haight's place, northern blossoms, leaves and spikes, Timbac cave, bosleng rocky mountain high

Haight's place is a newly created agri-tourism site that is located in Paoay, Atok, Benguet. In due time, cherry blossoms will be experienced in the area as the planted trees are still in their infancy stage. In the mean time, the site is made pleasing by beds of flowers, terraces of vegetables together with the endemic natural grasses. The natural landscape defined by a slanting green garden as its background view completes an adorable scenery. To reach the place from Baguio City, a 51 kilometer ride along the famous Halsema highway, the same access road to The Sagada caves of Mountain province, should be traversed. Somewhere in kilometer 51,  an upward driveway that takes you away from the main highway for about 5 minutes will make you find the place. Prior to the upward driveway, at km 50, you are in Sayangan, the central business district area of Atok, Benguet. a flower farm opened for site seeing, called the Northern Blossom, is in Sayangan. In addition, a small green garden full of cacti may be visited in Sayangan. Spike and Leaves seems the name of cactus garden that is very near the Atok Municipal Hall. There are other worth visiting cardio-conditioning places to visit within the area. The locals will be more than willing to direct you to a magnificient place of rocks in Bosleng and the elevated Timbac cave. Still a common stop over point before Sayangan is the noticeable half tunnel road along the Halsema highway at km. 46. I understand, the top area of the half tunnel is being developed as a local tourism site.  Well, I should say, These areas are parts of our playgrounds when we were young...

strawberry festival of the philippines

The strawberry festival is celebrated by the municipality of La Trinidad. It happens every month of March after the annual Panagbenga festival of the adjacent city of Baguio.

adivay festival

Adivay is a reference name of a festive celebration in the province of Benguet in the Philippines. it is celebrated annually in the month of November in La Trinidad, the capital town.   The main celebration is highlighted by the simultaneous butchering of pigs to be prepared for lunch by the different municipalities every 23rd of November at a public space in Wangal, La Trinidad. As long as the prepared foods are available, guests and expectators are supposedly welcome to partake. Unfortunately, during recent celebrations, food were not enough. In fact, my housemates, who are locals, who had been attempting to join the feast for 3 years would always come home starving. It may be best for organizers to do a rethinking so that the feast becomes meaningful. Why not identify a specific target less fortunate community to feed. Afterall, it is impossible to cater to everyone.

Mangan tako

"Mangan tako" transliterates to "Let us eat". It should be understood, however, as an invitation. Hence, it should mean "Come on, let us eat".

Entako

"Entako" is a short for "Amey/Emey tako" which means "Let us go."

Aw adi

"Aw adi" is a Kankanaey sentence (used in some parts of Benguet) to mean "Yes, it is okay" or simply "yes".  Kankanaeys from some parts of Benguet find the sentence absurd because "aw" alone means "yes" and "adi" alone means "no" such that "aw adi" transliterates to "yes no".

Umali kayo

"Umali kayo" is a Kankanaey sentence that transliterates to "You come." Figuratively, the sentence means "Welcome".