Sunday, February 19, 2006
Cariño: Once a sleepy corner
By Linda Grace Cariño
THERE was once this sleepy corner where Kisad Road meets now Marcos Highway. The latter was, before being dictated upon, called Santo Tomas Road. On this sleepy corner, there was a hill with a round building that was some sort of restaurant, one my siblings and I daily passed on the drive from our house to get to school. Maryknoll, it was.
On Kisad, just before rounding off the corner, there was an odd spattering of wooden houses, one of which later housed Baguio's first ever 24-hour pharmacy. It had one grilled window from which they sold overpriced medicines, but they were open anytime, day or night.
One fine year, the aforementioned hill was leveled to the ground, and we one day woke up to a Pancake House and a gas station beside it. Thereabouts too, the wooden houses went, and up came new concrete buildings, one of them still housing a pharmacy, but this time with downtown prices, and no grills, anymore. And oh, there was also born a very efficient, convenient medical clinic upstairs.
Then beside it, up came a place that had an Italian bistro and a bona fide branch of a favorite, Muang Thai. While the latter has survived, the bistro did not, sadly.
More recently, there appeared a Starwood Hotel besides the building with the pharmacy, which I more often than not swing by on the way home - they have everything, anyway. And it's less hassle to do the last stop than to backtrack downtown to buy meds, vits, and such.
There's even a bank there, and the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) office. Most lately, the spot now boasts of a 7-11 outlet and so much traffic that it's difficult to find parking or idling space.
People, people, and more people are all over it all the time.
Our once sleepy Kisad Corner is now a bustling, busy, honest-to-goodness, all-weather, 24/7 hub. As my mother is fond of saying: say hello to the 21st century.
(February 19, 2006 issue)
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