Medellin is Funtastic!

The next day, we got up early for our big trip to Gibitngil Island. I was really excited because I’ve seen photos and heard a lot of awesome stuff about this island. They say that it’s a must-visit and that the long trip from the city is so worth it. Well, that remains to be seen!

Gibitngil is an island baranggay under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Medellin. If you’re from the city, the first thing you have to do is to get to Medellin. How do you do that? Simply get on a north-bound bus at the North Bus terminal in Mandaue. If you’re driving your own car, head towards the direction of Bogo City and then San Remigio. When you reach that intersection just before reaching San Remigio proper (you will see a big sign,) make a right towards Daanbantayan. If you keep going straight, you’ll soon reach baranggay Curva. Instead of turning right towards Daanbantayan, turn left towards Medellin. From there, getting to Kawit should be fairly easy. (Kawit is where you get a boat to Gibitngil.)

————————–

Funtastic Island. Gibitngil is out of this world!

Disco Night in Medellin

A few weeks ago, my officemate Cring2x told me about the town fiesta of Medellin. Cring2x and her family are from Medellin (although they also live in Mandaue City.) She said that the fiesta season is awesome in Medellin and she insisted that it would be horrible to miss such an amazing event. At first, I wasn’t so sure about the trip because, first, Medellin is around 3 hours away and second, because no one else was going.  Good thing another officemate, Alex, decided the last minute that he wanted to go.

So, long story short, we left Cebu City for Medellin at around 3:30 pm last Saturday. It turned out that it was a bad idea because the trip was long and we didn’t really know where we were going. Haha.

So, anyway, quick history and geography lesson! Medellin is near the northern tip of the island. It’s around three hours from Cebu City, but according to Mr. Perez, (Cring’s father) our awesome host, he could make it from Mandaue to Medellin in just an hour and ten minutes. That’s like, WOW! But of course I believe him because he’s awesome. Hahaha. Anyway, Medellin is thirty minutes from the towns of Daanbantayan and San Remigio. Although Medellin was, in the past, quite unknown compared to the two said towns, it is now slowly but surely making a name for itself. In fact, I’d have to commend the leaders who came up with this ‘Medellin is Funtastic’ program. Don’t worry, sirs and madam. I will do my share of promoting your lovely town because your town has been great to me.

So, yeah, back to my story. We reached Bogo City at around 6: 30 in the evening. Alex and I were a little nervous because we didn’t know where the town proper was exactly. When we reached Pulambato, we excitedly texted Cring and told her where we were. You’re still thirty minutes away, she said. What? The roads were so dark and we were afraid that we’d make a wrong turn (cue Psycho theme!) But she assured us that if we just keep going straight, we’d soon see a big ass tree and a lot of signs which read CURVA. Fromt there, we’d have to make a left and we’d have to just follow the road until we see a gas station.

I’m ready to call Medellin my new favorite. But I’m afraid my beloved Dalaguetnons will disown me (I’m a self-proclaimed Dalaguetnon, remember?) Haha! Can I just have two favorites, instead? I want to keep my southern twang. Like, seriously.

——————-

Hello, Medellin! I love you!

A New Town in Mactan

Last week, my good friend Mike and I went to the Mactan Shrine to check out the Kadaugan sa Mactan kick-off party. The Kadaugan sa Mactan is a yearly week-long celebration held in Baranggay Mactan in the Island of Mactan. The event commemorates the victory of Datu Lapu-Lapu against Spanish conquestadores Ferdinand Magellan. For one whole week, locals and visitors alike flock to the shrine to witness nightly presentations, buy Cebu-made souvenir items, and check out treats sold by hotels and resorts at discounted prices.

There were a lot of food items to choose from. But since it was the first night, the place was stuffed. So, we decided to eat at McDonalds at the new Mactan Newtown instead.

The Mactan Newtown, by the way, is a new development in the Island of Mactan. The Mactan Newtown is owned by Megaworld. Construction is already ongoing for the first two residential developments. Dubbed ‘the next business district/IT Park/top spot in Cebu,’ the Mactan Newtown will soon have entertainment and business hubs, world-class resort facilities, leisure amenities, and just a whole range of nice-sounding products and services. Indeed, it is going to look like an entirely new town once everything is in place.

————-

So, yeah. Here is the site plan of Mactan Newtown in Baranggay Mactan in the island of Mactan! Amazing, right?

Wishful Thinking

So, I decided to come up with my very own Cebu Bucketlist. It’s just basically a list of places in Cebu that I want to visit or activities that I want to do. I’ll try to update this list often. Also, if you could lend me a hand, suggestions and tips are very much welcome!

New Favorite

So, a few weeks ago, we went to Oslob to hopefully find a place where we could stay for the long break. However, since things didn’t quite look good, we had to look somewhere else. Fortunately, out of all the many places where we could stop for a few minutes during our long ride, we stopped somewhere in the town of Dalaguete.

Long story short, with the help of a few kind locals, we were able to book a nice beach house. The beach house was baranggay-operated so it was cheap and safe. It also has a/c and a private veranda with a wonderful view of the sea (Tañon Strait?) Not bad at all!

Dalaguete is around 2 hours from Cebu City. It is a huge town. However, the only parts that are readily visible to travelers down south are the spots which can be seen from the main highway. So, at first glance, Dalaguete is just some bland southern town with one busy joint and endless rows of silent neighborhoods. Wrong! It was quite a pleasant surprise to discover that Dalaguete is, actually, a lot more than just ‘southern twang’, bibingka, “itlog mo noy orange,” and bus pit stops. In fact, after being a self-proclaimed Dalaguetnon (I lived there for two days, yo!) I could say that Dalaguete is now my new favorite. Suroy na sa Dalaguete, ‘day ug dodong!

——————

Tidet-tidet! Dalaguete is my new favorite!