Written in Baguio

I’ve probably been coming to Baguio since I was four years old… So that’s about 60 years now. I love Baguio. At first, it was just the pine trees, the weather, the quality of the light, the nip in the air. I still never get tired of it. When President Duterte gave us 48 hours to lockdown, I sped up to Baguio, and lived here from March 2020 to October 2022. Throughout those months here, I would walk out onto the balcony in the morning, take in the view of the mountains, of the deep green trees, the clear blue sky, the fresh, cool air, and jump up and down, saying, “I’m in Baguio!”

Now I have also fallen in love with the culture. It’s the people I know here who care about making things with their hands — the silver workshops, textile-weaving people, basketry people, tattoo people, the woodworkers. The artists. The intellectuals. The restaurateurs. The passionate ones. The ones that need nature. Also, Igorot culture — if you’re sensitive to what that is —permeates the place. They are a very grounded people. They are so connected to the soil. They have simplicity, honesty and equanimity. Uncomplicated.

Baguio is the capital and very much a metropolis. But it’s populated by many people whose origins are five to seven hours away or more by car, and who return to their homes in these places and live on farms and have a very agricultural life surrounded by the incredible beauty of these mountains. I know quite a few people in Baguio who are born and bred here, and cannot live in the lowlands, because they are just too sensitized to what it means to be surrounded by this kind of weather and nature. And they have a very deep love of their culture and the mountain province.

Best place to stay:

Centrally located in a nice part of town above Session Road. It’s all wood and historic and you have the wonderful restaurant “Hill station” in the same complex including North Haven Spa which is worth a try. I believe Casa Vallejo was the very first hotel in Baguio, so it originates from the early 1900s. And that it still exists at a hotel as a hotel at all is really incredible.

Best place to hang out:

Ili-LIKHA & Bencab Museum. Baguio has two national artists in residence. And both of them have created great places to hang out.

Ili-LIKHA is the brainchild of national artist Kidlat Tahimik and the Bencab Museum is by national artist Ben Cabrera.

Best place to shop:

Mary Ngalawen’s antique boutique, Toucoucan, in Maharlika Mall. Mary is Baguio’s most preeminent and longest living art dealer. Her inventory of ethnographic sculptures, kitchen art artifacts, as well as textile is always exciting to see. It was at her store where I found the woven rattan belts and bracelets that inspired the Cordillera Bracelet from my line CARO WILSON.

The Baguio market is adjacent Maharlika Mall is always a delightful experience. The open-air and walkways are shaded from the sun by burlap sacks two stories above your head, so the light is very filtered and diffused — such beautiful light. The walkways on the ground floor, parallel to the street outside, are 5 meters wide. This is wide enough so walking is never constrained by too many people. And so that the vendors are accessible, yet not in-your-face. Fresh strawberries piled into tall cones, cotton washcloths from Ilocos, baskets woven in Ifugao — all line your path. I like to buy my coffee from Garcia’s. The smell of coffee, the sight of all the grounds; it’s wonderful. The selection of fruits and vegetables is enormous at the Baguio Market. And the vegetables are much more colorful, shinier.

Where to eat:

My favorite restaurant in Baguio is the Japanese restaurant called Chaya. It is truly Japanese home cooking, very fresh ingredients and innovative sauces, and culinary approaches, including fermentation.

Best advice:

My best advice for the person visiting Baguio is to walk. Walk through Burnham Park. Walk through the market. Walk up Session Road. Walk through Porta Vaga Mall. Walk through the Yellow Trail at Camp John Hay. Walk through the horses of Wright Park to ascend the hundreds of steps to the recently restored Daniel Burnham reflecting pools, and then into Mansion House. (You will need a reservation to get into Mansion House.)

The people here have great legs because they walk!