Sunday, May 31, 2009

Going Back Home (Part 2)

After two busy weeks, my daughter was already restless and bored. She keeps asking when we will go to the beach. Bea never had seen a sea shore except what she saw on pictures. She doesn’t know what beach sand feels like or sea-water taste like and the nearest thing she experienced is dipping in a swimming pool. So come Sunday morning we decided to go to a local beach resort to douse her excitement and curiosity.

Hawili Beach
There are lots of beaches in my home town but there is one particular beach my family goes to on occasion. It’s situated around 20 klicks from our place, patronized by local residents and very few foreigners knew about it (privately, I prefer it that way). It has “white” sand but not as white or as wide as the seashores of Boracay.

But it serves its purpose; a place for a family picnic with no tourists roaming around and a relaxing dip in the green-blue sea, a comforting feeling against the hot summer.

After that, it was my wife’s turn to do an “ala-Bea”, whining why we don’t do much on our vacation. So we pack our bags and went to Iloilo, stayed overnight at my sister’s place and in the morning, they brought us to the airport for our flight to Cebu.

Memories of Cebu
The last time I was in Cebu I was 4 or 5 years old. We went there to attend my aunt’s graduation in Medicine at the University of San Carlos. There are only two things I remember of that event; the ship that brought us there passing under the iron bridge and that little incident at the dormitory. My aunt’s dorm has a small aviary full of lovebirds and my parents left me there while they went up to see her. When they came down, a nun approaches my aunt and complained that two of the lovebirds are dead. When asked if she knows anything about it, naturally, my aunt denies everything. Until today, my family still suspects that I have something to do with it. I admit that I’m very “active” as a small child but, I swear on my grandfather’s tomb, I didn’t do it. Peks man, cross my heart, madapa sana ang hindi maniwala.

Lapu-lapu Shrine
That evening my wife’s cousin fetched and brought us to where Magellan met his creator. As we park our car, children went up to us and start asking for money but were admonished by cousin and shooed away. Anong akala nila sa amin, si Pacman?

I don’t know what this obelisk represents. It looks like a tomb marker with “Hernando Magallanes” written on it. Maybe it’s where Ferdie was buried.

Here’s Lapu-lapu’s statue in all his glory. It reminds me of the “Oscar”.

Further on, they pointed to us the very spot where Magellan was struck down. I keep straining my eyes to see the marker but all I can see was total darkness. It would have help if we went there earlier when the sun was still up.

Next time I'll tell you the further adventure in Cebu and Boracay "ng mga hilaw na turista”.

25 comments:

  1. Maganda po ang photography n'yo sa Lapu-lapu Shrine! U

    Halatang nag-enjoy talaga si Bea. At ang pinakaina-abangan ko, ang masilayan ang mukha ni Blogusvox dito sa pahina ng The Sandbox ay natupad na! o",)

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  2. The way you narrated your vacation showed that you really had a grand and enjoyable vacation!

    Nice shots you have with the combination of lights!

    Aabangan ang Going Back Home (Part 3)

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  3. Aha! Finally! Nakita rin naming fans ang aming idol! Yippey!

    Sarap ng dagat! At nasa mukha nyo talaga ang nag-enjoy ng husto!

    College pa ako the last time I went to Cebu. Two years ago, natanaw ko lang sya from another island (from Dumaguete).

    Uy, hindi kayo 'hilaw na turista' ha. You should be proud dahil hindi ka "dayuhan sa sariling bayan", sabi nga sa Balikbayan tv series.

    Looking forward to more of your kwento.

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  4. kablag! ayan, nadapa tuloy ako. why do i have the funny feeling na me kinalaman ka nga sa pamamaalam ng lovebirds? at least by circumstantial evidence...hehehehe

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  5. Ang galing, sana naenjoy mo ang bakasyon mo, are you back in Saudi? Did you enjoy the Pinas spots, or were you still here when the Hayden Kho videos were out? I hope your girl enjoyed the beach too.

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  6. Peks man???Final answer naba?
    Hehehehe.
    I believe (and i hope nobody would be mad at me) that the Lapu-lapu statue in Agrifina Circle in Manila should be in Cebu not in Manila. Though we acknowledge his heroism, parang inappropriate kasi yung statue sa present location nya.

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  7. aha! your first pic ever! pasalubong namin? :)

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  8. Thanks for sharing your photos. Hawili Beach looks good because it's not yet too commercialized. I remember when I saw Lapu Lapu's statue. Parang naka diaper sya. =)

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  9. wow philippines!

    namiss ko tuloy umuwe.

    thanks for the tour Mr. Tour Guide...

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  10. michel ànd I been in cebu 2x ànd enjoyed it. We visited Bohol next islànd.

    CEBU hàs àyàlà màll for shopping ànd we àte there everynight às we were stàying in wàterfront làhug hotel.

    Wish to be bàck there àfter I reàd your escàpàdes.

    PS, ilo ilo got nice undiscovered beàches àlso.

    Hàààày, misss ko nà bànsà ko!

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  11. RJ, salamat. Bea really enjoyed the beach.

    NJ, vacation is supposed to be an enjoyable event, especially for the children.

    Nebz, I hope your not disappointed when you finally seen my photo. Kamukha ba ng caricature ko? : )

    R-yo, circumstantial evidence unless there is a witness is inadmissible in the court of law. : )

    sheng, yes, where here na sa Riyadh. And yes, we enjoyed our vacation.

    Theo, there is nothing heroic in what lapu-lapu did. It was a tribal war between the cebuanos and mactan with magellan taking rajah humabons side. He was not depending mactan against spanish colonization (it will come later when miguel lopez de legaspi sets put in cebu) but against humabon trying to subdue him and making mactan as one of his subject.

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  12. Mimi, sorry, naubos na ang skyflakes at pulvoron. : )

    Ms.Jo, yan din ang sabi ng taga-roon. Pinalitan na raw yung statue dahil mukhang naka-diaper nga sya instead of bahag.

    AZEL, your welcome.

    Francesca, yes, iloilo also have some nice beaches. The problem is "kantilado". Akala mo mababaw pa, yun pala, a few step and you're in deep water na.

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  13. Mukang sulit na sulit ang bakasyon mo sa Pinas.

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  14. Looks like your daughter had one heck of a time at the beach :)

    common now, what did you do with the birds ? lol :) It is rather embarrassing but I never stepped foot in Cebu :(

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  15. Wow! Ganda ng shot mo with your daughter sa beach! Kitang-kita na you both were enjoying talaga! And I love the beach! Ganda! Saan kaya iyan... Glad you had a great time! :)

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  16. ibulong mo naman sakin kung saan iyan o. mukhang very peaceful dahil walang katao tao. hehehe. i know you had a great vacation. =D

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  17. wow! looks like you had a great time here. i never heard of hawili but it looks good. water is so clear. that i want to see. need to google it.

    ive been to that monument only once. we'll look forward to more posts of your stay here.

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  18. bertN, oo, we enjoyed it but masakit lang sa bulsa. : )

    bw, yes, first time for her to frolic in the beach. BTW, are you from western visayas also?

    Dee, its a local beach in Aklan.

    ardyey, psst...hindi kasi "commercialized" kaya malinis pa. Dito lang ito malapit sa amin. : )

    donG, I doubt it if you'll find it in google. Hawili beach is in the town of Tangalan, 3 towns away from Kalibo.

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  19. Wow kakainggit naman ang vacation mo. I've never been to Cebu I wish I could visit that place looks cool and I want to see Lapu-Lapu shrine too hehehe. I can't wait to see your boracay vacation.

    sardonyx/missy

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  20. oi I been there sa Hawili beach, I was assigned in Tangalan, Makato and Numancia area before. Sa lahat ng pinakagusto ko, ang KALIBO province. Naikot ko yanah dyan mula New Washington until Nabas.

    Me and my family are planning to go there also someday and be reunited with some friends.

    Thanks for this post Blogusvox! It brings back the memories, Kalibo, as well as Cebu.

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  21. Sardz, just wait, I'll try to post it in a few days.

    Kenjie, Kalibo is the capital, Aklan is the province. But I believe you, nasuyod mo ang buong Aklan from north to south. BTW, your church's compound in Kalibo is just a stone throw away from our place.

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  22. I was laughing at the lovebirds incident...
    hahaha...
    maybe they were already dead before you came over...hahaha

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  23. Iloilo Onfoot, welcome and thanks for dropping by.

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  24. sa mactan ka ba parekoy? nag work kasi ako sa punta engano sa mactan. project nmin ang Cebu hilton wayback 2004.. i must say, nag enjoy ako sa stay ko sa Mactan...

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  25. batang'henyo, hindi, we're from Panay. Bisita rin lang kami dyan sa Cebu and Mactan.

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