Day 11. I woke up to the cool morning air in the refreshing city of Baguio. Well, it's mostly refreshing. Like every other Philippine city I've been in, the air pollution is sickening and the noise pollution is offensive. Luckily when I checked in at the hostel they gave me a room at the back, away from the street. It felt good to have a full night's sleep without the stifling heat waking me up or the sound of a fan grinding away in my dreams. After eating breakfast in the small cafe attached to the hostel, I ventured out into the city for some sightseeing. My destination for the day was Camp John Hay, built in these high mountains as an R&R destination for US troops who were serving in the tropical South Pacific. In 1991, after the US Navy's Seventh Fleet and Air Force Unit left the Philippines to base themselves in Japan, Camp John Hay was turned over to the the Baguio city government, which has turned it into a city park, golf course, resort destination, and historical area.
I hoofed it to the Camp, which is on the other side of the city from my hostel, and upon arrival I found myself surrounded by towering pines, small shrubs, and cool breezes blowing through the forest. It was blissful. I walked the Eco-Trail through the park, which is really just a normal trail. Nothing especially "eco" about it. After a while I stumbled upon a small butterfly sanctuary which provides food and safety for native butterflies. Due to the cool temperature, however, the butterflies weren't very active, so it wasn't really impressive. However, the maintenance man verbally pounced on me to say how much he loves Americans and that he worked for the US military when they had bases here. He went on and on about how much better it was when the Americans were here. After a while he steered the conversation towards conspiracy theories, saying that the Americans and Israel can never fight against each other because the Bible says so. He also told me about how American corporations are controlled by a secret religious group. He said he read these things in a book. I've spent enough time in Humboldt County, CA to know that when the topic turns to conspiracy theories, that's my cue to exit stage left. It's not that I hate conspiracy theorists, sometimes they can actually be entertaining. Its just that usually they keep talking and talking while I keep nodding my head, wondering all the while when they will cease talking. In short, its a waste of my time. So, I said goodbye to the butterfly sanctuary and made my way to a burger joint listed in the guidebook. After wolfing down a juicy cheeseburger, I headed in the direction of a viewpoint that the guidebook said offered amazing views of the surrounding area. I was ready to sit down, relax, and soak in the beauty of the mountains. You can imagine my frustration when the road I was following suddenly ended in a construction site. What? I scratched my head and stepped behind a tree to discretely check the map in the guidebook (it's never good to advertise yourself as a lost and confused tourist). Thinking that maybe I'd gone down the wrong road, I backtracked. However, after searching and searching, the correct road didn't seem to be anywhere around. After approaching several different people asking about how to get to the viewpoint (at this point I didn't care about looking confused and lost, I just wanted to get to the damned viewpoint), I was losing hope when person after person had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Finally, one lady pointed to a man in a red shirt and told me to ask him. The mad in the red shirt then told me to wait and he'd find someone who would know. The person who knew, an older woman with good English, informed me that the viewpoint no longer existed. Apparently there's been so much development around Baguio, and especially in Camp John Hay, that a resort most likely occupies the spot that has excellent views of the surrounding mountains. Not only that, but the roads have changed, so even if the viewpoint did exist, I probably couldn't get to it anyway. Well crap.
I put that episode behind me and headed for what is called the "Historical Core". This is a group of buildings built by the US Military in the early 1900s, as well as a beautiful garden amphitheater, a history walk, and the bizarre "Cemetery of Negativism". At this point let me go off on a tangent for a moment. For years my chosen navigation method has been to just "follow the signs", a method that often gets me into trouble with my partner, Jema. She is a meticulous planner, and when travling outlines every road, turn, name of the roads, distance to the next turn, distance to the final destination, and so forth. Sadly, though, my navigation method isn't working so well here in the Philippines. The lack of signs to the historical core, combined with the widespread development mentioned above, meant I had to ask several people for directions. After finally arriving at the historical core and paying the P50 entrance fee, I proceeded to the Cemetery of Negativism. This is a poignant yet perplexing small plot of land, created by one of the past Navy Commanders of Camp John Hay. It was meant as an inspiring and thought provoking attraction for soldiers and tourists. I will say I was mildly inspired and it did provoke some thought, but mostly I was just amused. The "cemetery" consists of small headstones for fake people, symbolizing the death and burial of negative thoughts, which the Navy Commander said was man-kind's "greatest self-imposed infliction, his most limiting factor, and his heaviest burden." The headstones describe people such as:
A. Truly Miserableday Why Didn't I? Knot a Teemplayer
Born in gloom Lived wondering why Born a star
Lived without bloom Died for no reason Lived a meteor
Died in this tomb Died in flames
I guess the Navy Commander gets points for effort and originality. I walked away thinking that the message was spot on, but the delivery distracted observes from truly embracing that message.
Continuing on, I made my way to the History Walk, a 1 km path with stations describing and depicting various historical periods throughout the Camp's history. This was my favorite part. If you want to learn the history, look up Camp John Hay on Wikipedia, I won't waste time telling the story. However, I immensely enjoyed the Walk because it was quiet and serene. Most of all the wind blew through the pine forest, which made me feel like I was back in the mountains in Wyoming. The sound of millions of pine needles being rustled, combined with the scent of pine in the air and cool wind made me nostalgic for home. It was a happy feeling.
I visited the garden amphitheater, a popular place for wedding ceremonies, strolled around the grounds a bit more, and started the walk back to the other side of town, headed for the hostel and dinner. All in all a good day of sightseeing. I also ran into the first other backpacker I've met in the Philippines. He's a Canadian and doing more or less the same route I am. He asked me if I get stared at a lot. Apparently he does, too. Good to finally meet another tourist.
That's all for now. I hope everyone is having a great time in other parts of the world. Take care!
Pat
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