of plots, bread and a charismatic mayor

for the love of my great friend allen (velez), ASAP, and adobo mag, i joined the ad congress ad venture in baguio in 14-degree weather. freezing my butt off for three days is my cup of tea. seriously!

with people who i will spend most of the year with (centrex, DDB, ways and means, venue, trade exhibit, PR...) we trampled on the holy ground we would from then on desecrate with our chatter and prattle, on to november. after treading the walkway on what we will eventually trek 20 million times to D-day. thus ended day 1.

day 2, first on the agenda. buy scarves, caps, gloves. scarves, caps, gloves. scarves caps gloves. the cold was giving us brain-freeze! after a hectic morning of meetings, designs and a lunch interview with the city mayor peter rey bautista.. we were off. soon we were whacking bamboo poles into resisting ground with protesting stones. lining plots of yellow string to the last centimeter to make a buck for the congress. this is after all, a recession. day 2 ended with the group having a shivering dinner al fresco. WTF?!!

day 3. at 1:30am in anticipation of liverpool v stoke city, i thought it prudent to stuff myself under the covers lest i allow my ears, nose and eyelids to freeze. i had previously invited myself to attend, with the mayor's support, a project he personally champions. harvey and john chua (advertising photographer) of ASAP have organized a photography campaign to enlighten autistic children. i braved the 6AM cold to join the party and head off to la trinidad benguet. it was a fantastic day!

okay, so we braved the cold, and ate huge meals to compensate. who were we kidding? after all said, baguio is still beautiful. or should i say - beautiful once more..? or maybe because this is the baguio i miss. the cold, dreary, gloomy feel. the cottage at baguio country club was charming, but atrociously expensive. but i can't complain when i was as comfortable as a curled, napping cat in the midst of winter.

so with carefully saved money for my precious strawberry jam from good shepherd and kamote bread from my sanctuary cafe by the ruins, (as well as some goodies from raisin bread) and allen's present of ube jam, i prepare myself to face the monstrosity that is metro manila.

i've met new people, made new friends, and forged better bonds and i have fallen under the spell of baguio. yet again.