MOUNTAIN BLISS PART 2 - THE EXHIBIT

I finally met Jim Ward, the tireless owner of Bliss Cafe. (I was only able to meet Shanti his wife later during the day when she got back from being with their daughter at the hospital.) He's a charming fellow who struck me as quite laid back and has this calm serene air about him. We went to his cafe after a short breakfast at Mcdonalds and, well, I was simply surprised.

Bliss Cafe is small affair tucked in one corner of Hotel Elizabeth. It serves vegetarian food (one thing I admitted to Jim that would take sometime for my tongue and palate to get accustomed to. I am happy meat muncher) and everything about the place is cheerful. It's not the cheeky cheerful kind but it definitely "serenely cheerful".

The photos will show you.

This is the first thing that pops to greet you once you entered the cafe - a wall hanging from Tibet. I hope Jim will forgive me for not knowing what it is.


A hole they had on the wall with lyrics from Cynthia Alexander's song. Apparently, the songstress is a close friend of the couple. The words bring to mind that which is uttered by the priest during Ash Wednesday, "From ash we come, to ash we'll go back", or something like that.



... and here's my untiring host - Jim - behind another hole leading to the kitchen.


A funky table. A funky lamp. And that funky book with these lines that caught my eye, "What is a friend? A future enemy. / What is an enemy? A former friend."


Instead of a bull-shaped piñata, Bliss has a paper-mache gecko clinging on the ceiling. Unusually lovely.


A corner buddhist "flag"? A hanging? ...or something.


A quiet sunny corner.


Buddha in the greenery.


I could never forget the taste of the tea made from some dried flowers Jim served. It looked like dried roses and had that calming effect on the body when I drank it. He says that these flowers can only be found in the mountains.


The outer "courtyard" with all that luscious color and details.


The interiors of Bliss before my works were placed...


... this is how it looked like after my works were safely tucked in their places. It felt like the cafe's a very comfortable drawing room.


With Jim keeping an eye, Anna (with black beret) and her posse hanging one of the works...

...and they became troubadours when evening came.

Jim serenading a couple of Japanese guests at the evening's exhibit. He sang an "enta" a Japanese form of the blues. Having known that a very close friend of mine died, he asked if I could give a small percentage of the sales to kidney research to which I agreed. For those who buy my works, a small amount helps towards this cause.

And I had to take this picture. I couldn't resist.

Thank you Jim and Shanti!!!

______

Eight of my works are currently on exhibit at BLISS CAFE. If you find yourself in Baguio, do drop by and check it out. You'll love everything there.

BLISS CAFE is located in the lobby of HOTEL ELIZABETH at the corner of Gibraltar and J. Felipe Sts. For contacts, call Jim or Shanti at landline 074 619-0367, or through mobile numbers 09178464729 and 0917528116.

You'll love the place. I know I do.

MOUNTAIN BLISS PART 1

I took some time out from all the hectic things happening around to lug some of my smaller works up north in the mountain city of Baguio for a small exhibit in Bliss Cafe. So, with a small bag on my back, a huge luggage containing 8 framed works and a camera I filched from Marga, I took the midnight bus up to the mountains and prayed I won't be sitting beside a snoring gorilla for the 7-hour ride. (I think I was the snoring gorilla. I woke up TWICE with a start to MY own SNORING during the trip. I suspect the man beside me jabbed me with his elbow to wake me up!)

I arrived in Baguio at five freakin' a.m. I stepped out of the bus and my whole skeletal system was shaking uncontrollably from the nippy, nay, biting COLD air of the mountains. I know Jim told me to go straight to Bliss Cafe with my stuff (he had a futon prepped for me to curl in) but my body begged for something warm.

Good thing I spotted an old lady selling hot coffee at the bus depot. A few sips of it and my bones settled.

I tossed the bags on my back, went straight to the cafe, was ushered into the lobby by the nicest security guard I have ever met. He helped me with my luggage and with all smile directed me into the still closed cafe at the lobby of Hotel Elizabeth.

Did I mention that the cabbie I took from the bus depot to the cafe gave me EXACT CHANGE for the fare? If that happens in a cab ride in Manila, it's bound to be a miracle.

The sun was already up in the horizon. Since I had a good sleep during the bus ride, I was already itching to explore this mountain city. My last visit was way back in 1989, before the Mt. Pinatubo earthquake and I thought it'd be an early morning adventure.


The first thing I saw while I walked away from the hotel was this quaint church of St. Joseph. Lovely church. An all-wooden altar that has these glass panes lit up like... hmmm, I felt like it's Christmas. I said a short prayer for Ace and ended up staying for early morning mass. I call these early morning weekday masses "The Senior Special". Only old people would dare rise up that early and plunk their behinds on wooden benches of the church.

Jim later on told me that this is the church where Aga Muhlach and Charlene Gonzales got married. Wow. A bit of trivia.

I can't resist staring at the wooden statue of St. Joseph and the crown on top it. Eventhough it's a Catholic, it reminds me of a big Methodist church. Magnificent.

After Mass, I figured I have enough time to while away before I'd meet Jim at a local Mcdonalds in downtown Baguio. (Later I realized that downtown Baguio has the most number of Mcdonalds within a three block radius. Viva Americana.) I hopped into a jeep and found myself along Session Road and staring at this long flight of steps leading up to the Baguio Cathedral. Arguing with myself whether I'd climb it or not, I saw a small pudgy thick-legged fellow with a dead toad attached to a string slung around his shoulder going up. Curiosity took the best of me and I followed him up the steps. I figured he was wondering what a tall bald man doing trailing him up the steps when he turned to face me and ask, "Yes?" I made a sheepish smile, looked at his toad and asked, "Is that a small bag?"

"Oh this? I got it in Manila," he proudly announced. "Oh," was all I could mutter.

... and the prize I got after climbing the steps - sa couple of touristy shots of the Cathedral.

A nice Chinese-looking guy offered to take my picture in front of the building, but he mucked it up by taking only the top of my head. Sigh...

No Baguio-sojourn would ever be made complete if one does not make a visit to its well-known market. Methinks, I'd keep these memories and start painting market scenes.

Vicky and Karen from downstairs at the clinic specifically asked me to get them some crinkles. After I shot this picture, I bought three boxes for a hundred pesos. If I didn't buy even just one,
Vicky will hound me for not getting her crinkles.

Oddly, I felt like I was walking in Quiapo or downtown Manila, except the air's cooler, cleaner and people were in sweaters.

Change the statues of the mountain tribes into a saint and it would suddenly feel like the plaza in front of Malate church.

And the piece de resistance. I find pure "poetry" how man has encroached himself on the mountaintops of Baguio like... locusts. Though I have never been to Brazil, it's like a picture of their fabellas.
_______

... and then at 9.30 a.m. I met Jim of Bliss Cafe at Mcdonalds.

FOR ACE (MAY 26, 1970 - MAY 1, 2009)

The first time we met was on a rainy early evening at a bus stop near our old house in Sampaloc. It was 1998. June. I got a call on my mobile from Ace who asked if we could meet at a convenience store near his place. He mentioned his location and I realized that we live pretty close to each other. The place he suggested was right smack between our neighborhoods.

“Great! I am just a couple of minutes away from that store by foot” he said. “Since this is the first time we’ll meet, I am wearing all white.”

All white? I thought. Who’d be stupid enough to wear “all white” in a rainy evening such as this, tramp through the mud to get to that convenience store and survive unsullied?

“Okay. See you in ten minutes then,” I said.

I was standing at the bus stop across the convenience store shaking the water out of my raincoat when from a distance, coming towards my direction and holding a huge clear plastic umbrella, was a vision in WHITE! In this grey, cold and wet night, he did stand out with his detergent WHITE buttoned sport shirt, WHITE bermuda shorts and WHITE tennis shoes and socks. There is no mistaking it’s Ace.

Gingerly walking towards the bus stop, he took slow steps to avoid the puddles and the mud, making sure he’d walk on something solid like the big rocks scattered haplessly and looking closely downwards to see where to plant his foot next. A few feet from where I stood, he lifted his head, saw me and flashed a wide friendly grin. Unfortunately, that grin made him miss a step and his immaculately white tennis shoe-clad foot landed squarely in a brackish mud puddle.

“Potah!” I heard him cuss as he lifted his foot and took the last few steps into the shelter of the bus stop.

I tried hard not to laugh while keeping a straight face. I guess he saw in my eyes the difficulty of keeping my laughter in, and with aplomb, he lifted his chin, while he shook his muddied foot and said…

“It’s a fashion statement. Hi. I am Ace.”

That night, I knew I met a dear friend.
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Ace died after a massive cardiac arrest a few days ago and was buried last Wednesday – May 6. For several years he’s been undergoing dialysis. Ever since a kid he’s had week kidneys. I remember during one conversation that the doctors told him his life expectancy would be no more than 40 years. They were right on the dot.

Here’s to you old pal. Wherever you are, I am pretty sure you’re making your fashion statement.
______

Addendum...

I found this in his friendster profile...

About Me:

In love with the real ME for the past year...I am the Temple of the Divine...So I am obssessively taking care of my body externally, lavishing it with lots of good, natural stuff and internally, nourishing it as well with a healthy balance of all essential nutrients whether of plant or animal origin...I love to take long, fragrant baths, slather myself with natural scents, and dress up for the tropics...No more Mr. Corporate dressing for me...I do smile a lot more now, laugh heavily, let loose of the rhythm in me (Yeah, swaying, tapping, swinging even in the LRT when I feel like it, unashamedly,) expressing myself even to strangers...Most of the unneccessary baggages are gone...I love sharing what I know either at work, in life, and in love, as well as listening intently to gather much much more from the billions of people out there...That's why most of what I do now involves facilitating academic classes or teambuilding sessions, addressing corporate or trade groups as guest speaker or resource person, volunteering as life coach, and getting paid as an executive coach...I am happy right now...If someone comes along and wants to share it, I will welcome him with open arms...in whatever form...as friend, brother, and lover...

Who I Want to Meet:

Anyone...is a child of God...

WHEN RENT IS LATE...

... my landlady knocks on my door and she can be as nasty as Pearl.

The Landlord from Will Ferrell

(Just kidding. My landlady's the sweetest woman there is, and she's my squaredancing partner too.)