The Place I Call Home

It’s called the summer capital, the city of pines, the land where ‘Penagbenga ‘ is celebrated. The city where the climate is cool and the walks are uphill and you could see the different vantage points overlooking the city.    More importantly, this is the place I call HOME.  Baguio City – located 5,000 feet above sea level and is a city as set by its charter when it was established.

• It will always be the climate which is around 10 degrees Celsius lower compared to Metro Manila.  It’s always a dilemma on how thick your jacket should be as its extremely cold on mornings wherein you can actually play around with the morning mist when you talk or blow into the air.   It becomes warmer by noon time so there would be times that I would end up carrying my jacket by mid day.
• Then there’s the honest to goodness cab drivers that would return up to the last centavos of your change. The curvaceous roads that  ease the uphill climbs around the city.  The cost of living is also lower as you can have quality time with family and friends just strolling in Session road or having picnics at Camp John Hay or Burnham Park or just trying out some street foods from any corner.  There’s also a wide range food at such an affordable prices.
• It’s an education hub as it contains several key Universities in the City.  Blame it to the cool and serene environment that can be a comfortable place to learn.  You can actually see how the mix of people in the city shift when summer time comes as the regular pack of students are replaced by droves of tourists.  The city has gone and withstood a lot of setbacks from super typhoons to a killer quake in 1990 which took the city some time to recover its luster as the Country’s summer capital.
• It’s not free of its usual set of problems but it’s a festive place and not only the Penagbenga in February or the charter day in September. There are festivities all year round and it has its unique charm that makes it a viable choice for visitors in the city.
• Of course, there’s family and friends that makes home feel like HOME.  I’ve spent my first 21 years in the City of Pines and I did build a lot of memories here from a kid who’d love to rough it up outdoors and would go home proud of all the bruises and scratches from the days adventures to a teen busy with a lot of extra-curricular stuff and finally a degree holder raring to conquer the world.  I’m not in the City as often as I want to but it will be always be a place I call HOME.