Friday, May 16, 2008 Delen: Nostalgia 2 By Annie Delen Jaded Mind
THE previous was supposed to be the continuation of the "Nostalgia Series" but we got sidetracked.
The last scene saw us walking around Burnham Lake marveling at the insensitivity of people to the environment. That was just the second act. On we continue to the end of this nostalgic journey to the past.
Scene 3, Enter Actors ... Hector and I were still on the same pathway where as I have mentioned last week I've jogged in the mornings when I still had the inclination and stamina to do so.
After futilely trying to see a positive side to the sight of trash that littered the path we found something that took our minds off that. It was the sight of men sitting in the dark.
As I have already mentioned before, Burnham Park at night would not exactly win any prices in any "contest of featuring the presence of lights".
Well yeah, I wasn't born yesterday and I have been hearing stories of "professionals" stroll the Park for prospective "clients". But considering the passage of time I would have thought this situation would have gone the way of most urban legends ... relegated to the back of daily life to be dragged out now and then to relieve the boredom of jaded people like me.
I couldn't have been more wrong. Obviously, the oldest profession in the history of man is thrives at the Park most especially during the late hours of the night. Burnham Park then is definitely not the place to be when one simply needs to walk off the pressures of the day.
Not wanting to be mistaken for "prospective clients", we decided to escape through Rizal Park. It sure was cleaner than Burnham Park, no trash strewn about; better lighted and most likely a lot safer but I could very well be off tangent.
We simply could have called it a night and saved ourselves a great many heartaches but as fate would have it, we decided to walk down to Magsaysay Avenue where La Trinidad jeepneys are waiting for passengers.
In retrospect, we did that because of fate or we were simply being our normally masochistic selves. Friends would say it was due to the latter.
Anyway, we continued our "nostalgic" walk around the city. I soon realized that without the colorful secondhand clothes, shoes and bags that attract tourists to this city, the row of shops at Bayanihan looked forlorn and unappealing. Most of the accordion doors had peeling paint while others are starting to be eaten away by rust.
One cannot transfer to the other side without passing through the overpass fronting Hotel Veniz. So our aching feet (mine was) brought us there where rumors of the presence of hold uppers in that area is enough to dissuade even the bravest from going through that structure. But considering that we were fatalists as well as masochists, we decided to take our chances.
Mercy of mercies we got through unscathed only to be bitterly disappointed at what we saw at the other side.
The Public Market has long been one of the tourist spots of Baguio (God knows why) but on that night a week ago, it was a very far cry from what is shown in photos.
Often enough it had been described as a "charming" place but on that dark Wednesday night it looked shabby and dirty.
Magsaysay was no better. No light at the end of the tunnel to speak of. As we continued walking, the scene just became bleaker and bleaker; a great many heartaches indeed.
The nostalgic walk around the city that we've both loved for the longest time ended at the sinking area where La Trinidad jeepneys continuously wait for passengers like me. Cliché it is but at that point, reality did hurt. Baguio will never be the same.
