mesmerizing cebu

I was in Cebu last March 10-12.. Our stay was supposed to be longer if we followed the original plan. But last minute changes in the schedule forced us to let go of our original plan and settled with the Saturday departure.

The night before the departure, I still was busy with office work because I had to finish all my tasks for the workshop plus the other urgent commitments our office has to attend to. In one day, I was able to finalize the opening and closing remarks, do the invitations, prepare the admin brief, prepare the templates and prepare a briefing on the DPG. Well the workshop preparation things were not really that hard but we were not ready for that DPG presentation yet. At around 6 I think, we were told to prepare a briefing for the following morning so we all were forced to work overtime. I stayed until 9 and left my bosses to finish the job. Talking of a model employee here! Bwahaha

But I really had to do that because I had to get up at around 130 because theyre gonna pick me up by 2. Its just a good thing that I packed my things the previous night so I didn’t have much preparation left. I was ready for bed by 10 but I cant catch my sleep. So I ended up watching the TV and taking a nap by around 1230 and getting up by 130. Im not even sure if I was really able to sleep. I just had my eyes closed but I think I was still awake.Anyway, I got up at around 130 am, had my nesvita, took a bath and rechecked my things. And by 215am, my sundo was ready to pick me up. Maj Bajao, Jen and Zina were already in the car when they picked me up. I had the biggest bag.. no…Zina had the biggest bag but my bag was more stuffed than hers. Anyway, we picked Ava up and we got lost because we took a right turn in the wrong street. After that, we picked Lucy and Barbie and Tin. Barbie was his usual paranoid self. He was already calling the driver at 2am. And our flight is at 530am! Anyway, we transferred cars because we cant fit into the FX so we used Lucy’s car instead.

We also had a slight tampuhan because Zina suddenly had her plans changed. I was so pissed because I thought all our plans will go well. She had apparently promised Jimi that she’ll be back by Friday and they have plans for the weekend but hey, we all planned for this way before. So there, I was totally pissed. I usually talk a lot when we travel together but that time, I was silent, I was not talking. I wanted them to feel that I felt bad because we had a plan and it seems like were not gonna stick to that. When we were near the airport I think, she changed her mind due to peer pressure. Hehe (Peace Zins!)

330am. I think we arrived at the airport around this time. We checked in and waited at the departure area for about 2 hours. While waiting, we took pictures and ate donuts. Jen was retelling her experience in Singapore and we all chatted about things.

515am. We boarded the plane. We even had our pictures taken at the tube and at the plane. In my 23 years of riding planes, this is the first time that I had my picture taken inside because we usually had our pictures taken only at the airport. Its fun though haha makes one feel like a real tourist.While we were on board, Maj Bajao was the first to notice that the sun was already rising. We looked at the window and there for the first time, I saw a very nice sunrise. It was a picturesque beauty but I was not able to capture it because I thought I could not use my camera onboard. It was such a beautiful sight. I could see the horizon divided into an orange and bluish/grayish shade. Ang ganda talaga!

645am. We landed at Mactan International Airport. The airport is ok and bigger than the usual provincial airports. Well, maybe because its an international airport right? Anyway, when we were claiming our baggage, Basilio was already there and he was wearing his usual evil grin. Argh!! Ava, Zina and I immediately looked for the PAL ticket office to had our return trip rescheduled for Saturday. We did not have to pay the 200 rebooking fee if that Basilio listened to us. Anyway, rescheduling was not that of a hassle anyway and we paid less than the expected 400 fee. And it took us just about 5 mins.When we were done, the van was already waiting for us. Barbie and all the other guys went ahead. Only Maj Bajao was left and volunteered to accompany us.

The first sight that greeted us was the Marcelo Fernan Bridge. The sight from there was so good. It was so beautiful. You could see the blue water and Mactan bridge from afar. I was just so thrilled by Cebu.The trip to the hotel took us about 20 minutes. Since it was Thursday, we got to experience the usual workday traffic and sight of Cebu. The traffic was like Manila. It was bad that the vehicles are not moving, plus the fact that the drivers there were worse than here. As in walang patumangga. Anyway, we arrived at the hotel and had breakfast. The food was good but it was not the usual breakfast food. Its like a breakfast and lunch food. My impression of Cebu was already OK but it was ruined by the service given by the Golden Peak hotel. They allowed us to check in earlier than the usual time but they haven’t got the rooms ready yet. When we went it, the room was a mess. Beddings were scattered everywhere, the CR was dirty and the room did not smell good. We were so pissed that we immediately went to Basilio’s room to complain. Anong ginawa nila? As member of the advance party, they were supposed to arrange everything, the hotel, the conference venue, and everything. And for the hotel management, they should not have allowed us to check in early if they do not have clean rooms yet. As usual, Basilio had his lousy excuses, but, what could I expect. He said that they had nice rooms because they flew in earlier. Duh, who was he fooling?

After we freshened up a bit, we headed for the workshop venue. People were already there. We arrived late and yet we did not start right away. Instead, we started so late. The workshop was fine. But during lunch time, Lucy insisted to show his personal presentation so we went out. Zina and I explored the place and had our pictures taken at the bahay ng anay-like object infront of the CENTCOM GHQ.

I got teamed up with Maj Bajao. He was one of our favorite officers because he is one of those who belong to the rare species of brainy but modest people in the armed forces. He already had a PhD, got himself a teaching job both in UP and University of Makati pero walang kaere-ere sa katawan. He does not brag about his achievements and the best thing about him is he knows how to communicate with us. I had a little chat with him and I had a realization that is not only us who have frustrations at work and in the government in general. Frustrations about the government are not a monopoly of the people who chose armed struggle, or those who are apathetic about the government or those in the private sector. Frustration about the government and the service are also shared by those who are themselves working in the service.I think they even have more frustrations because they see the real picture. They have an inside view and a first hand experience of what is happening in the government. They know the flaws, they know the weaknesses, they are aware of the stupidity, they see the harshness and they also experience power play.When I asked Maj Bajao on how he handles all his frustrations about the government, he just said that he picks the good ones. He said that he picks the good apples and separates them from the rotten ones and from there, he gets his inspiration. What a nice attitude.

After work, we decided to go out. But we went to the hotel first, had our dinner and got some sleep. We all agreed to meet up at the hotel lobby by 7 I think. But before that, we were woken up by the receptionist at the lobby telling us that our van was already waiting for us. So we rushed to the lobby but there was no van waiting for us. So we had to wait for another 30 minutes or so.While waiting, Zina was having problems with Jimi. Jimi did not want her to extend her vacation and was making tampo. Of course, the ever loving Zina was thinking about him. After a few minutes, Zina was already crying over the phone and I guess explaining the situation to Jimi. I also had a sudden tinge of guilt because it is us who asked Zina to extend her stay. But I just reasoned out that we had this planned long before. And after a few more minutes, they were already ok

We had our dinner at one of the SUTUKIL stalls near Mactan shrine. It is one of those stalls where they sell fresh catch and have those cooked for you. It was like those stalls in Talipapa in Boracay but more expensive. The place was not fancy yet the food was good. It was even a bit malansa and mosquitoes were swarming everywhere. But, we enjoyed our food. We had sinigang na isda, which they call tinola I think. We had some oysters, seaweeds, chicken, and grilled fish. There was nothing extraordinary in the preparation but all tasted good. The sinigang was like an ordinary sinigang prepared at home but the fresh fish made it tasted so good. The oysters were so yummy and the chicken was do delicious. Hmm…im getting hungry just remembering all those.

After dinner, we had our pictures taken at the shrine and with the lapu-lapu monument. Too bad my camera was running out of batteries. I bought an eveready at the sari-sari store but it could not satisfy the voltage requirements (EE people, correct me here) so all our pictures at the shrine were blurred. Having no more sights to see there, we went to mountain view. It was like a trip to baguio ride. The roads were steep and narrow. But the air was filled with a scent of blossoming flowers lining up the road. The flower was white, bell-shaped one which looks like yellow bell, only bigger. The experience was so relaxing and creepy at the same time. It is like in those horror movies wherein you smell something different in the air. Maybe if I was that superstitious then I may have believed that the smell came from something else.Arriving at the view deck was so great. The ambience was so romantic and the view was so great. It was like youre in another dimension where you are above all else and you could see the whole of Cebu.When we arrived, there were couples sitting at the benches lined up there. But we were so thrilled by the sight and we could not contain our emotions so we could not help but appreciate the beauty before our eyes, well, loudly. So after a few minutes or seconds perhaps, the couples moved away. We were laughing the whole time because we again were able to prove our ‘bitchness’ and our being inconsiderate. Anyway, we stayed there for about 40 minutes or so. We stargazed and got ourselves deeply mesmerized by the lights of Cebu. They were like scattered shatters of gold that were radiating glittering sparks of light. The sight was truly splendid that I wanted to capture it in my mind and in my heart. Well, I tried to capture it with my camera but the battery wont just allow it. But I still was able to capture it though not as perfect as I wanted it to be.

The following morning, I woke up early. Ava and I were ready done by 730 but the other girls were not ready yet so we waited for them. After a few more calls at the lobby, we went downstairs ahead of them. Maybe Basilio was so pissed at us again haha, he thought of going ahead at the venue and will just buy breakfast for us. Well, that is a rather late realization but still a good idea because we had 2 vans naman.

We arrived at the conference venue before them. We even waited for I think 20 more minutes before they arrived. While having breakfast, one of the officers was asking us why we did not go to Waterfront when he already made some reservations and told Basilio about it. We were so angry at Basilio because he did not text the officer even if that was the only thing that he had to do. Kaasar!The end of the workshop was ok. The participants did not have a regular ourtbrief because Barbie came in when the participants were still having their discussions on the output. So we finished earlier than expected. Since Jenny and Tin were scheduled to leave that same afternoon, we had our things packed that morning already and just left them at the van. But the others had to changed clothes so they went to BOQ. Having read Basilio’s mind, we really insisted on having one of the girls come with us. But that pathetic bastard obviously had other plans so he kept on insisting that she go with them. But of course, we did not give up so he lost.

Maj Bajao rode with us and that afternoon, we had the happiest moments of our stay in Cebu.We left at the conference venue at around 1 and needs to be at the airport by 5 so we really had to be quick in our tour. First stop was UP Cebu.UP Cebu was a small campus. Its just like a single college in Diliman. But just like in Diliman, there were weird looking people scattered in Tambayans. We had our pictures taken with Oble who was fairer than his counterpart in Diliman. Second stop was a side trip to the provincial capitol. It was where Gloria was sworn for her presidency during her reelection.

After that, we headed immediately to Taboan market. I expected that there would be a lot of danggit but I did not expect that daing there would be that much. There were a wide array of daing: danggit, pusit, tinik and other fish whose names I do not even know. And the presentation was even good. It was not like those markets where flies are swarming everywhere. It is a tourist market. One thing I could not forget about the market were the streetchildren there. Yes, just like in Manila, there are also streetchildren in Cebu. The previous night when we were at the restaurant, they were asking for bread in Bisaya. And I had another encounter with them at the market. Of course, when they were asking for money, they had those kaawa-awa faces painted on. But knowing that it is just a coning strategy, I ignored them. One was asking Tin for some money but she refused. Usually, streetchildren here in Manila would just go away and murmur things about you. But I was surprised about one of the streetkids there. When Tin refused, she answered back, raised her voice and told Tin that she promised to give. It was a new experience for me hearing somebody pleading for help yet so demanding. I mean giving them alms is an act of your own choice and she does not have the right to get angry and raise her voice just because we did not give her money. Maj Bajao talked to her in Bisaya and I think threatened her but the little girl would not just back off. People.

After that, we headed straight to Shamrock. I bought just Otap because I was planning to buy dried mangoes at the 7D factory. But too bad that when we arrived at the factory, they greeted us with “Wala ng dried mangoes”. Life is a bitch! Since we are pressed with time, we were not able to go back at Shamrock rather we headed straight to the airport. Traffic was bad but at least we saw some funny sites.

It was still a long ride so we still had the chance to stop by at the lechon stalls and bought puso and the famous lechon Cebu.We were at the Fernan bridge by around 530 0r 540 so we really had to rush. But we did not expect something adventurous to happen. Maj Bajao told the driver to stop at the middle of the bridge and have our pictures taken with one of the pillars of the bridge which had markings on it. So there, we stopped, had our hazard signs put on, got cursed by passing vehicles because we were causing a slight traffic and got our pictures taken. It was a wonderful experience. I think there really is something about adventure and breaking the law. Sabi nga ni sir, minsan lang tayo manggago sa Cebu. Maybe, if stopping at the middle of the bridge was allowed, the experience would not have been that great. It would have been just another stop at a tourist spot.

After that, we headed at the park just below the bridge and had a 10-minute foodtrip. The place was clean and full of students and locals just hanging out. It was a perfect place for cheap and clean fun. We could see both Mactan and Fernan bridge from below, barges and boats passing and the sun slowly setting. It was such a relaxing site.Since we were rushing, we did not have time to prepare for a food trip so we ate with our bare hands. But the moment was so exciting and happy that all of us did not worry about our dirty hands anymore. We just opened our puso and dig into the lechon before us. Ang saya ng moment na yun. We again had our pictures taken while eating puso and lechon and we had fun the whole time. After maybe 8 or 10minutes, we rushed back to the car and headed straight to the airport.Ah, parting is such a sweet sorrow. Until the last minutes, we were still convincing Tin and Jen to extend their stay and join us but they just could not. So there, we said our goodbyes and again prepared ourselves for a long trip to the resort.

We met our foster family near SM. The parents are both engineers who took part in developing the resort. They seemed to be a nice couple. Their children were nice too. So after a few exchanges of pleasantries, we started our long journey to the resort. The journey was tiring. It was almost a three-hour ride wherein almost half of it was pure rough road. It was really tiring.We arrived at the resort at past nine.

The resort was nice. We were expecting just a tiny resort with a nice sea front but what we saw was an exclusive beach club. We were just so thrilled that we already wanted to head straight to the swimming pool.We settled first at the cottage and changed into our swimsuits. I think it was already past 10 that time yet we did not mind our tired bodies and went straight to the pool. We felt the coldness of the water when we showered. I was shaking so I immediately dipped myself in the pool. The pool was nice and had 2 slides and a Jacuzzi. The slides and the Jacuzzi were off but our foster mom talked to the admin and had the Jacuzzi put on for us. Too bad naunahan kami nung isang grupo. It was around 12 when we had dinner. We had a simple dinner of fried fish, sinabawang isda, and chicken but they were all delicious.Zina had a sudden attack of headache and nausea so she only ate a little. And since we were sharing in a single plate, I had to finish the rice I got for 2 people. But its ok because I was hungry anyway. After dinner, we showered and went to bed. I was last to shower so I went to bed at past 2 already.

We woke up at around 7 or 8 the following day. Zina was feeling good already so we went around and explored the place. The beach was not that good after all. It was a bit rocky, maybe it was for snorkeling and not for sunbathing.We had coffee at past 8. Maj Bajao and our foster dad were already at the videoke machine and were already hitting on some songs and some bottles of beer. Although the videole bar was at a separate cottage from the canteen, we could still hear their voices. They were singing the whole time we were eating our breakfast.The breakfast was oh, so good. We had danggit, longganisa, grilled fish, baby octopus, sinabawang isda, plus ripe mangoes.

God, vacation life is so good. We digged into everything and ate our heart out.After the hearty breakfast, walked a little and stayed at the beach. Then we changed into our swimsuits. We went to the pool first and to the beach after. We weren’t able to swim at the beach thought because the floor was so rocky. We just went kayaking instead. We finished at around 1. We immediately bathed, changed into our traveling clothes packed our things and headed for lunch.Maj Bajao told us that they would prepare whole chicken for lunch but I did not expect that they will serve the chicken whole. We were laughing when we saw it because we were not expecting a whole chicken served before us. Whole as in they just removed the head and the feet and that’s it. They did not chop it into pieces. But it tasted so good and the meat was so soft. Again, we ate our heart out. We just had to control ourselves because we need to reserve some space for the fruits and we still needed to gulp the juice and eat the meat of one whole buko. Having lunch was gluttony in action.We finished lunch at past 2 and considering the long drive back, we were again rushing. Too bad, the other car broke off so we had to leave our foster family at the resort and went ahead.

Exchanging goodbyes and gratitudes are both a happy and a sad moment. We were happy that we’ve met them, had the chance to mingle with them and enjoy the moment with them. But it was also sad that we had to end that happy moment because we had to face reality and head back to the airport to catch our flight. It was sad that we had to end sharing a part of our lives with them and had to preserve our moments with them as part of our lives and another addition to our memory boxes.On our ride back, we were all silent. Maybe because we’re all sleepy but im sure all of us were thinking about the experience. Taking a vacation is good not only because of the beach and of the food but because of the time it gives you to escape from your daily routine. Vacation gives one the time to take a break from the normal life and detach oneself in order to reflect, think and free the mind from usual worries. It is some sort of a refreshment from a long journey at the dessert that you want to preserve it.After breaking some traffic rules, overtaking and cursing, we arrived at the airport at past 6. We were just so lucky that our flight was delayed. We started boarding at 730. While the plane was taking off, we were all bidding goodbye to Cebu. As I see the tiny dots of light slowly disappearing, I already feel nostalgia for the place, for the people and for the experience. It’s the hardest part of taking a vacation, leaving. Even if youre still at the airport, you could feel the sadness in your heart because you are leaving a place and the people you’ve met and the culture you’ve live with even just for a few days.