Exploring Cebu

Thursday, May 22, 2008--Cebu

I got up excited about exploring the city. I dressed and started walking toward downtown. About 2/3 of the way there, I saw a cyber cafe and went in. That's when I posted yesterday's entry. When I came out of the cyber cafe, it was just beginning to rain--a heavy, tropical downpour. I stood on the sidewalk under the awning with others. The rain continued and continued. I hadn't brought my umbrella with me because it was sunny when I left the hotel. But it wouldn't have helped. It was too much of a storm for an umbrella to be any help. As time passed, the water started coming up over the sidewalk. The drainage system just couldn't handle it all. I moved further back. Then I moved over to the side more as the water kept approaching me. Of course, I could have always re-entered the cyber cafe and spent more time on the computer, but I had been there at least 1 1/2 hours and had nothing else I needed to do at the time. There was a brief lul, and the waters receded some, but then the big drops returned and the water level got higher. Before it finally ended, the water was lapping up against the souls of my shoes. But it did stop maybe 25 minutes later. I worked my way back to my room hoping it wouldn't begin again until I got there. I made it, but I still was worried about getting caught in it, so I stayed in the room and watched the news on TV for 1 1/2 hours. By then, it still had not started again, so I went out taking my umbrella and hoping. It never rained again for the rest of the day.

I returned downtown, because I needed a map from the tourist office. My guidebook pages did not include one. And the airport tourist desk did not have any when I came through there. I had looked at a very small map just enough to tell that I could follow my street and it would take me to the park where the guidebook said the tourist office was located.

Yesterday in my post, I made several comparisons between here and India. The day just reinforced them. I am a bit surprised. I remembered the Philippines as being better than India, but they seem to be on a par with each other. The polution on the roadways is horrible here. People often have to walk on the streets. The buildings look old due to polution and lack of upkeep even if they were just built in the 60s or 70s. Dirt is not so obvious or a concern. (The keys on the keyboard at the cyber cafe yesterday were thick with dirt and felt sticky because of it.) There are beggars everywhere, and they are also filthy. The one big difference is that the tourist sites in the Philippines do not try to gouge the tourist the way the ones in India do with their extravant charges for foreigers that are 20 times what locals pay; here the prices are the same for locals and tourists and are reasonable.

I managed to find the tourist office after asking a couple of times, and the lady there was very helpful. Then I made a tour of the downtown tourist sites--Ft. San Pedro and its museums, the Cathedral, the Basilica de Santo Nino from the same time period, the cross left by Magellan, a monument to Magellan, the Heritage of Cebu monument, and an old colonial house. The fort is well reconstructed and has beautiful gardens. It is often the location of weddings and parties. The two churches are nice 400-year-old buildings, but the basilica of the child (nino) was much prettier than the cathedral. Magellan's cross was encased in another cross to protect it, so no one really ever sees the original. The heritage monument was wonderful! And I would love to spend the rest of my days here living in the house I toured with its wonderful wooden floors and wood paneling, its light breezes, etc.

By the way, in case you didn't know this, Magellan died here in Cebu on his around-the-world trip. I'm on my 8th trip, but he was on his first (and the first ever by anyone who had ever lived). I think I should survive fine and finish my trip which his men had to do without him.

I needed a haircut badly, so on the way back to my room, I searched for a barber shop and found one. I got a great haircut. Why is it that I never get a good one in the U.S., but I can go to a place like this and pay only $1 and walk out with it looking so good? In the U.S., I usually have to go home and "fix" it by trimming to make the ends even.

It gets light very early here and then gets dark early, too. By 6:00, it was dark. I went back out in the evening to find a place to eat. Nearby is one of the major shopping areas of town built around a circle. I walked there. I passed many sidewalk stalls using burning flames for lights and several small indoor eateries. It was hard to see what they had. I actually tried to find a place recommended in my guidebook, but they didn't gave a specific address and I never located it. Instead, I went to the basement of a department store and chose one of the eateries there. I was not too pleased with what I got. As I sat there watching, I could see that the place next to where I ordered is more popular and has better food. My plate had a bowl of noodle soup, two Filipino egg rolls, a helping of rice, and a small glass of tea. It was fine, though.

I didn't like being out at night. There are too many beggars. And they are often concentrated where they cannot be avoided--on overhead walkways that must be used to cross major streets, for instance. There were also gangs of young kids together who could be a problem if they had the opportunity to not be observed. Therefore, I returned to the room after eating and watched TV for the evening, including a Clint Eastwood film (both as director and actor) which I had not seen before.