Chant for Cafe

In late March this year, Su Llamado put together a mini-art festival to celebrate the 20th anniversary of what is now a Baguio landmark--Cafe by the Ruins on Chuntug Street. As part of the fest, the Baguio Writers Group held an after-dinner poetry reading. Members Jenny Carino read a Pablo Neruda ode to the tomato, Nonnette Bennett celebrated the short life of one of the cafe's partners, Christine Arvisu, visual artist Rishab strummed the guitar and sang his own composition, Desiree Caluza praised vegetables, Baboo Mondonedo read a piece about another cafe habitue, Santiago Bose, who had passed on. This was my contribution.

How many times have I sat here alone, ordered from a short list of favorites—the chewy turon, a glass of lemonade, no sugar, a cup of coffee, a pot of tea? And, when feeling acutely bereft, a bowl of the gooiest champorado to warm a fretful belly?

When there is nothing going on in the refrigerator at home, except for cooling bottles of water, I come here to stock up on loaves of camote bread and vials of decadent liver pate and live on them for as long as I stubbornly refuse to step on the kitchen.

This is where I bring out-of-towners, visitors from foreign shores who never leave disappointed. Always they praise the freshness of the day’s menu, the creative take on an old or familiar staple.

Revelations, confessions, disclosures come easy when hunger is sated. After tucking a plateful of Tofu Pouches, how can I say “No” to a request for a tour around the city? If I had eaten an uninspired comida china, I would have reason to refuse.

So here’s to the café of our affections.

May you never lose your intimate size.
May you never become a chain or franchise.
May you never be replaced by a more pragmatic bank, a real estate office or a nest of condominiums.
May poets, troubadours and similar wayfarers never overstay their welcome.

May the rich Cordillera soil continue to yield the greens you are famous for.
May your roof defy months of monsoon.
May you be highland Philippines’ perennial pleaser of palates, salve of souls.