Wednesday walk was initiated by @tattoodjay. I have been talking about rain and storms hitting us consecutively. We are here in the tropics anyway so what else is new. It was a good day yesterday because it was sunny most of the day and I was thinking that today would be the same. So I again asked my sister to accompany me to the Benguet Museum located beside our provincial capitol.

We took one jeepney ride to the capitol. We did not go right away to the museum. We took some pictures first.

Our capitol is located on a hill which is overlooking the valley. We took the stairs going up the building. Calories burned for sure lol! I don't know how many steps there were but I believe there were more than 50.

A father and son checks out peddled crafts made of rattan

A map of the 13 municipalities of Benguet on the wall of a mini garden

Benguet Provincial Capitol seats the governor and his constituents

13 mini gongs each named after the municipalities of Benguet are placed around the flag pole base

A view of the valley as seen from capitol

Mt. Kalugong shrouded in fog. Read related post about about Mt. Kalugong and Kape-an.

Here is a short panoramic clip of our municipality La Trinidad (one of the municipalities that constitutes Benguet). You can see on the right the San Jose Parish Church. I was surprised how improved this church has become.

Trees like Norfolk line up the front of the main building. I remember these were taller. They must have chopped off the upper half of trees. This is for safety precautions particularly when strong typhoons attack.

This bridge is a new install. This was not here the last time I was here which was during my brother's civil wedding. This bridge is to symbolize the ties between Kochi Prefecture, Japan and Benguet.

That Japanese bridge was installed in between one of these huge columns.

I was amused that there is a section inside the ground level where local produce are being sold like vegetable noodles/chips, honey, coffee, my recent favorite peanut butter, etc.

A mural/sculpture can be seen on the second floor landing. This depicts the traditional life and culture of the locals. This was done by local artist D. Carantes. The Caranteses were one of the early settlers of Benguet.

Kalasag or shield is a common accent or decoration such is evidenced here. It was used in the guardrails of the building and can also be seen in the province's official logo.

Framed artwork by G.M. Carantes are hung on the walls. These drawings depicts the life of Benguet before, during and after the regimes that the country had been through. Through it all, life, tradition and culture went on.

On the left side of the main building is where the Benguet Museum is located. However, it was an unfortunate time for us because it is under renovation that's why it was closed. What better else to do but to take a walk around the capital premises.

A walkway that connects the main building to the road. This road leads to other government offices.

Provincial Engineering Office

Provincial Justice Hall

Provincial Jail behind the Provincial Justice Hall

It's noticeable how these buildings need improvement. Wear and tear are evident. It's amazing that they are still standing.

Pine trees are recently planted. I hope these would survive. These trees are being infested with fungus that are killing them.

Pine trees and fog will always reminds me of my hometown. I remember when we were younger how thick the fog can get in the afternoons such that visibility is zero. We would come home from school and play hide and seek in the thickness of the fog. We do get that kind of thickness of fog and mist rarely and rarely.

Watch this short clip as fogs roll by. The phone's camera keep zooming in and out. I forgot to lock the focus.

The fog is rolling in fast and along with it are dark clouds bringing rain. We headed to a tiny cake shop beside the road going up the capitol. I haven't tried the cakes here yet and this is my first time.

The staff said carrot cake is their best seller. That is what I ordered while my sister tried the chocolate cake. Both cakes are soft and not so sweet. The chocolate cake has a bitter taste to it while the carrot cake has more carrots in it than other cakes I have tasted. I like the desiccated coconut sprinkled on top of it. I would not say they are the best cakes but they are something to consider when one wants to buy cake. They are more like bread with cream on top.

This ends our capital tour.

Since we do not have anywhere else to go and the rain arrived, we went to our organic/vegan shop to buy vege-meat, vege-tapa and vege-hotdogs. This store is located in the public market, about 2 kms from capitol.

You can buy grains, coffee (corn, rice), tea (green tea, chrysanthemum, jasmine), nuts (almonds, walnuts), soya products (tofu, soya milk), oil (olive, flaxseed), etc. Most of these are from Taiwan. The vege-meat and other by products are produced in Cavite or Manila. The owner of this is a relative of ours so we get discounts.

Buying the vege-meat products gave me the idea to make a nacho salad.

I chopped onions, garlic, bell pepper (capsicum) and tomatoes. I diced some vege-hotdog and mashed the tofu. I then sauted all those and added black pepper powder, salt, and paprika to taste. I chopped the lettuce and wombok (Chinese cabbage) to go along with the tofu/vege-hotdog mix.

No garlic sauce? No problem. Ground and pound garlic and add oil and salt. Voila! Play with your food to make it presentable and take pictures.

We were having so much fun eating the nacho salad we forgot to put the cheese lol!

As if that is not enough, I cooked mixed vegetables for dinner.

Vegetables during this rainy season is pricey. The demand is high but the products are scarce. It is a dilemma of local farmers and some business establishments.

I soaked the vegetables in water with salt and just sauted those. Yum!

It feels like a long time that I haven't visited steemit. Sudden power outage is common during these times. When it rains and there is no electricity, there's nothing to do. I hope the next couple of months will bring us lesser rain.

I am using this divider provided by @surpassinggoogle here in this post about @ulog.

What is @ulog? Read it HERE.

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Check out these articles:

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PLEASE DON'T be the NEXT VICTIM of a PHISHING SCAM !! by @lynncoyle1
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Thanks to @quochuy for these steps on how to protect yourself from phishing.

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