Puerto Fino

We finally hit the beach today. As I mentioned earlier, my aunts and uncles don't drive. However, they do own a jeepney (main type of public transportation in the Philippines). So, they told the driver not to go on route today and we took that to Mactan Island where the beaches are mostly located. Before hitting the beach, we passed by the Lapu Lapu shrine. It's the site where explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by Lapu Lapu, a tribal chief who's considered to be the first Filipino national hero. The beach itself wasn't the greatest. Lots of seaweeds and rocks. The good thing is that there was some sort of company party happenin at the time so we got free live music. After the beach, we went to see Magellan's cross which is the original cross he brought to the Philippines. Then we headed to Sto. Nino Cathedral. The Sto. Nino is a child image of Christ and is an extremely popular image here in the Philippines, associated with all sorts of miracles. Outside the church, people sell candles which you burn in charcoal grills. The vendor then dances and prays for your intentions infront of the altar. Before heading home, we also visited a beautiful Taoist temple. Today, we also saw one of my dad's cousins, Tito Abner whom we haven't seen since we were kids. We also met our cousins, the eldest being Clint who took us to nice dessert place and a pool house later tonight. He also brought us to a viewing spot called Mr. A, which has several huts on a cliff overlooking the city. It was beautiful...except I forgot to bring my glasses and was seeing everything in a blur. Cebu at night is really nice, better than Manila because of the cool ocean breeze.