are architecturally inclined, it will be fun to get your camera, notebook, and crayon (for rubbing) and head out to capture the different architecture styles of Baguio buildings. Most of the old buildings along Session Road are Art Deco. Maharlika Building below Session Road is done in Ifugao traditional (after the thatch roofs of Ifugao granaries) but some European planners called it "Brutalist." Ditto with the Baguio Convention Center. These are Imelda Marcos's vision for Baguio in the 1970s. Casa Vallejo is American colonial as well as the cottages of the Justice Department as these survived the carpet bombing of Baguio after World War II. There are lots of historical nuggets to be gleaned by just gazing at the buildings in Baguio. Just don't forget to secure your bags and wallets from the fast hands that roam the streets.

Basketball

Not just any basketball, but horse basketball. Not the h-o-r-s-e b-ball either, where you need to emulate the shot of your opponent or you lose, but real horse basketball, where you mount a horse and then play straight-up basketball. Look for Scott at Wright Park, who can hook you up with other players.

Counterstriking

Baguio is the country's Airsoft capital. There are locales for every category here. You want tropical guerrilla warfare? Play it at South Drive or in the Baguio Country Club. A Desert Storm scenario can be had at Longlong in La Trinidad. Hostage Situation Operations can be simulated at the Diplomat Hotel in Mirador Hills. Baguio airsoft shooters, like the taxi drivers, are known for their honesty, so when they say they're dead, they will stay dead.

Dap-aying

These are the traditional town hall meeting places of the Cordillera. A dap-ay is a circular structure with stone seats like hours of a clock and in the middle is where a bonfire should be. Look for these dap-ays in the City. Some can be found in or near Café by the Ruins, Burnham Park, the DILG grounds, the Philippine Information Agency near Mansion House, Tam-Awan Village, Bencab Museum, and Mt. Cloud Bookshop under the Casa Vallejo hotel. Gather round and converse and, if you're lucky, you can be allowed to light a bonfire. You can then order the youngest among your group to do kolkolis (the Cordillera foot massage using bamboo sticks) among the elders.

Expectorating

You might spot someone here wearing a t-shirt which says: "Momma. Just Spit It." "Momma" is betel nut, gnawed leaves, lime and tobacco, which you prepare as a concoction and then masticate. The Ifugaos chew momma to give them a nice buzz. Then, like the T-shirt says, they spit it out. Back then, the city market had some spitoons where one could spit out the red "mixture," but now, it's up to you to bring your own receptacle.

Faith Healing

Faith healing is sort of like the extreme sport of medical tourism. Faith healers have been known to take out cancerous organs without cutting through skin and leaving no scars afterwards. I don't know if Lonely Planet still has an entry about Baguio faith healers, but just in case they took it out, here's how you go about finding one. Ask the taxi drivers about the local faith healers, as they have their own favorites. Or go to Luisa's Café or Session Delights and ask around. Jun Labo, Placido Palitayan, Johann Paquito, and Alex Ampaguey are the more popular ones, but there are other psychic surgeons (or as Jaime Licauco would call them, magicians of God) in the city. Seek them out and become a disciple. Or, prepare to be healed.

Ghosthunting

This entry on my personal blog will guide you in getting started with this spooky adventure.

Honeymooning

Baguio is also the Honeymoon Capital of the country, and we have enough discreet love motels to maintain that reputation.

Induronizing

From the Ilocano word for "push." A friend actually came to Baguio just to become a market komboy. The komboys are the coolies who transport huge sacks of vegetables on the steep inclines of the market using these wooden, two-wheeled wheelbarrows. After three days of this, he could drink gin like an alcoholic, carry his luggage like a professional bellhop, and air walk while speeding down Magsaysay Boulevard (with eight sacks of potatoes) like a pro basketball player.

Jamming

Not hogging the mike at a karaoke joint and singing like Mike Hanopol. I mean learning to select fruits, washing, peeling, and slicing them and boiling them in sugar. Go to Good Shepherd or Benguet State University and help jam for a day. You not only get to work with guava and strawberry jams but sayote, kamote, tomato, passionfruit, and rhubarb jams as well. 

Karaoke

One way to enjoy karaoke the Baguio way is to sing only the Korean songs. Another way is singing only the country and western songs. The third way is singing only Ilocano songs.

Luge

I saw a feature on street luge in the college paper of Saint Louis University, which is not exactly the most radical university in Baguio, so the craze must have gone mainstream. Street luge is an activity where participants lie on their backs on large skateboards or lugeboards and ride down an inclined slope. This is a clandestine thing and happens at the spur of the moment. Go to a rarely-used street incline in the city and spot the youths with helmets and really large skateboards. Before you know it, its luge time. Cowabunga!

Mountain Biking

Best trails include Pico, Camp John Hay and the so-called Semplang University, a group of mountain bikers who love the sport. (More here.) Just don't bike on the steep roads as you might get hit by those luge bombs.

Nitebizing

Go "nite-b." In other words, go native. Do what the natives do. Which is easier said than done considering this may involve...

OO

As in Double O. The name of this country and Western dance place means Old Orchestra, owing to its earlier incarnation as the orchestra pit of a triple feature movie house. It was a bar until mud from the mountainside across the street fell on it one typhoon ago. Now it's a country and western bar and it's always filled, no matter the time of day. Country and Western music is an acquired taste for lowlanders but on a lucky night, you can catch an all-girls bar in bikinis singing Garth Brooks and Emmylou Harris.

Pilgrimaging

You've gone up the 107 steps of the Lourdes Grotto. Fine, so has everyone else. But this time, do it the way the pilgrims of the 18th century did it: on their knees.

Qwertyuoping

Buy "Chinglish" T-shirts from the ukay-ukay with the most outrageous wrong grammar or spelling and wear them proudly. An orange "frew feel mort fashion fiangel girl" is awesome. But an "I want to unbosom oneself of a secret to you" is sexier. 

Running

Running in Baguio wasn't a crowd drawer until Manny Pacquiao started training there. He usually runs here around March or October. The best way is to listen to the local Bombo Radyo about where Pacman will be running. Usually, it is at Burnham Park or at the Sta. Lucia golf course. Sometimes it's in Camp John Hay or the Philippine Military Academy. Wear your Chinglish shirts as you run because, admit it, Chinglish is also Pacquiao English.

Sleeping

Many of my friends go up to Baguio just to sleep. They say they have more pleasant dreams there. Try sleeping outside. Mosquitos are the least of your problems. Snails are. And overzealous taho vendors.

Tattooing

Get traditional Bontoc or Kalinga tattoos with the authentic designs and traditional methods which means thorns, soot, and low-grade fever. Look for Kalawang at VOCAS.

Undergrounding

Go on the "Allure of the Gold" tour at Balatoc Mines. But since I'm your tour guide, why not try to be a real camote miner? Go inside a tunnel for a week and dig for gold. You get a share of the loot if you hit pay dirt. Downside: no sex before entering the tunnel. No women inside the tunnel. No eating of some kinds of food for ritualistic purposes.

Versifying

Mt. Cloud Bookshop holds a regular poetry slam. If your bragadoccio can sweep a girl off her feet, then you just might make it. Plus, imagine the pogi points you can earn! Unfortunately, during the past slams, it's always the women poets who are winning.

Wi-Fi Hunting

Not many people know that Burnham Park is a WiFi spot, but you have to get the password at the Visitor Center and you better not look drunk or woozy. SM Baguio is WiFi-ready but the registration process can be taxing. Some of the bigger hotels and cafes, especially in Baguio City, are WiFi ready. The luxury buses are also WiFi-ready. For the rest of the city, it's a question of finding a hotspot and protecting your laptops or cellphones.

Xtreme Fighting

Here's one mixed martial artist's take on the local MMA scene: "I am heading to the Philippines in February next month and will be training with TEAM LAKAY, the best... MMA team in all of PI in Baguio--check them out. So damn stoked about that. TEAM LAKAY will be helping me prepare for my fight in Saipan, March 11th. That's right Saipan, baby! Don't know where it's at? Then get a damn map. I will be fighting in Trench Warz, and am so stoked I can't wait. Thanks Cuki for the hookup. -- Che'Lu." Guess what? The guy won his fight. So how about that? Join Team Lakay now. 

Yaconning

Yacon is the diabetic answer to sugar, although it looks like a camote. Yaconning means getting a smaller carbon footprint by going organic and using your bayongs at all times. It also means trying out the local cuisine and not bringing your own food when going on an excursion, which means less garbage as well. It means leaving your car and just walking around the city. Corollary to this is "yasonning" after Yason Banal, the performance artist who used to teach at UP Baguio. "Yasonning" means doing something crazy, like hugging a phallic-shaped block of ice and becoming a human sushi bar for the sake of art. Be sure to have a written credo after your act.

Ziplining

I know what you will say. Of course you have to try the zipline. There are two ziplines in (or near) Baguio: one is the Tree Top Adventures in Camp John Hay and the other at Pugad Adventures in Pugo, La Union. But what I want you to try are the ziplines used to transport vegetables in Benguet and even Baguio. These are usually powered by jeepney engines and can usually accommodate a sack of potatoes. Pretend to be that sack and ride the line, baby.

This is but a partial list of the many exciting things you can do in the City of Pines. There are many more ways to see the beauty that can be found in Baguio City. Basta Pinas, Naimas!

 

Frank Cimatu is a Palanca Award-winning poet and a correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. His CV lists him as a "poet, blogger, NGO worker, editor, newspaper reporter, art critic, and eventologist."