Misty Days at Baguio Country Club

Going up to Baguio City is always a welcome and pleasant experience for me. Visualizing the Cordillera Mountain Range with the towering pine trees make me long for an action packed escapade. I cannot help but smile upon recollecting my wonderful memories of The City of Pines- the barbecue sticks over the bonfire, the laughter with my friends as we try exotic foods, the evening walk at Burnham Park. I can still feel how little drops of rain trickled on my face as we leisurely along the crevices of Camp John Hay, unmindful of the drizzle and the chilly setting.

I, together with my co-fellows from The St. Luke’s Cancer Institute was very lucky to be chosen to attend the Midyear Convention of The Philippine Society of Medical Oncology last April at Baguio Country Club. I have never been to the said place that is why my excitement is sky high! A former American military recreation zone after the Spanish colonial era, it then became a Japanese concentration camp for American and British soldiers during the World War 2. In 1991 it was turned over to the Philippine Government. At one stage, it was off-limits to Filipinos, but it's now is a thriving tourist residential-commercial area open to the public. 

It also boasts Baguio City’s largest pine tree conservation area. Faint traces of pine is not smelled in the city proper anymore but its waft is abundantly here. Incidentally, it is also one of the oldest clubs in the Philippines.

But reality slowly sank on me. How it pains me to realize that for the past years, Baguio’s old charm is gradually waning because of the perennial, disconcerting traffic jam in the city’s junctions and as well as the thick, black smoke and nasty fumes ejecting from run-down jeepneys in the congested street of Session Road.

The vanishing Baguio pine on the way to Mines View Park, the overcrowding of business establishments and residential houses near the Baguio Cathedral, the shanties mushrooming along Engineer’s Hill, the flurry of activities like vendors hurriedly pushing their vegetable carts while tourists haggle for cheap finds in the market along Bonifacio Street- all contribute to my beloved city’s fading glory. 

But amidst all these upsetting sights, smells and sounds, in my heart, I feel it has a remaining spark of charm that makes me want to go back over and over.

Our stay in a rustic and century-old but charming hotel, the Baguio Country Club, allowed us to delight in the scent of pine logs blazing in the fireplace. 

The food from Baguio gave me the pleasure of savoring the flavors of the Cordillera Region and basically, it is very comforting to taste these delicacies against the cold, fog-laden place: the steamy and heartwarming pinikpikan, the legendary raisin bread and melt-in-your-mouth chocolate, the exotic “etag”, the trademark strawberry taho and ice cream, the deliciously crafted beer, the fragrant passion fruit and persimmon and of course, the famous luscious strawberries!

Sipping a cup of coffee at The Manor in Camp John Hay satisfied our craving for simple fine dining amidst a serene and laid-back ambiance. The coffee tasted as if they were just picked from the Benguet farms and quickly brought to the dining table. The variety of colors and eye-catching images from the wall paintings contribute to the restaurant’s artistic mood. This was the Baguio I knew- with its super cold wind caressing my cheeks, the whiff of burnt pine cones gratifying my sense and the white fog enveloping me and the mystery hiding behind the majestic Cordillera Range.