alone in baguio, day 2

The night before, I asked the front desk to get me a cab by 9 AM. I don’t think they told the driver where I was going, because when I got in and told him, he looked like he died a little inside.

The BenCab Museum, which houses National Artist Ben Cabrera’s own paintings and personal art collection, is located on Km. 6 Asin Road. Go to Google Maps and see how far away that is from Baguio City Proper, not to mention from freaking Kennon Road.

I don’t care! I’m going to the museum!

My cab fare was PhP 144. Museum entrance (marked “donation” in the ticket) is at PhP 100. Be there early! The museum opens at 9 AM. Visitors entered the museum in droves just when I was heading out, around lunchtime.

Cafe Sabel, the museum’s own restaurant, is located inside, so you can look at art, take a coffee break, and look at art again.

By the way, this is Sabel.

The memory of a slightly deranged homeless woman clad in plastic sheets billowing in the wind has inspired Filipino artist Benedicto Cabrera, better known as BenCab, for decades. He first started on his Sabel series (named after the woman) in the 1960s and has constantly revisited her image since then, over time abstracting those billowing sheets for example, showing them as elegant dresses. Yet, he had always done so on paper or canvas. (Source.)

Devote an hour or more to your museum visit.

Great view from one of the galleries.

I took a lot of photos but unfortunately was not able to take note of most of the artists’ names. My apologies.

Detail.

Detail, and texture.

And here are two of BenCab’s erotica pieces, “Love Positions” and “Draped Figure XX”.

I have to say I love this one, Abigail Dionisio’s “Ready to Hope”.

Detail.

Kawayan de Guia’s “Attention”.

Virgilio Aviado’s “Subdivision”, a collage.

Norberto Roldan’s “Medicine Cabinet No. 8”. Love love love the objects in this.

“Basic” by Ronald Ventura.

I was lucky to be there when Ben Cabrera dropped by. My thanks to one of the members of the museum staff for taking this wonderful picture.

I went down to Cafe Sabel, but took a picture of the surrounding duck pond and garden before grabbing a table.

Beautiful!

Inside Cafe Sabel. I ordered a Tomato and Basil Pasta, a sundae with chocolate and fresh strawberries, and coffee. Note that Cafe Sabel is a cash-only restaurant.

Took a cab back to the city, this time to Burnham Park.

Most of the roses looked pretty wilted, but this was a bright spot with these pink blooms.

It got pretty hot, so I walked back to the Cathedral (taking the stairs from Session Road – ugh, my knees), shedding my jacket, my cap, and my scarf, and sat for an hour and read a book. I also went back to the store I saw yesterday and bought pasalubong. I was too tired and too broke to go to Mines View and other tourist spots, so I just walked back to SM and took more photos before heading back to High Point.

Ended the night with another sandwich and a Red Horse. Heh.

Went on the bus back the following day. Thank you, Baguio, and see you soon. I hope.

Let’s see how much I spent this weekend.

Hotel – PhP 3500

Bus – 910

Handling fee for tickets – 100

Cab fare to Ruins – 63

Ruins meal – 300?

Cab fare to Hotel – 77

Cab fare to Session Road – 70?

Book – 525

Vizco’s – 110

Knitted cap – 50

Cab fare from SM to Hotel – 70

Dinner – 100

Cab fare to BenCab – 144

Entrance – 100

Cafe Sabel – 300?

Cab fare to Burnham – 80

Meryenda (Bread Talk in SM) – 180 (I ate a lot of bread okay)

Pasalubong – 700+

Cab fare to Hotel – 70

Dinner with drinks – 200?

Lunch – 200?

Cab fare to Victory Liner – 70

TOTAL: PhP 7800 + (around 170 US Dollars)

Yikes, those cab fares really destroyed my budget. I’m sure you can bring this down by taking the jeep and finding a hotel on promo or a transient house near Session Road. And maybe by not eating too much? But where’s the fun in that?