Homey downtown Cagayan de Oro lifestyle–before and after the tragedy
In Cagayan de Oro City, the Christmas season usually begins with the unfolding of the Christmas Village at VIP Hotel right smack in the main business and leisure district of Divisoria.
Eileen Escobar-San Juan, a genteel Canoy who runs the family-owned hotel, loves to display in the hotel lobby the hotel’s collection of miniature houses, cars and toy people spread out in a dreamy mountain resort kind of scenery blanketed by faux snow, complete with holiday music and pinpricks of light winking at the festive mise-en-scène. The city’s residents elbow their way around for touristy photo-ops.
Dressing up the hotel lobby is Eileen’s way of cheering up the city’s folksy denizens. Her accomplices in this regard are her twin sister Laureen and their cousin Teza Canoy-Sambile, who designs the Christmas Village every year.
Once, Eileen surprised her habitués with a collection (Charley Canoy’s) of toy planes that seemed to swoop down from the ceiling: vintage mockups, no-nonsense facsimiles of commercial models, cutesy designs.
Source: Inquirer.net