South of the Border

Last year, we had our first taste of the Cebupac mania. We made our way to the beautiful city of Davao surrounded by our closest friends. This year, Maggs was busy with her CISV duties and Vice-Mayor Concon also had his hands full. We would have to take on this vacation 'alone'. So minus our entourage, we headed south once again to celebrate Reymond's 36th birthday and found ourselves a paradise in Costabella on Mactan Island.


I wasn't really sure what to expect since the only resort everyone ever talks about in Mactan is Shangri-la. So I consulted HS classmate Carmela who is a Cebu native and a seasoned hotelier. I told her that I could actually claim a 2-night stay at this resort by virtue of my credit card points but since I never heard of the place, I wanted her to rate it by comparing it to a hotel I was familiar with. She likened the resort to Dusit Hotel in Makati and said that it wasn't quite in the same league as the big wigs but it would do! She was right. Costabella did not disappoint us.

Costabella is 20 minutes away from the airport and like most other resorts, their services start from the minute you arrive by having their staff personally escort you to their resort. Their staff is friendly, accommodating and we didn't even have to wait for them to prepare our room. The room was ready when we arrived at 10 am. Galeng! Usually, hotels will tell you to wait until 2:00 pm to clean it as guests usually vacate their rooms at noon. This time around, we had the luxury of relaxing in our room as soon as we checked in.

But, as I was telling Bess, the one downside to our vacation was the very expensive food! We were shocked when our first meal of the day consisting of pancit, onion rings, calamares and burgers cost us P1,600.00! Reymond and I looked at one another and knew exactly what the other was thinking. We've got to find another place to eat! At this rate, our cash would be gone by lunch tom.! Hahahahaha!

But really, the joke was on us.



We initially wanted to go to Sutukil as recommended by my bro and SIL and so we called for a cab to bring us there. The cab ride to the resto 15 minutes away cost us P200.00 -- and when we checked, it wasn't Sutukil! The driver took it upon himself to bring us to Greenhouse kasi 'peligro daw sa Sutukil'. Thinking he had only the best of intentions, we obliged and boy, did we get suckered. For calamares, prawns and tangigue, we spent a whopping P2,000.00! Worse, we spent another P200.00 for the cab ride back to Costabella. It wasn't looking good for us.

Because of this sad experience, Reymond and I decided that we would just stay in Costabella for the rest of our meals.



New day, new beginnings. Reymond and I decided to put last night behind us (charge it nalang to experience) and enjoy the rest of our vacation.

The pictures above were taken from the outhouse around 100 meters away from shore. In the morning, it was majorly low tide. Similar to Matuod! They also had a sunbathing platform for the tanning enthusiasts. The water creeps back to shore by 11am and the beach comes back to life! The whole day was spent just swimming at the pool and lounging around the beach. The resort guests were mostly Korean tourists. I am told that majority of Cebu visitors are from Korea.

In the evening, we were entertained by musicians singing songs from my Mom's era. When we requested for a children's song, they looked at one another and on cue, they played 'Oh Carol'. Ok ba? At another table, where they had British tourists, they played The Spaghetti Song and Otso-otso. To my disbelief, the cute little girl with the British accent knew the dance steps(her mom is probably a TFC subscriber)! We had so much fun seeing this girl immerse herself in our pop culture.



On our third day here, we took one last swim at the pool then prepared ourselves for the 11am pick-up by the guide recommended by Reymond's officemate.

Our first stop was the Sutukil restaurant by the Lapu-Lapu shrine. Finally, finally! We found someone who wouldn't take us in circles and just bring us exactly to where we requested. The food was divine and despite the heat, all of us were savoring our yummy inexpensive meal. Heehee. After a few pics by the shrine, we were off to Mandaue and Cebu for some last minute sightseeing.



To get from Mactan to Mandaue and Cebu, we had to cross the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, named after one of the most famous sons of this proud province.



We were brought to many landmarks around the city. Below, you will see the Cebu Convention Center (where the 12th Asean summit was held), the Cebu branch of Reymond's office (uhm, landmark ba 'to?), the Fort San Pedro (smallest and oldest fort in the country), the Malacanang of the South, Magellan's Cross and the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino. It is here where our next adventure begins.



The guide and Reymond agreed that Reymond would give him a missed call once we were ready for pick-up. Problem is, Reymond left his cellphone in the van. We tried in vain to contact his officemates but most of them had their office cellphones off during the weekend. After about an hour or so, a tourist police took pity on us and after explaining our predicament to him, he took it upon himself to 'search' for our guide.

I was of course skeptical but since I was also desperate, we had no choice but to put our full trust and faith in him. Guess what? Twenty minutes later, he arrives with our guide in tow. Despite the one hour and 20 minutes outside the scorching heat, I could not have been happier seeing our guide and getting into our airconditioned van. As to how I felt about Reymond, hmmmmmmm. Let's just say buti nalang actual birthday niya on that day.



The other landmarks were a blur to me. I was in a state of euphoria with the aircon vent aimed directly at my face. Why oh why did Reymond take a pic of the UV? Doon daw kasi galing si (PBA player whose name I cannot recall) and ang coach daw dun ay si (name I also cannot recall). We made our way around Colon Street, Fuente Osmena, Casa Gorordo and the Taoist Temple. After an exhausting afternoon around the city, we made our way back to Mactan for our 5:55 flight back to Manila.



So as I was saying Nens, lots of good and bad experiences in Cebu. I'd like to think that the good should outweight naman the bad. But do me a favor. Next time around, take us with you! We don't want to be lost in translation again!