Final Leg of the Sagada Escapade

Sagada
Day 3

“This tastes like Lactacyd.” –Kristin referring to the yogurt.

“What, you’ve tasted Lactacyd?” –Jing

“Ay, Yakult pala!"–Kristin

A hot bath feels really good when you're in a cold place. And to have a hot bath in Sagada, you have to buy a bucket of hot water.

After checking out of the Resthouse and before boarding the bus to Baguio, we had breakfast at the Yogurt House. I ordered vegetable fried rice with beef while Tin had a sandwich. Of course, we ordered yogurt with rice crispies, banana, and strawberry jam!! Yummy!! The sourness of the yogurt was just right for my taste buds.

We boarded the 10 am bus going to Baguio. After a 6-hour trip amidst the rice terraces and the mountains, we finally arrived in the City of Pines. The air was not that cool as I expected. And there were lots of jeepneys! What caught my attention was that taxis have rolled down windows to have natural cool air circulation. Even SM Baguio had no air-conditioning system and had lots of open spaces! More so, the mall did not look like the traditional SM shoebox-type architecture. Rather, it had a giant canopy as a roof with open spaces to let the cool air in. Anyway, who needs air-conditioning in Baguio?!

We also went to the Church of Our Lady of Atonement, a pink-painted Church right in the center of the city. After saying our prayers (and making my wish!), we went to Don Henricos, the first store of the famous Italian resto franchise here in the Philippines, for a hearty and very filling meal. It was situated along Session Road. We ordered beef calzone and some red pasta. We decided against ordering tiramisu for dessert due to carbo overload- the calzone was really HUGE!! And yummy!! It had lots of meet, red sauce, eggplant and cheese inside!

To burn some calories, we strolled along Burnham Park. Although it was past 6 in the evening, there were still lots of families and barkadas relaxing around the park. Afterwards, we went to the Baguio Market to buy some Baguio delicacies and strawberries as pasalubong. Since our bus going to Manila would depart at 11, we stayed in Starbucks at SM. To pass time, Kristin read a romance novel which she bought at Booksale earlier that evening while I scribbled down my thoughts on my journal. And yep, Starbucks had no air-conditioning system too!

We walked to the bus station, which was 2-3 blocks away from SM. After doing some last minute shopping at the station (we could not resist the call of knitted ponchos and bags!), we boarded the bus and tried to catch some zzzzzzzssssssss all the way to Manila. Unfortunately, when it was time to get off the bus, the two girls seated in front of us, took a LOT of time in putting their seats from the reclining position to the normal position. Funny, they just looked at Tin and I. Hello!

From Cubao, we rode a cab going to the boarding house. I did not go straight to the dorm since it was only 5 in the morning. After giving Tin my share of the cab fare, I got off of the cab. Tin followed suit. Without our knowing, the cab was following us because after walking for like 5 meters or so, the cab stopped, the driver rolled down his window and said, “Bayad niyo po.” Kristin and I were laughing because the money was still in Kristin’s hand!! After apologizing, we went inside the boarding house, woke-up GL and her mom because of our loud voices, and finally, went to sleep on a comfortable bed (for Kristin) and mattress (for me as I slept on the floor).

We woke up around lunch time, ate our lunch and went to a nearby spa for some lava stone massage to ease our aching muscles. This time, Em-em joined us. Before separating (I went back to the dorm while Tin and Em went to SM), we ate at Pancake House, which was just beside the spa.

Sore muscles after a long and exhausting vacation is a cheap price to pay when your heart and mind are beaming with contentment.