Eat. Pray. Love. Tour. Eat. (Yes, There Are Two "Eat"s): Cebu-Bohol With SOM People.

- October 15-20, 2010, Saturday to Wednesday

- My awesome neighbor and a few friends planned a trip to Cebu and Bohol around a month ago, and invited me to come with them. I was initially hesitant to go because I knew I'd be spending a lot, and that I'd lose 5 days of adventure-ing with other people. Still, I agreed to go, obviously. I knew most of the people who were going anyway, and I'd want to experience having an out-of-town trip with friends; I've never had an out-of-town trip with friends before, not including field trips and camps.

Day 1: Cebu

- We arrived in Cebu around 8-ish in the evening, and was fetched by their friend Nathan. We initially thought that Nathan would only offer us a ride from the airport to the hotel. Little did we know that he would lend us his awesome driver and big van throughout our stay in Cebu.

- We arrived at the hotel, checked in, and brought some groceries in the town circle. We returned to the hotel shortly, and rested.

Day 2: Cebu

- After preparing ourselves, we went first to the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino. The church itself was more or less like any old Hispanic Filipino church; it reminded me of the Quiapo Church, especially with the people selling big balloons and colorful candles outside the church. The small museum within the church was also interesting because it showed the history of the church, as well as the past "costumes" that were used to adorn the Sto. Nino statues.

- We visited the Magellan's cross next, which was a few steps away from the church. One child accidentally let go of her Dora balloon, and the Dora balloon flew instantly to the ceiling of the small room. Dora instantly became a "new" tourist attraction. The foreign tourists who were there took pictures of the Dora balloon instead of the cross itself.

- We went to Fort San Pedro next, which was a few minutes away from the church. The fort looked like a smaller version of Fort Santiago, with cannons, bricks, and tourists. We even saw the Andalucian ship from afar that arrived in Cebu from Manila, but we were discouraged when we saw the exaggeratingly long line to the ship.

- After circling the fort, we had lunch at CNT, a chain of restaurants famous for their roasted pig or "lechon." I can tell that people loved the restaurant because of the long line of people. We even found out that some customers even came from other CNT branches, and were as full as hell too. Waiting was a big chore that tested everyone's patience; those who weren't patient enough to wait just left.

- After finally eating and finishing our plates of lechon, we went to Casa Gorordo. Casa Gorordo is a Spanish-style house that shows what houses looked like during the Spanish era, complete with antique furnitures and photos. It didn't take us long to go around the house.

- The last on our itenerary before dinner was the Taoist Temple located on top of a mountain. The temple was just like any other large temple, but the ambience of being on top of a mountain made it so much more unique than the other taoist temples in the country.

- After circling the ups and downs of the temple, we stopped by ay Ayala Place (a.k.a Greenbelt/Glorietta/Rockwell of Cebu,) and went to Cafe Georg afterwards, since Nathan already made a reservation for all of us. After arriving, we waited a few minutes for Nathan, and went in. He recommended a lot of dishes, all of which sounded good (even those that he didn't recommend sounded so good too!) We even had nice desserts afterwards. We planned to pay for Nathan's dinner, since he already did so much for us, but he rushed towards the counter and paid for all of us.

- After the incredible dinner, we all went to Tops. Tops is situated on top of a hill/mountain, where people can see the whole Cebu from above. (Note: Go there at night. The big lights will inspire you....let's here it for New Yo....oh wait, wrong city.) Willy's Taiwanese friend Ceclia tagged along with us too.

- Tops itself was amazing, but what made it more amazing was that I found out from a friend that I passed the philo final oral exam after checking out my prof's Multiply site for me. What better way to celebrate than shouting on top of a mountain/hill on top of my lungs from excessive happiness; I didn't do well in the midterm orals, so I was worried as hell for my final exam grade.

- We all went home after running around Tops, and rested for the next day's cruise to Bohol.

Day 3: Cebu-Bohol

- We left Cebu around 10:30 in the morning for Bohol via the Super Cat. The cruise lasted for more or less two hours, which meant a good-enough amount of time to catch up on sleep.

- After arriving, we were fetched by our hired van, and went first to the hotel so we could check in. We quickly fixed our things, and went to the Loboc River for our lunch-on-boat river cruise.

- We had a buffet-type lunch on the boat, though the food wasn't all that great (edible, but not fantastic.) Still, the view was calming. I also saw my friend Jin on the same boat, to everyone's surprise, since they never expected me to see someone I knew (our of the bajillion people I know) in Bohol.

- After lunch, and a nice performance by the natives of Bohol, we rushed to Sevilla Hanging bridge, the tarsier place, and drove through the awesome man-made forest while going from one place to another. The man-made forest looked good enough for the Twilight cast to do a scene there. Haha.

- We also took shots of the Baclayon Church, one of the oldest churches in the country, and drove to Aproniana Native Products Giftshop to buy souvenirs. :D:D:D:D Great!!

- Before heading home, we had a seafood dinner in a nearby mall, and hailed three cabs to the hotel.

Day 4: Bohol

- Day 4 was my most dreaded day in the itinerary. It was the day that we were supposed to go to E.A.T. Danao, a place for extreme sports like ziplining, kayaking, rock climbing, root climbing, and etc. For those who know me well, you all know how much I'm not a fan of extreme sports. Well I let others have their fun, while I went by my own definition of fun.

- While most engaged in extremely-wet, heart-dropping/tummy-churning, and force-requiring activities, I chose to visit the nearby organic farm to look around. Maybe the others didn't quite understand me not-wanting to join them, but I just let that go.

- I was welcomed by an empty house-like place in the organic farm. I went around the place, and looked at the herbs and vegetables that were planted. I saw a group of farmers huddled in a covered area, and seemed to be organizing baby plants. One of the women farmers asked a young one to accommodate me.

- Ricky, who seemed to be around 16~18 years old toured me around the farm, explaining everything from what they do and their planting techniques. It helped that I was interested in gardening, especially since I don't have a green thumb, and that I had my immersion for my theo class in Tayabas Quezon with farmers. We had good discussions on organic fertilizer, soil maintenance, and plant maintenance.

- Last, he showed me some bags and other handicrafts that they made. They seemed to be export quality, although not a lot of tourists buy them, according to Ricky, since they were highly-priced. What struck me the most was when he told me that all the farmers there were out-of-school youths who were invited by a foundation for a series of workshops not only in farming, but other things as well, like using computers. I was glad that Ricky and his fellows chose to be productive, and not be like other teens his age who have destroyed their lives further by doing illegal things.

- Ricky left me after the tour so he can go back to his work. I told him that I'll just go around the farm once again to take pictures of plants and insects. Later, I heard them laughing and talking loudly; it was already merienda time. One of them invited me to join then, but I humbly declined. However, as I passed by the back side of the house-like structure, Ricky held a plate with two bananacues and a glass of Coke, and insisted on joining them. Well, I didn't think I could still decline to that.

- I knew more about them as I sat down and talked to Dahlia. Most of the people there were scholars; Ricky was a scholar in agriculture. The other younger "farmers" weren't around since there were still in school. Their story somehow touched my heart, and opened me to hope that people who take steps in helping less fortunate ones do exist, and try to make the world a better place for everyone.

- I would have loved to learn more about them only if the van hadn't come sooner. Sadly, I had to go back to "mainland" Danao and meet up with my companions who just came from kayaking. While some of them wanted to rappel, others who didn't want to rappel stayed behind and sat on a sofa with me. I narrated my whole experience to them, and they told me that the experience was like an immersion for Ateneo's Th141 class (theology in the social context.) It was true though. Maybe the others were still a bit annoyed that I chose not to go with them, but hey, like I said, I didn't stop them from doing what they wanted to do in Danao.

- After the others came back from their around-one-hour rappelling, we all hurried to Mira Villa for another seafood dinner. When I say "hurry," I meant it literally. The drivers in Bohol (we had different drivers in our two-day stay in Bohol) drove so quickly that the van seemed to fly off the street. To think that Bohol is a hilly island, riding the van with that speed felt like a roller coaster ride.

- Our dinner in Mira Villa was a really messy one, mainly because of our spicy crab. Much heated debates by some people went on, and those who were tired of listening to them just talked about random stuff to keep our minds off the debates.

- We hurried back to the hotel and rested for an early trip the following day.

Day 5: Bohol-Cebu-Manila

- To "celebrate" our last day in Bohol, we all went to the beach in the morning before riding the Super Cat to Cebu. Again, for those who know me well, you all know how much I don't like the beach. Maybe I like the beach by itself, like, I like to look at it, but I don't enjoy being there. I don't like the sand and I don't like the salty sticky water. All the guys swam, but the girls and I just took pictures. Charlene and I ate breakfast at the beach's breakfast when we got very hungry.

- After around 2 hours in the beach, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our stuff, and went to the terminal to ride the Super Cat to Cebu. Like before, the two-hour travel time was used to catch up on sleep.

- We arrived at Cebu around 12:30 in the afternoon, and Nathan's driver picked us up again at the pier. We ate lunch at Flame It Burgers, and proceeded to do some souvenir shopping, and had a short visit to the Mactan Shrine before going to the airport.

- I wanted to skip the airplane part since it wasn't all that significant, except for the plane landing in Manila 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. All the passengers were surprised too. Well, at least less time to kill in the plane.

- I was glad that Cebu and Bohol weren't affected by the big storm that hit the Northern Philippines. Light drizzles or short heavy rains visited Cebu and Bohol, but nothing big. I was thankful that I managed to have some fun in Cebu and Bohol, even though I had been there when I was younger; I barely remember what I saw in Cebu and Bohol because I was too young to be interested in historical and cultural stuff back then. Maybe some of my companions felt that I didn't maximize my stay in Cebu for being too safe or "corny," but I didn't really feel that way. Maybe my only worry about being in Cebu and Bohol were my expenses from buying souvenirs for myself and for people I love, and getting fatter from all the nice food in Cebu and Bohol. Sometimes I also felt out of place when all the people around me started to talk simultaneously about SOM (School of Management) stuff, since all of them were from that department in the university. I on the other hand am from the School of Social Sciences (SOSS ♥♥♥♥). Still, I had a nice time with all of them. Kudos to everyone, especially my neighbor for planning this whole trip.