Day 1: I got a call early in the morning informing us that our Zest Air flight for the evening has been moved from 8:10 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I was supposed to pick up my partner at Makati at 5 p.m., but cabs were being very picky. We decided that I would go straight to the old domestic airport, while my partner would follow suit. We entered the gates at 6:30 p.m., and realized that check in closes one hour before departure. We munched on sandwiches and water that I had brought. The food and drinks inside the airport are heavily marked up, with a bag of Mr. Chips commanding a stiff price of P40. It turns out that the flight was delayed, again. This time, the plane was already there by 7:30 p.m., but we had to wait due to the refueling. I sent a text to Westpoint Inn to confirm our arrival for that night. We landed at Mactan around 10 p.m. and we went upstairs to promptly look for a cab. The airport has airport-only authorized cabs. It was quite a queue that lasted 20-30 minutes long, and the driver wasn’t familiar where the Inn was located. We had to call the Inn and them talk to the driver to take us to the right direction. On top of that, I called Danny Noy, a taxi service that I found online and had made prior arrangements to do the tour for us for the following day. When he found out that there would be only two of us, he said that he’d refer us to someone else because he had to pick up someone at the airport. I was upset, and when we got to the hotel, I asked the concierge if they knew a cab available to do the tour. The amount agreed upon was P2000 for 8 hours, but if we wanted to go to Tops, there’d be another P500 added to the bill. Tired and hungry, we straggled into bed for an 8:00 a.m. call the next day.

Day 2: The driver arrived a little past 8 a.m., which worked out in our favor. I obtained an itinerary from the concierge. Our first stop was at Colon Cross, a massive sculpture structure near the original Chinatown. After taking some requisite pictures, we went to Casa Gorordo. Casa Gorordo is a beautifully preserved house made in the 1800′s. The man was of Spanish/Filipino blood, while the woman was of Filipino/Chinese bloodline. They charged P40 per person for the entrance, and it was well worth it because the furniture and its gardens were very much intact, thanks to the Aboitiz foundation. The walls were made of coral limestones and egg whites, and the top floor was all heavy molave wood. There was even a small art gallery at the ground floor.

The next stop was the Cebu Cathedral. The Church was recently updated and is comparable to the other new cathedrals in Manila. Acrosss the street, there’s a museum for the archdiocese of Cebu that showcases some artifacts dating centuries ago. There was an entrance fee of P50 per person. There was a tour guide when we we entered the air-conditioned room on the first floor, but none on the open air second floor. There’s a view of the garden and the car that the Pope rode when he was in Cebu. The museum is also funded by the wealthy families of Cebu, particularly the Lhuilliers.

After the Cathedral, we proceeded to the famous Magellan’s cross. There were hordes of students on a historical tour that was blocking the view, but we managed to take a good look at the cross. We then went forward to the Basilica of the Sto. Nino. The museum was closed due to some festivities, but we did go queue up to look at the replica. The inside of the church is very old world, with stone faces at the courtyard and a Spanish looking fountain. Inside the church, there were lovely paintings adorning the ceiling.

We then went to the Yap-San Diego house, the oldest house in Cebu. After paying P50, the tour guide showed us around the house. Some of the wood had deteriorated due to the years of neglect, and even the upper portion had this musty smell of old houses. It is not as well preserved as Casa Gorordo by a long shot, but it had its own charm. They also allowed the use of pictures, which was great for us.

After the Yap-San Diego house, we were off to Lahug to experience lechon delights at the Cowrie Grill. The lechon was really very tasty and filling, which is all well and good as we had to go to the Taoist Temple afterward. It was inside a village called Beverly Hills, and the exercise to climb to the peak after lunch made the digestion of food smoother. The view was stunning from the peak, and we took a whole bunch of photos. After descent, it was now time to go to Mactan.

After crossing the bridge, we landed at a guitar factory in Mactan where they have several beautiful guitar pieces that are all completely manually made. My partner had quite a chat with the owner. It was then off to Lapu-lapu shrine. It was really just a statue of Lapu-lapu facing the beach, but there were many souvenir shops at the area. Outside, the souvenir shops had a wide selection of bags, trinkets, shirts, and magnets. The magnets were P20 apiece, which is cheaper than if you were to get it at the airport, for instance.

When we got exhausted from all the touring, the driver dropped us off at Ayala Center in Cebu. The tour actually lasted 6 hours ONLY, so we kinda felt a little ripped off given how the negotiations went. We also didn’t get to go to Tops. Once at Ayala Center, it’s like a much bigger and brighter Glorietta. Their Terraces was a more spectacular version of Greenbelt 5. Some of the hip dining places that you can find on Greenbelt (plus Fully Booked!) are there. They even have a Metro mall inside that carries a wide selection of stuff. In my case, I needed a swimsuit, and fast. I bought one on sale since we had researched and made arrangements to go to the beach the following day.

Day 3:The following day we rose bright and early. We would be heading off to Maribago Bluewater, an exclusive resort at Marigondon, Mactan Island. We left around 9 a.m., and we were getting nervous about how the day would go since it was drizzling. It took about thirty minutes to arrive at our destination. We had to cross the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, again, along the way. When we got there, the staff was very courteous. We paid P1000 for swimming. Out of that, P700 was consummable. That sounded fair, considering we could only use the beach and not any of the pools. My partner paid a deposit of P400 for the ‘free’ towel.

We promptly went to the beach and cornered a spot in the shade with two lounging chairs. I inquired at Aquamarine regarding their rates, but was appalled at the exorbitant ‘tourist’ prices for island hopping and snorkelling. At 4,500, that is pretty much, considering our typical outlay does not exceed 2,000. We decided to skip the whole boating experience. The guide was nice enough not to recommend snorkelling. He mentioned that the water facing us was full of seaweed, and that we wouldn’t see much because of the low tide. An hour or two later, I decided to take a dip on the water. I took a couple of laps, and felt iffy because of the masses of seaweed covering the floor. It felt squishy under my feet. The sandy area wasn’t soft but hard and can scrape your feet if you are not too careful. The water was pretty cold, which was fine by my standards. I lasted all of thirty minutes floating and swimming. There were some Koreans paddling a kayak that eventually bumped me; I took that to be my cue to step out of the water.

I let myself dry while taking pictures with my partner and then reading a book. When it was time for lunch, I went to their main restaurant, Alegre. I ordered the prawns sinugba with mashed potatoes, lemon butter sauce, and garlic rice. It was a delectable meal and I stuffed myself. I then ordered their trio of creme brulee (buko pandan, original, and ube). Now that was simply divine. I savored every morsel of it, taking care not too finish it too quickly but to let it linger on the palate. I would alternate the flavors to savor each one.

Around 3 p.m., the water level has dropped considerably so I walked to reach the man-made island in Maribago. The view from the island would show the open sea in front of it. I tried to do some floating on the shore, but there were simply too much seaweed debris floating around for me to enjoy frolicking at the beach for a long period of time. When I walked back to the shore, there were plenty of seaweed that had been washed into the beach. Ick. I decided to take a shower right after. Their rest rooms were done in marble and were well appointed.

We then decided to take a cab back to the city. There were cabs right outside, and the guard gave us the plate number. It cost about P200 to ride back. On the average, it is about P170-240 to ride to Mactan, depending on the route the driver takes. We had the driver take us to SM City Cebu. It’s a big, sprawling block of a mall. We chowed down some siopao to appease our hunger while we checked out the sales at the bookstores and bought books, again. We then took a cab to Osmena Circle’s Shamrock. It’s a delicacy store where we bought dried mangoes for pasalubong for my partner’s officemates. We had dinner at a restaurant nearby, and walked back to our hotel to prepare for an early flight.

Day 4:We woke up a bit late and decided not too rush to the airport too soon. We had a late breakfast, and then called a cab a little before 8:30. This was quite a gamble as our Zest Air flight was scheduled at 9:50 a.m. The cabby drove quickly. Since it was a Monday holiday, traffic was light. We got to our destination at 9 a.m. Check in was fast. We liked Mactan International. Prior to checking in, there were coffee shops and pasalubong stores outside of the counters. When you get inside, there are more pasalubong stalls still. What I noticed is that the main delicacies of Cebu are Otap, Dried Mangoes, and Mango Pureee primarily. This is in marked contrast to a Bohol pasalubong store that I visited that showcased many types of delicacies. In fairness, Zest Air actually boarded us on time, without making us wait too long. This is our first on time local flight since we’ve been flying at the start of the year. We landed at the domestic airport in Manila a little before 11 or something like that. What was different this time around is that the cab drivers were airport taxi service. The flag down rate is P75 instead of the usual P35.