Short Detours

Hidden deep in Benguet Mountains is an outdoor Green Living Room featuring 24 beautiful landscapes inspired by the best gardens in the World. Each garden has its story to tell: the origin of life is a legend told at the Inca garden, the love story that was torn apart at the Romeo and Juliet garden, the musical garden that rhymes with the wind, and many more. The Zen garden and concentric garden are places to contemplate and meditate. The favorite of many visitors is the mirror garden where they can have creative photography of themselves. Aside from the Award winning flowers from All American Selections (AAS), other materials like rocks, twigs, sand, cement, pebbles, even strings and mirrors are artistically used to design the 24 gardens and ponds located inside a 3-hectare mountain resort called Mount Costa. The clean, crisp and fresh mountain air amidst the sound of tranquility is a glimpse of what Baguio used to be before the hustle and bustle of moder...

Benguet is home to three major ethnic groups, the Kankanaey, Ibaloy and Kalanguya. The three groups have diverse cultural practices. To showcase these cultures, the province has created a cultural village to feature the 11 municipalities. To those who are familiar with Adivay Festival, this is the trade fair area where the different municipalities showcase their town’s products. This area will now be a permanent cultural village where not only products are sold but ethnic heirlooms will be showcased. The village was launched on February 18, 2017 and was included in the Panagbenga Flower Festival calendar of events as one of the major activities and destinations. The village will be showcasing the different municipalities every weekend for 13 weeks that will culminate on May 19-21 this year. Department of Tourism Marie Venus Q. Tan was the guest of honor during the launching of the Village. It was the director who steered the province to make the...

Looking for a new gimmick and experience Baguio after-dart on weekends this cold February?  Keep yourself warm and dance the night away or just sit and enjoy the music at The Camp. The Camp is the place-to-go-to after sunset and Elevate Productions has brought you several events this Panagbenga Month. On February 17 th , Friday, shake it away with DJ Garuda at the Ampersand. Come up early on February 24, Friday, for a dance party with DJ Acer Ramos and DJ Marc Naval with McPao still at the Ampersand. After watching the Street Parade, enjoy another dance party with DJ Dimass & DJ Marx Moterola with McPao.  Or you can go upstairs and listen to Joyce Mallar and Co at the Hardin. Another Friday, another night of dancing with DJ Migs Santillan on March 3 at the Ampersand. On Saturday, lit the dance floor with Dj Knoxville and DJ Supmerman, still at the Ampersand. Or you can choose the laugh exercise in a Comedy Cartel at the Hardin. ...

“Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright,” Said Mario Puzo, author of The Godfather “Il Padrino” may sound Italian, derived from the fictional Mafia family living in New York in the 1930s to 1960s, but it is actually owned by a man born in the mountainous region of the Philippines, the Cordilleras. Ervine Pangwi just inaugurated his 7th branch on December 10, 2016 that serves Arabica coffee from his hometown Sagada, one of the major tourist destinations in the Philippines. Facebook profile photo of Ervine Pangwi  His venture into this business was triggered by his stubborn belief that a simple “no” is not the end of it. Wanting to have a cafe near his office where he can take his clients and business partners for coffee or snacks, Pangwi offered part of his building to two big coffee franchises but they both turned him down for the reason that the area doesn’t have enough foot traffic. The persist...

Next time you drop by Baguio, don't forget to visit the newest art haven,  the Pasa-Kalye creative hub.   Baguio creative people led by veteran artist Roland Bay-an want to promote this area not only to showcase their work but to bring art closer to the masses and to establish it as a new travel destination in the City. This activity jump-started when Bookends Bookshop's owner reserved part of her shop for an art gallery. Artists whose artworks were displayed in the gallery started sketching activities for the purpose of helping people in need. This sketch-for-a-cause soon gave birth to more ideas and activities. Bookends proprietress Maricar Docyogen said, “Pasa-Kalye was conceptualised by artists, an entrepreneur and several media personalities with the Tagalog connotation or meaning in mind.” “It is the “pasakalye” or introduction of a new concept to make an idle street busy with art, or an introduction to new artists who have potential in the indus...

It takes a village to create flowers. Residential buildings in Sitio Stone Hill, Botiwtiw and Sadjap of Barangay Balili are transformed into a huge canvas to create a Favela-inspired mural masterpiece. The place now calledSTOBOSA Hillside Homes Artwork was the largest community artwork in the country and the first in the Philippines. STOBOSA stands for the three sitios. The project to paint 200 houses in an area of 18,000 square meters is a component of the Department of Tourism – Cordillera Administrative Region’s Rev-Bloom Urban Redevelopment Tourism project initiated by Director Marie Venus Tan. It was made possible through a partnership with La Trinidad-LGU, Davies Paints, the Tam-awan Village Artists, and the Km.3, Balili Community. The mural was unveiled today, June 23, graced by Department of Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez, Jr. The design concept was created by Tam-awan artists ...

Mt. Pulag is the third highest mountain in the Philippines with an elevation of 2,926.047 meters above sea level. It is the highest mountain in Luzon and the landscape of the surrounding provinces can be seen from the summit during the day. Lights in distant communities are visible at night.  Its unique beauty with many characteristics that change as you reach higher elevation - from pine forest to mossy jungle, and finally the vast grasslands - has the locals calling it the "playground of the gods". There are several routes to get there, from easy to hard trails. The easy route is via Ambangeg with class 1-2 trail and difficulty or 3/9, takes only 3 to 4 hours walk from the ranger station in Babadac to the camp site (4.9 kilometers). Then another hour hike along the grasslands to the summit (2.9 kilometers). The best time to be at the summit is at dawn when the valleys and smaller mountains around Pulag are covered with a sea of clouds, giving you the impres...