Thick swirls of fog excite me. Thus, when a misty haze descends upon the city, I nix the taxi ride and opt to walk one-and-a-half miles on uneven terrain from the university to my boarding house.
Which is what I'm doing today.
The sky seems to be very low, encroaching upon the campus which is built on a mountain plateau. I peer at the bank of darkening clouds that has already formed over the Cordillera Central range.
Reaching its business hub, I see bazaars, Summit Bank, boutiques, and Victoria Bakery famous for its young coconut buko pie - the buildings somehow blending rather than clashing with the uncluttered scenery, becoming part of it.
Past the commercial center, I quickly traverse onto the twisting lower byway. The grass is damp beneath my feet. Everything has turned thick and gray. Smoky swirls roll around me, giving a tiny peek of the road before shrouding it again.
Although the rhythms and nuances are as familiar as the lettering on the Magsaysay Avenue stop sign on the corner, what I see now is a shadow world of illusory shades. Igorot women with babies tied to their backs, wrapped in an Ifugao blanket, promenade as in a trance into town. On the sidewalk's backside, a stairway leads up to the Lady of Atonement Katedral church, veiled in thin light.
As I turn left toward General Lim street, I catch a glimpse of the Benget pine trees bordering historic Burnham Park. They seem to have lost all individuality, merging into a continuous blurry mass. An ethereal stillness has crept over the city, draping it in a specter of gauze, weightless and thin.
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