Smitten by Cebu

Cebu. I first came here way back half of the nineties at the height of my advertising career. I was handling what used to be Isla Communications Company, a.k.a Islacom. During those times, I think, there were no advertising agencies in Cebu that companies based here would have to hire agencies from Manila. Those were weekend trips from Manila to Cebu to supervise events and sales blitz at SM City Cebu for Islacom. But every time I drop my bags in my room whenever I arrive back in Manila, I have that strange feeling that I somewhat left my heart somewhere else. Then there's the after-taste of barbecued chicken butt and the image of rice wrapped in woven coconut fronds. I crave to hear the intonation of a dialect that verges between singing and begging (second only to Bacolod's). Makes me smile remembering food servers, cashiers, and sales ladies who take their time meeting requests as if tomorrow is just another day or that you have the whole week to sit and wait. In spite of the annoyance, I appreciated that life doesn’t have to be in a hurry. And that street bounded by a circle at one end and a capitol at the other started to beckon, so does a bar beneath a hotel located up the hills. Towards my fifth trip, I came to resolve that some day, I would find work and live in that place that kept whirling in my thoughts.

Pass a decade, I now find myself working at Bigfoot Studios and live in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island right across Cebu. It would be complicated to explicate why not live in Cebu City considering that I am “already there but not yet.” Let’s just say I want to continue admiring Cebu at a distance and would, from time to time, run to it and steal it a kiss or two. Besides, Mactan is still within Metro Cebu.

So much has changed since. Changes made in the awesome way. The Terraces, Ayala Centre is mini Greenbelt. SM Cebu has done much renovation with IMAX, quaint cafes and al fresca lounge area. Multicabs, Manila’s jeepney counterpart, are coded as to their routes and destinations. Traffic is next to Manila’s which makes it second only to worst. Skyscrapers mushroom here and there. The nightlife rages. Restaurant in all tastes and styles jotting across the city. Yet one eatery in Cebu that will always make my day is Larsian – domain of all barbecued chicken parts! But that would be another story.
And! Only now did I know that one can be catapulted from Cebu to Malapascua and Bantayan Islands; Bohol, Negros and Camiguin by simply being shot there from a canon.

For now, let this page be a preamble to what life could be had in Cebu, the island in the middle of it all. In this blog too one may read Metro Cebu and neighboring island adventures (and misadventures, the interesting part) in food, nightlife, beaches, events and festivals, hideaways, destinations, great finds, and local anecdotes that make Cebu linger in one’s mind.

Larsian always make my day!

A college classmate, Atty. Constantin Agustin, tries out arts and craft... and food. In short, puso -- sticky rice wrapped in woven coconut fronds.

Ride a multicab. But beauties like these not always included.

New additions to Cebu skyline, Crown Regency, behind my home during Islacom days, Cebu Midtown Hotel

Some photos by Doc Mon Federe and Mochie Cuyco