Tattoos

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Before we left the States we had decided that we wanted to get tattoos while we were in the Philippines. At first we were thinking that we would all get the same tattoo in the same place. Yesterday (2/9) we had the opportunity to go to Baguio City for the day and we decided to use our time there to get our planned tattoos. We still didn’t know exactly what we wanted, but we figured we would pick something once we got to the “shop.” On the drive up to Baguio we decided that it would be a bit boring to show off our new tattoos if they were all the same thing and so we decided to request different ones, still not knowing what we wanted. The decision to put them in the same location on each of our bodies was retained (outside of left thigh).

When we had mentioned to Inocencio, Jr. that we were planning on getting tattoos he had Holly Lou look on the internet and she discovered that the place to go was a shop on Session Road near the KFC, which had been licensed by government as safe for tourists. Upon our arrival to the city the streets were jammed with cars and jitneys, but we proceeded up Session Road and drove past the KFC looking for parking. Our driver decided there was no way we would find street parking and went to look for parking under the mall while we got out and waited for him. Once he arrived we walked down the street to the KFC and went in to ask for direction for the tattoo shop. They confirmed that the shop we had been directed to look for was just next door.

Next door we found the shop we were looking for, but unfortunately it was closed. Holly tried calling the number that was posted but there was still no luck with that. We went back out to the street and asked the doorman if there was another shop nearby. We were in luck, there was another shop just to the other side of the KFC!! So we walked about half a block and were directed by another doorman down a short flight of stairs. The “shop” Tiger Bher Tattoos was owned a man named Bernie who had a space set-up under the stairs. We took a close look at Bernie’s set-up and were satisfied with the cleanliness of his shop and his skill as an artist as shown by the photos he had all over of his work. Although he had some flash (standard designs from which many tattoo artists in the U.S. work) the majority of his work was freehand.

Now that we had found a shop we had to make the final decision, what were we going to have tattooed on ourselves? Rosario quickly decided that she would get the Philippine national flowers, the sampaguita, a kind of jasmine, which we had first seen that morning when Lourdes had picked some for us in Agoo. Juana and I were less definite about what we wanted so Bernie pulled out stacks of tattoo magazines for us to look through. I found a picture of a hummingbird which I thought was lovely and decided to get something similar. Juana had a harder time finding something she liked that would be reminiscent of the Philippines. Someone had suggested one of us get a rooster as we had gone to the cock pit on Monday. Juana was still undecided and so decided to go last so that she could mull over the decision.

Since there were three of us to get done Bernie called up a friend of his who was also a tattoo artist. He got started on Rosario while Bernie started drawing mine. Bernie preferred to work in blacks and greys, as his shading technique is excellent. As time went on Bernie convinced Juana to get the rooster.

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Photos

Tiger Bher
In Baguio on Session Street (a few doors down from the KFC, downstairs)

Rosario
this is the sampaguita, the national flower of the Philippines

Francesca
A hummingbird known in the Philippines as the sawsaw-it), drinking from a sampaguita flower (because of the subject matter, the photo of Francesca's tattoo has apparently gone viral in the Philippines via Facebook)

Juana
In the words of a cousin, Mama "went there." This is a fighting cock -- drawn from a picture of one of her nephew Jose's birds.

Comments

[Carol Manahan]

Hi Ladies, I am glad that you are having a fun time in the Philippines. The tattoos are really nice. I can't wait to see Juana's when she comes back. Love, Carol