Flower Festival

“You must see the Flower Festival in Baguio in February,” many told me when I first arrived.

Flower + Festival, oh yes, I’m there!

It worked out that when Margaret wanted to come speak to a couple of her classes, the big events of the Panagbenga Festival (aka Flower Festival) were that weekend. Unfortunately due to convention, I had to leave Saturday so I missed one the parades. There are two, one on Saturday morning, which consists of music and street dancing. The second is on Sunday morning, which consists of the flower floats. I really wanted to see the second one but you take what you get and I wasn’t disappointed by the street dancing.

Mini-Vacay

My whirlwind 48 hours in Baguio was a wonderful mini-vacay away from the heat of Santiago. While I was there to support Margaret and lecture a couple of her classes, Margaret and I took the opportunity to tour around, relax and have fun!

{Me and Margaret at the top of Mines View Park}

Easter School

Back in January, Margaret asked if I would come talk to a couple of her classes about the work the development work of the Episcopal Church. I’m no expert, but I’ve seen and worked a little bit more with these programs than Margaret. I said, I would be happy to! And it gave me an excuse to see Baguio, again, hopefully this time when it wasn’t raining.

Therefore on Thursday night on February 20, I boarded an 8 hour night trip bus for a whirlwind tour of Baguio. I saw and did many amazing things this weekend that I’m going to break it down into a couple of posts. First, the main reason I was there.

Margaret as a volunteer teaches at Easter School, an Episcopal school that spans from elementary to high school. There’s also a small college on the grounds. With a background in science and religion, Easter School assigned Margaret to assist in the Christian Education classes for high school seniors and a few English language classes. In addition, she teaches one of the small seminars at the newly formed Theological College.

A rainy, cool Baguio

Known as “The Summer Capital of the Philippines,” Baguio sits up in the pine-clad mountains of the Codillera region. The nickname comes from the migration of people, even the president, to the city trying to escape the heat of the humid summer months in the rest of the Philippines. Unfortunately for me, it’s still the rainy season and it showed in Baguio last weekend.

My manager, Patrick, and another co-worker, Samuel, are part of a brotherhood. They had a national officers meeting to attend on Friday afternoon in Baguio. Patrick asked if I would like to go with them for the weekend to visit Margaret, fellow YASCer, and see another city. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. I, too, wanted to escape from the hot, humid weather in Santiago.

The six-hour drive through the mountains is not for those who suffer from carsickness. I usually never do and I was feeling queasy by the end. The last 50 km or so is like a zig-zag roller coaster up and down a steep mountain.

Driving through the mountains