Cebu – Mactan Philippines Tour

Our first stop was the shrine of LapuLapu on Mactan Island – a small island connected to the larger island of Cebu by 2 historic bridges.   The story of LapuLapu is classic – local hero defeats enemy force having superior numbers and weapons who are invading his homeland.  On 27 April, 1521, three Spanish warships under the leadership of Ferdinand de Magellan approached Cebu Island.  The Spanish were unprepared for the shallow coastal waters of the island and had to disembark from their landing vessels and wade to the beach in their heavy armor.  The natives under Chief LapuLapu aided by their familiarity  with the coast fought with skill and determination.  Magellan was killed during the battle and the Spanish force retreated and continued on to Spain.  So LapuLapu is credited with being the first Filipino chief to successfully resist European aggression.

  The statue of LapuLapu was majestic. 

The bay was empty and peaceful at low tide.

  The memorial tablet was simple 

and the mural shed some historical light

 on the armaments and challenges

 of both sides.

 Near the exit, of course, were booths selling native crafts.

The second stop was Allegre Guitars – a shop in the “guitar district” a niche industry sufficierntly in demand that patrons are required to fly in from all over the world to pick up their custom-made instrument to avoid potential damage in shipping.  Exotic woods from all over the world line one wall of the shop and they are glad to explain in detail the characteristics and advantages of each – from the maple, cedar, and spruce of Canada, rosewood of India, to the many native woods of the Philippines including black ebony, mahogany, acacia, langka (jackfruit), etc..  

Next are the workrooms where the wood is patiently and skillfully cut, shaped, and glued by hand, and then treated and finished in carefully controlled “safe” rooms.  

They make not only beautiful guitars, but also a variety of other stringed instruments including the unique cocolilly – a local instrument whose back is made from a cluster of three coconut shells.

Next stop was the Taoist Temple built in 1964 by Cebu’s substantial Chinese community.  It is located literally in the Beverly Hills Subdivision of Cebu City.  The faithful enter the temple at the lower level and climb the 81 stairs representative of the 81 chapters of the Taoism scriptures to light joss sticks and have their fortunes told. The rest of us enter at the upper level across an entrance which is a replica of a portion of the ”Great Wall of China”.  

We were allowed to photograph the lawns, outside of buildings and statues, 

but not the inside of chapels, shrines, or gods. 

My immediate favorite was a huge and hugely charming dragon statue.

 We also went up to a small second level with a statue representative of the Taoist proverb: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Next we drove past the Cebu Provincial Capital (which is nicknamed the “White House”, but more closely resembles the U.S. Capital Building) and ex-governor Sergio Osmena’s house. 

We drove down to Colon Street, the oldest street in Cebu, which is named after Cristobel Colon (aka Christopher Columbus.) 

Next stop was the “Heritage of Cebu Monument”.  This is a very imposing monument of concrete, bronze, brass, and steel by National Artist Eduardo Castrillo.  

It is a fascinating tableau of different significant and symbolic events in the history of Cebu.  It depicts some significant structures such as the Basilica del Santo Niño, the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, the Saint John the Baptist Church, the Magellan’s Cross, and a Spanish Galleon. 

 Scenes depicted include the Battle of Mactan between Lapu-Lapu and Ferdinand Magellan,

 a Santo Niño procession, a Roman Catholic mass, and the first Christian baptism.  

  Some persons depicted include late president Sergio Osmena Sr., Blessed Pedro Calungsod—the first Filipino to become a Catholic saint, and representational figures from major colonial eras including Chinese, Spanish, and Arabic traders.

It is interesting that much of the history of Cebu & Mactan Islands as they represent it refers to their multi-cultural colonial history and the conversion of the majority of the people to Chrisitianity.

There is a little more of our tour to post plus some up-dating, but that will be included in the next post.

  

Art and Celebrations

We were blessed to be able to visit the "Filipino Way of Life" - an art exhibition by the Portrait Artists Society of the Philippines Inc.  It included approximately 80 paintings by 39 artists.  It is impossible to do it justice in the amount of room I have here, but I have chosen a few pieces that particularly appealed to me to share a small taste of this magnificent collection.  I wish I had been able to go back and get the artists names and titles of all the pieces, but as I did not, I will simply reflect on the feelings they inspired in me.

                                                Living in grace can happen in any setting.

Childhood is everywhere the same & their needs are simple, but important.

Work hard and give thanks - as a people they are very hard-working, religious, and appreciative.

Life has seasons, accept it.

Show reverence for those who go before us.

Be at peace.

Keep your family close.

There were so many others I can not begin to share even just my favorites, but I hope these will give you a small taste of the delightful culture and diversity included.

Next was the subject of birthday celebrations: this month had my birthday and that of our office manager, Mary Ann Balen.   Our birthdays were both celebrated as "official" "un-birthdays" as some members of the staff were unable to be present on the day of our birthday.

Sister Keller with official Birthday poster by May & Aljane.

And official very chocolate and delicious birthday cake.

 Sister Evans took me out for birthday dinner at the "Golden Cowrie -- A Filipino Restaurant"  where I ordered "fried baby squid  con tinto" and "ngohiong" (similar to Chinese egg roll).  Actually, the squid was surprisingly tasty in a light mustard-y sauce.  The second picture is a close-up of a bite of squid.  Sister Evans even tried a bite.

                         Sr Evans had the "pandam chicken" - chicken wrapped in pandam leaves.

Mary Ann celebrated her birthday in true Filipino style: invited us all to come to her party and furnished everything herself -- as she was working she only went to her 8 favorite restaurants so she could be sure we all had a taste of the very best of some of her favorite Filipino foods.

Start with barbecue (pork, I believe), pandam chicken, 

lots of rice, ngohiong, more chicken,

pansit noodles,

napoleonis and sapin-sapin for dessert.

And then there was the ube cake -- purple yam, no artificial color added -- totally delicious.

Here are a few other new Filipino favorites at home and work.

Calamay is a traditional sweet from Bohol made from coconut milk and rice flour -

between the consistency of  jello and salt water taffy, very tasty.

A "small" piece of jack fruit -- approximately 6 inches at the base by 10 inches high and weighing approximately 3 pounds - is obviously a very small part of the whole fruit.  

The inside is somewhat segmented and the strong fruity aroma is 

delicious enough you wish you could eat it too!

Mangosteen is interesting inside & out and a new favorite.

Lychee & rambotan are special favorites of mine,

but too much work for Sister Evans.

She prefers lancones, kind of a citrus-y fruit that's a bit on the tart side

and comes out of its shell easier.

We also found the "rose- apple", the little fruit we found along the road

in Bohol.  They do look and taste something like apples, 

but are about and inch and a half long.

We also saw banana hearts on the trees in Bohol.  They are on the bottom 

of a stem of developing bananas.

Notice the tiny undeveloped bananas inside the peel.

You peel the harder outer layers off and cut up and cook as vegetables.

The largest snack areas in the grocery stores seem to be dried fish

and other dried sea food delicacies (shrimp, squid, etc.).  I'm afraid I

don't have a properly appreciative stomach in this area!

I do want to put American grocery stores on notice, however, that Filipino grocery stores have

important priorities that they lack: notice - nearly every large grocery store has an aisle devoted exclusively to chocolate!

Religious celebrations are taken very seriously here and they have many of them.  Some are national holidays and many are only for members of a single congregation, but all are accorded a great deal of respect.

This is a parade apparently to honor the founding of  a large Catholic church near our area.  It started right during rush hour and traffic was simply brought to a halt in our direction for the duration (nearly an hour).  Traffic was slowly shuffled off the main road and diverted to a side road.

Floats can be very simple or very elaborate

and dress varies from very casual to very formal.

It is a very special people that recognize the overwhelming importance of 

religion and are willing to grant respect to its wide diversity.

Yes, we feel very honored to be here.