Coldest December day added treat to tourists in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—For a city that always looks forward to cooler nights, Tuesday’s 12 degrees Celsius—the lowest temperature in December— may be a harbinger of colder days in 2014.

Rolando Bagorio, Baguio weather observer, said 2013’s coldest day was Jan. 17 when temperatures dropped to 9.5 degrees Celsius.

But the cold and the unbearable traffic jams have prompted the city’s tourists to leave their vehicles in their hotels and inns and walk downtown.

A jeepney driver plying the Dominican Hill route advised his passengers to try to stroll instead when traffic jams slowed down the usual 15-minute jeepney trip to downtown Baguio.

“It is cold, but this is normal for us. It gets colder in January and February and we have learned to walk it off. You should try it,” the driver told a group of young women from Marikina City.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan also suggested brisk walks to avoid heavy traffic leading to the downtown area, as well as the city’s popular visitor haunts, when he addressed tourist complaints about traffic jams on Monday.

He said the traffic problems prove that it is the weather that continues to draw people to the mountain city.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said Baguio’s temperature has been falling steadily throughout the holidays.

Bagorio said the mercury fell to 15.4 degrees Celsius on Dec. 24. It rose to 16.2 degrees Celsius on Christmas Day, only to drop slightly to 16 degrees Celsius on Dec. 26, and 14.5 degrees on Dec. 27, when President Aquino arrived here for a three-day vacation.

The temperature dropped suddenly to 12.5 degrees on Dec. 28, 12.6 degrees on Dec. 29, and 12.2 degrees on Dec. 30.

Bagorio said the city may still experience a temperature drop to 10 and 9 degrees at the start of 2014, based on the city’s weather pattern in the last 10 years.

The cooler temperature means that there is no better time to use that familiar knitted Baguio bonnet, one of the summer capital’s cheapest and popular souvenir items, than the next few days.

The cold means the demand for these knitted bonnets increases, making home-based knitters doubly busy.

Rose Fausto, 41, who has been knitting bonnets for the past five years, said she earns double when the cold spell starts.

“A knitter can make 30 bonnets a day on average, and they just do these in their own homes. But during the Christmas season, this number doubles, some even make 80 to 100 pieces a day because of the demand. The knitters are usually mothers who have day jobs like me. I wash clothes for a living when bonnet sales are slow,” Fausto said.

She said wholesalers in the “Hangar” area at the Baguio public market have their own network of knitters, whose products they supply to areas frequented by tourists in the city, such as the Maharlika Livelihood Complex, market stalls and the city’s parks.

She said their products reach as far as the Visayas.

Paul Zapata, a worker at the Francing Yarns and Accessories, said aside from bonnets, yarns in various colors are knitted into cardigans and sweaters and sold in shops in the city and in Cebu province and the Bicol region.

Fausto said that for 20 kg of yarn, a knitter can make 400 bonnets, and she can earn P3 for each item. A bonnet without design is sold for P25 by the wholesaler, while those with the “Baguio City” design cost more.

Souvenir shops usually sell a bonnet for P30 to P35 apiece or for P100 for a set of three.

Vendors in souvenir shops at the Maharlika Livelihood Center said bonnets sell well because these are cheaper than other souvenir items like shirts, shawls and sweaters.

“Through these bonnets, we can spot locals from tourists -– many Baguio residents would never be caught wearing one of these while tourists proudly wear them,” Belen Rosales, another souvenir shop owner, said.  Reports from Vincent Cabreza, Gobleth Moulic and Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

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