Up there

My name tag for the retreat! 

Forced retreat letters from COs. Haha!

The first thing we did when we got in Baguio is eat breakfast. Our bus parked in Burnham Park then we were given 30 minutes to eat. Ironically, though, the 30-minute breakfast break became an hour. :P 

From Burnham Park, we immediately went to our respective retreat houses. Two sections were in the Assumption something and the remaining three sections, which includes our section, were at Betania Retreat House. It was so funny because we were lost and our coach captain (That's what we call the bus driver!) had to ask for directions! Haha! The place was near the Baguio Botanical Garden. :D

Afterwards, we had to surrender our phones because our Youth Encounter will be starting at 2 PM. Though before that, we were given few good hours of free time. I was supposed to sleep since I had a hard time sleeping in the bus, but I just made retreat letters for my classmates instead. 

We had presentations by group after the retreat, for the sake of our adviser's entertainment. I saw that she was really entertained because she was clapping her hands and laughing so hard, like a seal. Haha! Afterwards, our phones were returned. Yay! Fortunately I was able to survive three straight days without a phone. Heh. 

Our retreat house is really an ideal place for retreats and/or recollections because of it's calming atmosphere. But I'm telling you, it's not a good place to sleep! I experienced a scary thing myself there. 

Taho for breakfast! We thought that the people in Betania won't be preparing breakfast for us anymore. But they did! :)

I forgot what this is called. Haha! We prayed here once while following the tracks until we reached the middle, then we'll be wishing or praying for whatever we want, and we had to come back the way we came.

Bus number 5! When you see it, you'll shit brix. Haha! I think we have the narrowest bus (Is there such thing? :P ) among the five sections. That sucks. 

Saw this while walking to Baguio Cathedral. Oh, the irony...

Strawberry farm! I really really like strawberries, but they're not in season when we went there. No strawberries for me.. <//3   

Afterwards, we went to Ibay's. It's a shop full of silver jewelries and stuff. Then we had lunch at SM Baguio. 

Helloooo PMA! 

This is how our convo with the tour guide went: 

TG: Pag may nakita kayong statue ng tao na nakasakay sa kabayo, pansinin niyo kung ilang paa ng kabayo yung nakataas. Kapag isa, natural death lang, pag dalawa, namatay sa war. Eh pag tatlo?
Me: Natapilok yung kabayo?
TG: Hindi! Eh kapag apat?
Classmates: Unicorn na po yun!
TG: Hindi! Nasa carousel na yun. 

Super sabaw convo ever. Haha! 

Ate tour guide told us that this is where their classes are held. Crappy photo is crappy. I was walking when I took this. Haha! 

Sundial.

Took this photo just because.

Lourdes Grotto! I happily counted the steps on the way up but when I reached the top, I forgot how many steps there were! Bummer.. I bought two cute dream catchers instead.

View from the Mines View Park. Sadly, it became a view of different houses. After looking at the view, we went to different souvenir shops! Yaaay~ 

The bus dropped us off at Burnham Park and we were free to do anything we want after an hour. What I did in an hour? I went to the market to buy vegetables that my mom wanted me to buy. :| The fun part is I'm with my friends, so it's fine with me. We were just lacking time so we were running in the market! Hahaha!

Overall, I had a love-hate relationship with this trip. I hate it because the better cam is with my mom so I only had few pictures coming from my phone. I don't think they'll be here in my memories for so long, because I easily forget things. That sucks. Haha. I hate it because I'm not with my parents, so my money was limited. I loved it because this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to travel this far without my parents and the youth encounter was fun and scary at the same time. :)