Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

On the 27th of May Francesca and I left the east of the Philippines and headed for the middle of the country: Cebu. Cebu is the Philippines second largest city with a new airport and several ferry terminals to surrounding islands. Francesca had found two couchsurfers we could stay with, and we had opted to go to Andrew and Anne Carole in Santo Nino Village. We were not entirely sure how far away from the center of town it would be, and we had some time to kill before they’d be home, so we spent some time at the airport to talk to the tourist information counter. After scoring a map or two and some useful information we decided to grab a taxi and half an hour later we were in a little suburb north of Cebu city.

Andrew and Anne weren’t home yet, but their young son was, and he let us in. The kid showed us our room; we put our bags down and went back downstairs. The house looked nicely decorated and our room was spacious, with a nice bed in the center, leaving us happy with our new hosts. We sat around with the kid for a while, watching him play Batman on his PS3, whilst we waited for Andrew and Anne to return. Around 5:00 PM they did: introductions followed. Andrew is Canadian and Anne is French, they’re both teachers, having signed a 2-year contract in Cebu after having worked in Turkey, Tanzania and other countries. Interesting! We talked for a while and were invited to join them for dinner in a nearby mall with some of their colleagues.

A little while later we were sitting down in a nice restaurant with said colleagues, having more talks about our travels and their work. We learned that the Philippines’ education is in a bit of a split: they want to move away from their old teaching methods which have children not asking questions, just memorizing information, instead hoping to introduce critical thinking and hands-on education. They’ve started bringing in Western teachers to teach the locals, and results apparently vary. Some local teachers pick up quickly, but others refuse to let go of their old ways. As we told them about our trip our food arrived and we enjoyed some great food. Then we returned back to their house and talked some more, before they went to bed early, having to work again the next day.

The 28th Francesca and I got up late and did research for our exploration in Cebu. I called around for information about our visa extension, whilst she found out it was museum night (“Cebu Heritage Walk”), with a host of museums and churches opening from 6:00 until 12:00 PM. Just our luck! Anne had told us that we could get ferry tickets to Bohol in the village, so we did that first. We found out the prices, but decided to wait to buy them. Then our next task was to get our visas extended. We first took a taxi to the immigration office, where we sat around for roughly two hours to get our visas done. Quite pricey, but seeing our initial 21 days had been free, not horribly bad. Then we changed our flight out to the 20th of June, leaving ourselves with enough time to explore the rest of the Philippines.

By the time all of this was over we had to get moving to Casa Gorordo for the start of a walking tour. Traffic seemed to be against us and we ended up getting there too late… Plus nobody seemed to know about said tour. We then walked down to the supposed starting point of the walking tour, where we also got a shrug of the shoulders. We decided we’d better walk ourselves and got our tickets for the museums and transport. Our first stop was Fort San Pedro, another 15 minute walk away. Finally, around 7:00 PM we could start.



We learned that the fort had been built by “Spanish and indigenous Cebuano laborers under the command of Spanish conquistador, Miguel López de Legazpi and the Spanish Government in Cebu. The smallest, oldest triangular bastion fort in the country was built in 1738 to repel Muslim raiders. In turn, it served as a stronghold for Filipino revolutionaries near the end of the 19th Century. This served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. The fort is triangular in shape, with two sides facing the sea and the third side fronting the land. The two sides facing the sea were defended with artillery and the front with a strong palisade made of wood.”



My lady and I walked around the fort for some time, admiring the structure and its ancient stones. Our itinerary told us a dance performance would start at 7:30 PM, which we sat down for. We’d seen most of the traditional dances before, but the ones in old Spanish clothing were cool to watch. We left when the dancing was replaced by singing, and grabbed our ‘calesa’ (a horse-drawn cart) to the Basilica de Santo Nino. We had a quick look at a small dome outside, which held Magellan’s Cross, supposedly the original wooden cross planted by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, in the service of Charles I of Spain, and then headed inside to have a look at the Museum. The museum was wholly dedicated to Santo Nino, ("Holy Child of Cebu") a Roman Catholic figure of the Child Jesus. Legend has it that Magellan arrived in Cebu in April 1521. Magellan convinced the local leaders to become allies and Magellan presented the Santo Nino to the newly-baptized Queen Juana as a symbol of the alliance. In the following years the statue was lost, until a Spanish explorer under De Legazpi found it. De Legazpi was deeply impressed by the Santo Nino and decided to have the Basilica Minore de Santo Nino built in its honor.











The Cebu Cathedral right around the corner was also open, but we decided to skip it and headed onwards to the Casa Gorordo to see if the second tour would now be doable from there. Francesca and I passed Colon Street, the oldest street in the Philippines with some nice worn-out classical buildings dating back to the American Era. We also saw the Heritage of Cebu Monument, showcasing the heritage of Cebu from the old Spanish to the American colonial era in one massive concrete block.







Arriving at Casa Gorordo, looking around, asking away we were once again disappointed, and worse, lost more time in the process. We gave up on the tour entirely and headed inside the Casa with a guided tour. The Casa Gorordo is a well-preserved Spanish colonial mansion constructed largely of wood, set in a pleasant, manicured garden. We first explored the lower floor, with its collection of old tools. The more interesting upstairs level was the former living quarters of the Gorordo family. It features lovely carved wooden furniture and a wide patio. The kitchen is particularly interesting, as it contains a traditional dirt stove, a wooden food safe, and a traditional dish drying rack fitted to the outside of the window.







The tour ended and Francesca and I had a look at a collection of twins’ children’s clothes in a comfortable air-conditioned room on the first floor. We grabbed some drinks and headed outside. We then took a Jeepney to the Museo Sugbo, the old provincial jail of Cebu. The museum nowadays contains artifacts from in and around Cebu throughout the ages. Also part of the compound is the Museum of Philippine Political History (with a short exploration of the nation’s history) and the National Museum: Cebu Branch, with a photo exposition on tribes people through the years.











We had to take a taxi back to the other sites, since the Museo Sugbo was quite out of the way and we had no time to wait for the transport back. The Yap-San Diego Ancestral House was next on the list. It was built by Chinese merchants during the late 17th century. Most, if not all of the furniture seemed to be from those days and looked quite impressive. It did look like they had tried to fill the house up a little much; there was hardly any space to move! The Jesuit House of 1730 was a similarly built structure, just a little more spacious.











On our way back down we passed several side streets covered in election posters. Francesca was quite amused by it and had me take a picture. We later learned there are no regulations to control the amount of posters, so their numbers run wild for a reason. We crossed paths with the Rizaliana Museum next: a tiny air-conditioned exhibition with random Rizal-artifacts, such as a dirty shirt, dirty socks, bronze statues and other little personal belongings. I found it so amusing to see all these locals in awe, taking lots of pictures of dirty laundry. Other information was sparse, which meant we were done quickly.





The time was now 11:00 PM and we were getting tired. Luckily we only had one more site to explore: the Cathedral Museum of Cebu. The building itself looked impressive, being an old wooden house with most of the original materials still intact. We skipped past the portrait painters in the hallway and headed into the galleries, which had a bunch of religious artifacts from the previous decades. Most interesting were the original wooden beams, for the greater part hidden in protective covers, but still visible for the careful onlooker. The decorated garden in the back was also nice to behold and marked the end of our long evening. We took a taxi back to Santo Nino Village and headed straight to bed.



Understandably the next day got off to a slow start. In fact, it was so slow that we didn’t get out until approximately 3:00 PM, and only to pop into the Ayala Mall for some shopping. We had promised Andrew and Anne we’d cook for them, so we had groceries to pick up. Furthermore, Francesca wanted a new book. We spent quite a bit of time in the National Bookstore, but ended up empty-handed because the employees were less than helpful in our quest for a historic novel.

Our trip to the supermarket was more fruitful. With 2 bags full of ingredients in hand we headed outside and stood in line for a taxi. Finally our turn came and off we went. We were talking away when all of a sudden my head flew forward, hit the seat in front of me, bounced back and hit the ceiling of the car with the back of it. I yelled “WHAT THE F&%K!!!” and realized we’d just been hit from behind by another car. I looked over to Francesca to see she was unscathed, except for her Diet Pepsi and Corndog, which had ended up all over the interior. We got out of the car to check out the damage. From eye-witnesses we heard the car in front of us had slowed down, and the two cars following had duly done the same. A fourth car (a mini-pick-up) had a driver who hadn’t been paying attention/was falling asleep behind the wheel and rammed the car behind us. A double sandwich ensued for us and the car behind us. A little shaken up, but otherwise perfectly fine Francesca and I took some pictures and found another cab to get back to our hosts’ house.





There we relayed the adventures of the trip back and started cooking. We’d decided to make our ‘famous’ pear pasta, along with some oven-heated garlic bread. I had a bit of a hard time getting it to work, which was why Andrew gave me a hand. When I finally managed to light it a lot of gas had apparently already built up… I got a nice heat wave aimed right at my face! Luckily my lightning reflexes (thanks to rigorous training) saved the day and I backed off fast enough to only lose a few hairs on my fingers. I did start wondering if someone wanted me dead that day… On a brighter note our food turned out perfectly and Andrew and Anne dug in, complementing us on our dish. Anne’s apple pie complemented the pear perfectly as well. After dessert we continued talking to our hosts, hearing about Anne’s travels as well. Even their cat Mao (like the sound, not the Great Leader) got some attention in her retreat on the fridge.



Francesca and I used the 30th to plan our onward trip. After a grilled cheese breakfast for Francesca and some jelly sandwiches for me we headed outside. As we walked down to the main road I saw some movement by the side of the road. Three newborn kittens were having a hard time in the sun: one had already succumbed to the heat; the other two didn’t look like they would last much longer. We wondered who could’ve done such a thing, and banged on the doors of the surrounding houses for help. Finally someone came out and tried to find help for the poor kitties. The house adjoining the place we’d found them seemed to be the most logical choice of origin, which meant we hit their doorbell with a little extra vigor. Eventually they too stepped outside and told us their cat had apparently given birth earlier. They had no idea the kittens were out there. We grabbed a shoebox and handed them the furballs, hoping they’d live a long and fulfilling life thanks to us. Francesca and I continued our walk and made it to the main street. We had to purchase tickets for a ferry to the island of Bohol. There happened to be a ticket outlet in our village, which made acquiring them an easy affair.

With that out of the way Francesca and I could continue our exploration of Cebu, since Francesca’s list still had a few items to be crossed off on it. Our first stop was the Basilica de Santo Nino. Even though we’d seen the museum we hadn’t actually had a peek inside the church proper. It being a Sunday and all, mass was going on, and the whole church was filled to the brim with faithful Catholics. I’ve never seen that many people brave a non air-conditioned building like that! We listened to the preacher for a while, before joining a line to see the Santo Nino. It’s amazing how much reverence these people have for a wooden doll! The glass cage in which the Child Saint is kept gets touched by all that pass by, carefully admiring it. I have to admit, the doll does look impressive in its little robe.











We’d missed going into the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral during the museum night, but guessed it’d be open on a Sunday afternoon. We weren’t disappointed and found another clerical building packed to the rafters with believers. This Cathedral looked a little more hip than the Basilica, having square white pillars and a clean interior. We listened to the preacher here for a while as well, walked inside and back out, wondered about the Chinese lions guarding the entrance (what’s up with that!) and then walked off.



There’s not much to say about the Sacred Heart Parish, because it was closed. We peaked through the windows and took a picture or two from the outside. Our next experience would be a little less religious. I led us to the Mango Square Mall. Francesca had found a black light mini golf/haunted house adventure. The mall looked deserted with most of the spaces vacant, but luckily the mini golf was still there. We were the only people there (surprise, surprise) and took our time exploring the course. We had fun doing so, with Francesca squealing here and there because of mummies and cannons. In the end Francesca’s disability bonus proved too strong an opponent for me and beat me. Congratulations baby!













Now we had a little time to kill before we needed to head to Mactan Island for a dinner and a show I’d found for us. We found several massage places downstairs and opted for a Swedish massage. Ah, our bones felt so much better after that! Refreshed we stepped in the taxi to Mactan Island (quite a drive away) and made our way to the first tourist attraction there: the Lapu-Lapu shrine. Lapu-Lapu is kind of a big deal in the Philippines, as a plaque showed us: “Here, on 27 April 1527 Lapu-Lapu and his men repulsed the Spanish invaders, killing their leader Ferdinand Magellan. Thus Lapu-Lapu became the first Filipino to have repelled European aggression." The shrine and statue looked impressive in the last light of the day. The sea nearby, although low tide, left us with an impression of the circumstances of Magellan’s arrival here.









Our driver had waited for us and took us to ‘The Jungle Cultural Experience.’ Always a sucker for food and a performance I’d guessed this would be an instant hit with Francesca. We sat down and were once again the only people present. The show started a little later than expected, but eventually it got underway. The dances we saw were very similar to the ones we’d already come across, so I won’t bore you with those details again. The most interesting part about the show actually came after the local dances: the international dances comprised of a Taiwanese, a Korean and a Hawaiian and a fire dance. The fire dance was the definite highlight of the day, since they came right up to us breathing fire and eating fire, whilst moving to the rhythm of the beat.





















A taxi was waiting outside after the show ended and we’d had a talk with the American owner of the joint. We stopped by the Ayala Mall for some last minute shopping, before heading back. The 31st was the day of departure to Bohol. We said goodbye to Andrew and Anne’s house, and wish them a pleasant summer in France. A taxi took us to the ferry terminal, where we had to wait for a while before boarding. Francesca will tell you all about that trip and our adventures on Bohol!