After a full night's rest.. I woke up 4:30am on March 17.. I turned on the TV and search for Disney Channel to see re-plays of the Sitcoms.. (watching funny and corny stuffs gets me going)
I decided to fetch some hot water at the reception area to warm my self with instant coffee that i brought from Manila and eat the Vanilla Almond Biscoti that I bought at Figaro..
While watching TV and drinking coffee, I started to organize my backpack to lighten the heavy load from yesterday's adventure.. When my mom woke up, at around 5:30 am, she made her self a cup of coffee and went straight to the bathroom to take an early morning bath (its a good thing that the hotel has a hot & cold shower because most of the cheap hotels or transient houses here in Baguio does not offer the same).. At past 6:00 am I decided to take a warm bath and woke up Vlad so we could start our La Trinidad Adventure..
We left the Hotel at past 7:00am and we are a bit behind our schedule because my plan is to arrive at La Trinidad at 7:00am because I wanted to see the Strawberry Parade (which was initially posted by a website that will start at 7:00 am)...
As the Jeepney pass the La Trinidad Market I heard the sweet clinging sound of the lyres and booming of the drums ahead..
Traffic is starting to get tight because half of the road was occupied by the parade.. The Jeepney that we riding started to run slow, and right there inside the jeepney as we head to La Trinidad Strawberry Farm, we witnessed half of the parade after a few meters and as we reach the turning point of the parade, the driver ask us to get-off the jeepney, at first I thought he just heard me say that we will get-off if the jeepney will pass the starting point of the parade so we could watch the whole event, but to my surprise I saw the signage pointing at the street where the parade started, and it read "Strawberry Farm"
After the parade,we walk straight that road and head to Strawberry Farm.. At first I was annoyed at the woman assisting us because she was the one doing all the picking and she seemed to be in a hurry.. I told her that there is no need for us to rush because we are there for the experience and I am actually paying for the experience and not for the strawberries (frankly because all the nice fruits has been harvested and all that was left are either rotting on the other side or starting to mold).. She then told me that it is okay because we can still select pay only what we want to take..
My mom was able to pick about 5 berries, Vlad manage to pick about 3 pieces (the place was all muddy and slippery).. Next to the strawberry bed was the salad bed where beautiful green lettuce were grown and adjacent to it is a gorgeous bed of flowering Garden Mums, then right next to it is another strawberry bed..The woman assisted us told me that we are not allowed to take photos at the flowers and also the strawberries beside it are not to be picked as well..
But being me, I don't simply follow a bland instruction.. How come we cannot while others can??? So I started taking pictures at the flowers and guess what??? I finally found the berry that I want to pick and I took 3 (hahahaha)..
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When we head back to the registration area to check the berries, one of the staff forbid me to select and choose only what I wanted to take and weight everything in the basket, I was annoyed and told to his face that we were previously advised by the guide that we could leave behind what she picked for us if we don't want to.. After all we paid for the experience of picking and not to assist the picker, if that would be the case I will not pay for anything in that basket!!! (well, the basket weighs almost 1kgs, imagine how many berries are there knowing that we only manage to take 12 all in all including the berries that I picked from the other bed).. I probably scare them off because they allowus to select the finest in the basket... And I think they should have because almost half of the basket contained berries that are rotting and molding or even have holes... I told them that we are not stupid to get things that we won't be able to eat... So the final weight is 500 grams.. and the price is P300/kilo..
It was already past 10 in the morning and our check out time is 12nn so after we bought some more strawberries, blueberries, pinipig kakanin, and strawberry ice cream, we head back to our hotel to rest for a while, prepare our things and bathe Vlad as well...
At exactly 12nn we check out at Blue Mountain Hotel and head straight to SM Baguio where we left our things at the supermarket's baggage area..
We bought souvenir T-shirts at Naduma one of the souvenir shops out side the mall and head straight to Session Road to Grab some late lunch at Oh My Gulay!
The place is worth the climb, the view and the ambiance is great. and the food is worth the effort especially if you are a veggie lover because the place
only serves vegetable dishes..
After the late lunch we cross the street and found that we are at the foot of the stairs going up to Cathedral, I decided to visit the Church earlier than I planned (again) it was nearly 2 in the afternoon.. I felt blessed that moment because after the tiring 140 steps we reach the church while the mass is just starting so I decided to attend this one instead of late in the afternoon..
We then made some last minute shopping at the Market and to our final adventure place. Burnham Park.. We went boat riding and indulge ourselves over Strawberry Taho..
Finally we went back to SM to fetch our things and grab an early dinner before we head to Victory Liner.. I was able to get a good seat at a bus heading to Pasay at 11:50pm (it was only 8:30pm). On the good side the journey took only 5 hours because we arrived in our home at exactly 5:30am, Monday.. I manage to take a nap, get ready for work around 9:00am..
Huh!!! hope you find this blog informative and helpful for you future full-packed adventure...
Happy GALA everyone!!!!!
see also: baguio-la-trinidad (day-1)
