My Fruitful Experience in Panagbenga Flower festival in Baguio City

                 Panagbenga Festival (English: Flower Festival) is a month-long annual flower festival occurring in Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. The term is of Malayo-Polynesian origin, meaning "season of blooming".The festival, held during the month of February, was created as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise up from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The festival includes floats that are decorated with flowers not unlike those used in Pasadena'sRose Parade. The festival also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, that is inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of celebration that came from the Cordillera region.

On our way going up to Baguio... Lezzzgoooo!

                 Everyone wants to see and experience this kind of Festival in Baguio City not only in watching the television but personally.I was very excited then, because this is the first time I have witnessed the Flower Festival personally. This was the first major festival in the Philippines I have attended.

This was in Athletic Bowl, wherein they've displayed the different beautiful floats after the parade. I'm with my sister, niece and cousins...

History of the Panagbenga

The Panagbenga started with just an idea that Baguio City should, like other towns and cities in the Philippines, have it's own "fiesta" or festival celebration. Having been created a city by the Americans during their occupation of the Philippines, Baguio did not start as a town during the Spanish colonial period that had a patron saint with a feast day.

Its charter day anniversary is on September 1, which falls right in the middle of the country's rainy season, which does not allow for parades and other outdoor activities that usually are the highlight of such celebrations. In the beginning, the Panagbenga was a series of celebrations that were held over a period of 10 days encompassing two weekends: the first being the launching ceremonies, the weekdays being Session Road in Bloom and the last weekend was when the Grand Parades were held. Due it its popularity, the period was extended to two weeks, then three, then held for the whole month of February, always taking full advantage of the presence of the alumni of the Philippine Military Academy during PMA Week which is timed for Valentine's Day. Now the festival stretches to five weeks!

A few years later the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation (BFFF) was organized to manage the festival. The Panagbenga has always received huge media coverage because of the instaneous popularity it has enjoyed from the very beginning. Every year, visitors are treated to a display of the strength of the local community spirit as the residents stage the hottest show in the coolest city in the Philippines.

Day 1: Different floats displayed in Athletic Bowl:

                                       This was the float of SM City Baguio... a small nipa huts... 

It was a cloudy day, but we did not mind it. The point is that, we have to watch the parade and the enjoyment that it could bring... Unfortunately, we aren't be able to went in Session Road because of the ant-number of people there.

                                      This was the float of Smart Buddy...

                               I forgot to whom this float belongs :) but it was really amazing float.. This was the float where Gary V. rides on..

                              I forgot to whom this float belongs too.. :)

                              This was the float of Mighty Meaty in Baguio... :)

                               I don't know to whom this float belongs probably theirs. :)

                 This was the float of Benguet, they have displayed their owned different fresh vegetables...

      It's really tiresome and exhausting, but in these beautiful floats, its cost-effective and worth it...!

Day 2: The different flowers displayed in Burnham Park (Orchidarium) :

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My beautiful niece and I.. :)
This was  a memorable experience to me because I am with my family... This was very exciting, we have to wake up early so that we will be able to attend other core events in the festival... I've experianced to walked estimatedly, 7km from the back of Pines City Colleges (where we've settled in the house of my sister) to Burnham Park and SM. Somebody told us that it is very near (I don't know his definition of the word NEAR).

After the 7km-walking, here we are.... but it all worth it!

Day 3: A very swinger experience at Mines View Park:

Mines View Park, a great park located within the city limits of Baguio City, Benguet, is a popular tourist attraction where tourists can shop, explore and view the scenery. An abandoned mine, used by early Ibaloi/Igorot peoples, is viewed from the said tourist spot.

Here was at the entrance before going down on the window of the Park.

Here we go, we're on top of the abandoned mine! Seeing the beautiful areas below...

I am really afraid of heights, but I don't wanna lose the opportunity to see this beautiful scenery...  You can see the very deep precipice and the houses and mines' site underneath... Very amazing! :)

Igorots was very amazing people... I saw all the things underneath that precipice where I've standing, including the tombs of their loved ones in their yards. You will seriously see the remains of their relatives who have died in the yards of their houses. It's a unique and fascinating tradition of our Igorot brothers... 

As we go along, a lots of wonderful memory and laughter were made in this tourist spot...

Hopefully, we could visit this place again... a very nice place to reflect and to think on things with... Life is so much full of happiness, we've just optimize it and just enjoy every minute. My family is the priceless thing I've ever had... Therein our Almighty God to guide us in every moment of our lives...  

THANK YOU! :)

Honestly, I really forgot the names of these beautiful and blooming flowers... Because of so much enjoyment and excitement, I forgot to get their names...There's more kinds of flowers there but I decided to do not put it all here..