Driving to Baguio

The first mass invasion of Baguio by Americans was made in 1902 by William Howard Taft – who was a mass of over 300 pounds. He negotiated the almost fifty kilometer steep mountain trek from the Ilocos lowland by donkey. Taft was so enthused by his achievement that the then Philippine Governor-General sent an exhuberant wire to Under-Secretary of War Elihu Root, ‘ ARRIVED IN BAGUIO 5000 FEET UP AFTER A GRUELING THREE DAY TRIP BY DONKEY.”
To which Mr Root promptly replied, “HOW’S THE DONKEY?”
It was an ass-inine way to travel so Uncle Sam appropriated the sum of seventy five thousand pesos to build a highway to what would become the summer capital of the Philippines. The work was assigned to US Army Colonel Kennon. It took him months to blast a path of a few hundred yards out of sheer mountain rock. The army
hired Igorots to help them. (See “Golf” a few blogs back). They began to work away from where the army was blasting. It gave the engineers conniptions. “Stop, STOP, STOP! - TIME OUT! You’re digging in the wrong place! The road is supposed to be here. “ The Igorots built the rice terraces, giant mountain step fields that reached the skies, the eight wonder of the world. They continued to dig at sides where mountain springs were and allowed the water’s flow to weaken the mountain sides .Dynamite and water combined to finish Kennon Road ahead of schedule - although eventually costing more than two million pesos in 1920s currency. Today’s inflationary exchange would put the cost in the millions.
Another mountain highway, the Naguilian Road has since been built .It’s the recommended road back if you want to tarry a few days in the beach resorts of La Union. Marcos built a third one and named it after him. Philippine Airlines has daily one hour flights to and from Manila. Personally I feel the air trip is only for those with a death wish.The flight squeezes between two mountain tops to three point at Loakan airport that is often shrouded in fog. Besides, the five hour ride from Manila is half the fun of going to Baguio. One of the legacies of the country’s Commonwealth days was the extensive all-concrete highway built during the administration of Governor-General Cameron Forbes in the early 20s. So thoroughly did the gov dedicated his tenure to road building tha the is remembered today not as Cameron Forbes but “Camerino (meaning, road) Forbes”.
I’m digressing.
Up until the early 80s there were hardly any places to empty your bladder enroute. One had to cross his/her legs until reaching the summer capital – either that or pause by the roadside to irrigate the rice fields. A welcome change today are the up-to-date pit stops of spanking-neat gas stations alongside ubiquitous jollibees and just as clean competing restaurants with spotless restrooms. A third of the way to Baguio is via a fast growing North toll road which the locals have designated “Enlex”, as opposed to another highway going south that they call “Eslex”.
It was a quiet Sunday morning and time was in slow motion – so we decided to take a side trip to Manaoag for a visit with the lady of the town, the grand, glorious and glittering Virgin of Manaoag (Mah-now –ag).. The church and the image of the Blessed Mother attired as a queen holding Baby Jesus is the object of veneration and pilgrimage by devout Catholics. It wasn’t a special Sunday but nevertheless cars and jeepneys were lined for a dozen blocks and we barely squeezed through the mass of wall-to-wall people, both outside and inside the church.To squash through that human congestion is your penance and atonement for your sins.
To be continued