Cherry Blossoms in Baguio? No, those are Bougainvillea Blossoms
The Panagbenga festivities in Baguio City this year may have been canceled due to the threats brought about by the pandemic, but the flowers in the city continue to flourish during the “season of blooming”.
Bougainvillea Blossoms
While Cherry blossoms or sakura in Japan are a sight to behold, the vibrant and verdant perennial flowers such as bougainvilleas blossoming within Burnham Park’s perimeter are also something worth seeing by more eyes. Despite the current enhanced community quarantine the city is under, where only one person per household is allowed to go out, the beauty of the outdoors does not go unnoticed by those passing by the area on their way to buy essentials.
Baguio City at rest
Tourism is one of the industries hardest hit by the pandemic with parks closing, leisure and other crowd-drawing activities prohibited for the time being. What were once busy spots filled with tourists and locals strutting around and micro-business owners shouting their services for boat rentals and massages are now filled with but the ambient rustling of the trees against the silence.
Imbibing the Panagbenga culture
With the onset of the summer season and the explosion of colorful perennials in the City of Pines, may we find comfort with nature telling us to find beauty in the simplest of things, and like the beautiful bougainvilleas, hope will blossom again, just as how the city rose again after the devastating 1990 earthquake.
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