Greenhouse Visit in Acop Tublay ~ Marketing Junior Executives

As we end the CBA week, the College Student Council and MJE together with all the academic clubs of CBA conducted a Green House Visit at Ambassador, Tublay, Benguet last April 1, 2012. The college thought that after a long week of celebration, it is a right way to relax ourselves by visiting the fresh air of the environment and getting away with all the noise and pollution of the City. And by visiting these greenhouses, we will be educating ourselves about how great the nature works and how magical it can be.

The call time for the event is 8:30am and the participants are gathered in front of the University of the Cordilleras Gate 1. Upon arrival, we immediately search for a vehicle that would serve as our transportation from Baguio to Tublay. It is almost 10:00am and the vehicle is ready to transport. There are 12 participants from the different clubs and 3 of this comes from the Marketing Junior Executives namely - Mr. Godofredo Martin Jr., Jester S. Umali and Ms. Debbie Ruth Parting accompanied by Ms. Leah Salcedo as the adviser. We eagerly waited for the arrival at Tublay. After an hour finally we arrive at Km 14, Ambassador Tublay, Benguet. The fine breeze of the place greeted us with warm welcome. Maam Mercideta, a member of LATOP, ATOP(an organization of farmers that sells organic vegetables) greeted us with a big smile. Its 11:30am and we started the long walk into the greenhouses. As we walk, we saw the different vegetables that were planted in the fields including the Strawberries, oranges, bannas and others and we take this opportunity to taste this fresh fruits to energize us in our walk. The road is not that easy. The road is quite little and for us not to fall we should grasps the branches of the trees for us to keep our feet standing. We tumble several times but we make it sure that we immediately get up on our feet and continue walking.

On our way to the greenhouse we felt a little hungry and tried so we decided to take a break near the river. We shared the snacks that was provided by the College Student Council headed by the hardworking governor Ms. Abegail Maranan. We breath the fresh air that Tublay is offering. As we look around we witness how peaceful this place. The environment of Tublay is really healthy. It is indeed a magnificent view. As we finish our food, we prepared our stuff and we were energize to continue the hiking. Its past 1 o’clock in the afternoon and we are still waking our way up the green houses. Laughter’s are echoing in the air as the sweat roll down our faces. We made fun of ourselves to ease the tiredness that everyone is feeling and as we share our experiences to each other we learn to understand each other and work out the differences of this different clubs of the College.

After an hour and a half, we finally arrived at the greenhouses. The view on the top of the mountain was relaxing. It seems that we didn’t walk for a mile or two upon seeing this incredible view. As we settle down, the farmers oriented us on how they operate things in the greenhouses. They showed us the different kinds of vegetables and how they harvest it. At exactly 2:00pm we prepared our meals for lunch. The lunch is still provided by the CSC thanks to Ms. Abegail Maranan, we had Jollibee for lunch. After eating lunch, we freely roam around and observe the different plants in those greenhouses. The farmers show us how they make compose pit using the worms and everyone was amaze about it.

At exactly 3:00pm, we prepared our stuff and go back all the way to where we started. We have to walk the other way so we can visit more greenhouses. There are a total of 10 greenhouses in that place and it is scattered all around the area.

As we passed by the different planted fruits, the farmers tried to harvest some of it and give it to each one of us as a souvenir to bring home to Baguio City. They are very hospitable. It’s almost 3:30 when we finished visiting all the greenhouses that is located in that area. Now, we have to go to km 19 to visit one more greenhouses. We ride a jitney and travelled for 30 minutes. Waiting for us is the President of ATOP to introduce the different greenhouses that are located there. He also let us experienced the fresh vegetables salad that was prepared for us with a very special dressing that is also made out of vegetables. Hand and hand with this is Juice that is made out of extracted Basile Leaves with mint and it is indeed delighting.

It’s past 5:00 and we are heading back to the University of the Cordilleras. Inside the jitney’s you can see that the smile on their faces are fading and you can see that everyone is exhausted. But deep in our hearts as we go our separate ways we will never forget that once in our lives, we experience to live like these farmers. It is very difficult for us to travel that far but imaging that these farmers are going this in a regular basis and they are carrying heavy loads of vegetable baggage. We have to appreciate everything that we have.