Cebu - the oldest city in the Philippines

Jeroen and Andres were supposedly getting to Cebu on the 8th… However the second typhoon of our time in the Philippines is capricious and have them stocked in Panglao. Not a single boat is authorised to leave the pier.

I spent the entire day of the 8th resting. The muscle in my legs are starting to hurt due to the awkward movement I had to endure not to stress too much my left ankle.

Since my friends will be arriving in Cebu the 9th in the afternoon only, I am taking my time to explore what is of interest in the area. They are finally free to come over and arriving late in the afternoon the same day.

In the meantime I manage to witness the early moments of the biggest festival of the year: Sinulog. This is a week long of celebration of the baby Jesus ended in epic partying fashion the week end of the 14th and 15th of January. While this is making it impossible for me to visit the Basilic, it is nice to observe what is going on. Thousands and Thousands of locals are standing outside to watch on flat screen the Mass going on inside the Catholic edifice.

That left me with 2 other highlights I had planned to visit:
- The Magellan’s cross.
- The Fort San Pedro.

Inside the fort of San Pedro.

Magellan's Cross.

The city is pleasant and a bit more human size than overwhelming Manila. Our last morning, full of motivation we wanted to go to a view point and visit the Taoist temple next by... Unfortunately the rain decided otherwise. The typhoon is giving us its last tears and we prefer a warm coffee than risking a pneumonia.

Palawan is our next destination for which we needed to take a taxi to the airport (1h in the trafic and now heavy rain) and board for an hour flight... hopefully for more sun.