The Salad Bowl of the Philippines Through Adivay (Part 1 )

Adivay is a local dialect term of the Ibalois in Benguet which means gathering together to have fun. The term is used to name a festival that Benguet celebrates during its foundation anniversary. This year, it celebrated its 122^nd foundation anniversary with a theme "People's Festival of Culture, Nature and the Future."

Yes, 122^nd anniversary! And I thought Benguet is the only province that celebrates its foundation anniversary at such level. The others I know celebrate at municipal level.

Benguet is known as the salad bowl of the Philippines due to its high production of highland vegetables and some fruits. The province is the salad bowl and not just the municipality of La Trinidad as others try to claim so. The province's generally cool climate favors the production of different crops like vegetables, rice, fruits, and some coffee.

The foundation date is 23 November 1900 but the festival is being celebrated for almost a month. This year, it was kicked off last 7^th November and concluded on the 25^th of the same month.

One of the highlights of the festival was the agri-trade fair which ran for more than a week from 16-25 November. It was held at Benguet Cold Chain in Wangal, La Trinidad, Benguet. The fair highlighted the products and attractions of the 13 municipalities of the province. When I visited the fair the second time, I heard someone saying that if you want to get to know each municipality then this is where you go; where you can visit all municipalities in few hours without traffic headache. He was right.

I visited the fair twice because the first time I went, there were so many people. It was so hard to have a clear view of the displays, much more to take photos,or have a quick chat with the booth hosts to learn about their place. I did not learn much except patience to wait for people to clear my subject before I take photos. The first time I went was late in the afternoon until it got dark. The second time was mid-morning on the last day of the fair.

Join me and let us take a look at the first four municipalities for now.

Atok

Atok was known for highland vegetables that are part of those "Baguio vegetables" line. In the recent years, many of the farmers shifted to ornamental plants which became very popular.

The shift from vegetables to ornamental plants was clearly portrayed in the municipality's landscape. The moment I entered their area, my jaw dropped in awe with the bright pink lily stargazers. Their sweet scent was strong that many were sniffing the different plants and trying to determine where the scent is coming from. I even asked one lady sniffing, "have you found the source yet?" We both laughed.

Another amazing part of the landscape were the ornamental cabbages. I lived in Benguet for years but that was my first time to see white variegated cabbages. The variegation made them look very ornamentals indeed. I wondered if they are edible, I did not have the chance to ask. But even if they are edible, I wouldn't cook and eat something so beautiful as these.

There were also these violet variegated cabbages. The leaves haven't yet formed a head which means they are still young. I wonder how violet they can be.

Two of the ornamental farms that are so popular in Atok are the Northern Blossom Flower Farm and Sakura Farm. Both I am yet to visit. Beats me!

Another highlight of Atok is the half tunnel located along Halsema Highway that crosses the municipality. I quote from the caption of the miniature half tunnel on display:

Half Tunnel is a 50-meter portion of the highway carved from a face of a huge rock constructed in 1968 after the strong typhoon "Trining" washed out the road.

I laughed along with two ladies when I saw the miniature.

"Oh, no, no, no... That highway is just one way. The trucks will bump each other. The actual tunnel is not like that. It has a full two-way highway," I said to no one in particular and the ladies laughed all the more.

Bakun

I did not see specific distinguishing mark inside the Bakun landscape.

So I asked one of the hosts.

"What is the main product of Bakun?"

"Vegetables and fruits."

That explains the different vegetables and fruits on display.

The hosts were busy selling their products so I did not ask further. I went up inside their hut to find a fireplace burning. What a familiar sight! We had this kind during my childhood.

Right above the fire were hanging slices of pork being smoked. This is how people of the Cordilleras preserve meat in the old days in the absence of refrigerator. They first rub the meat with salt then either have them sun-dried or smoked.

Above the meat is a platform holding firewoods and above the firewoods is another platform for storing bundles of rice. Like the meat, the rice is stored above the fireplace to keep it dry before pounding or having it milled.

The other wall across the fireplace had tarpaulins of Masalin and Guingaban caves which the municipality highlights as their tourist spots.

There were no more tourist attractions on the displays so I searched the internet and found more of beautiful mountains, falls and cave for hiking. These seem worth trying.

Bokod

Municipality of Bokod is the home of the famous Ambuklao Dam. The dam is a hydroelectric facility producing and supplying electricity to a significant area of Luzon. The dam is one of the tourist spots that the municipality takes pride of.

Given the huge supply of water,residents take the opportunity of water produce and one of those is the organic tilapia which they portrayed through a fountain on their landscape.

There were tilapias on display for sale during the fair. The seller was so proud of promoting them as organic from the dam. The tilapia I know is colored black-ish and smaller, even with large sizes. These ones on display were pale and giants. They look carps.

I asked to confirnm if those were indeed tilapias and not carps.

"They look carps. Are those really tilapias?"

"Yes, ma'am. Hundred percent."

"The tilapias I know are black and small. How come those are so big and silvery?"

"That is how the product of the dam is." I did not argue further.

I compared the size of one tilapia with my folded umbrella. The fish was bigger! I measured my umbrella when I got home and it was 29 cm. Regular tilapia would be half of that size. Those were one of a kind giant tilapias!

Aside from livelihood from the dam, locals of Bokod do farming of mostly rice and other highland vegetables.

One very popular tourist spot in Bokod is Mt. Pulag which is the highest peak in Luzon. Every year, hundreds of hikers climb the mountain to witness a sea of clouds.

I did not see a miniature of Mt. Pulag on the displays. Maybe because the hiking trails to the summit are in Kabayan municipality. Also, its location is not totally inside Bokod but is bordering four municipalities in three provinces: Bokod and Kabayan municipalities in Benguet, Kayapa municipality in Nueva Vizcaya and Tinoc municipality in Ifugao.

Buguias

I was expecting loads of potatoes in the Buguias booth. That is because Buguias is known as the top producer of potatoes in Benguet. For some reasons, there was none.

Technically, Buguias produces different vegetables like the other municipalities. Potatoes just happen to be more attached to it because again, it produces more than the others.

These images from my vegetable terraces post were actually taken in Natubleng, Buguias along Halsema Highway. As we can see, crops are of diffefent vegetables and not just potatoes.

<sup>Click to view full image

Click to view full image</sup>

Such diversity of crops can be seen on the displayed products in their booth.

Hanging by the wall of their hut were two animal skulls. I thought both are of carabao's as these were the animal help in the farm pre-tractor years.

However as I am writing this post, I noticed that the horns on the right skull are different. They are leaning forward which is the opposite for carabao horns. Also, the horns on the right are of closer circular shape. Carabao horns have wider spread. Now I am not sure which animal these skulls are. Maybe someone can help me out.

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I will pause our Benguet tour at this point. Stay tuned for the tour of the remaining nine municipalities.