Cebu City

Five days after my spa experience I was on my way to Cebu for the first time. I went to the airport with a colleague. Our flight was on Cebu Pacific and yes... as in my flight from Cagayan de Oro, it was delayed. I can't recall if I mentioned it here but during our flight to Manila from Cagayan de Oro, during our boarding time an announcement was made, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the plane of the flight going to Manila is still in Manila.". Reason: the runway was being repaired and so the planes had to taxi to the runways in Terminal 1 alongside the international planes. Can the flight be more delayed than that?
Apparently, yes. Our delay took two hours. The delay of the flight of our colleague was 6 hours and yes, in the same carrier. They did not state the reason. Just a word of caution, if you are trying to catch a meeting or a conference on the same day, you have to take another carrier.
Not counting the delayed flights of Cebu Pacific, our stay in Cebu was fine. We stayed at a hotel near University of Cebu called GV Tower. The rooms in this hotel are... surprise... Pink! the hotel was alright if you switch off the lights so you do not see the pink background. There are nice paintings along the walls though. Or maybe my judgement has been tremendously altered since my visit to Europe. Really, I have seen horrible accommodations from rooms that have sheets that were not changed to shower rooms that are as big as a phone booth and these are purportedly three-star hotels! Boy, did I miss the Philippines!
The location was near the Sto. Nino Church. We were also able to have dinner at the famous AA. Their grilled food there is great although I was a bit disappointed taht they did not offer the roasted whole cow anymore. The iced tea was also great! I also got to eat a rice delicacy but did not really like it much. On our second night, we had dinner at Tequila Joe's. At that time i did not know that I was in the presence of a dancer hehe... Had I known I would have insisted to party. Anyway, at that time, I also got to share about a confusion that I had and it was at this time that all became very clear to me. I am very grateful for that night because it was a time I have thought so clearly. I thank those ears who willingly listened. The following morning, we were able to get some pasalubongs like danggit and dried mangoes and of course, my ever favorite squid rings!!!
I extended my 2 day stay at Cebu for another extra day so we can go to the beach. I was hoping to go to Bantayan Island but it was too far. Too far that Bohol is actually closer than Bantayan and to think Bantayan is still part of Cebu! We could not go to Bohol because it was already late in the day. We decided to scout for a beach near the airport instead. The beach was not that great unfortunately. The beach is called Hadsan. Not that great really. The beach is manmade, the cove too small and the seaweeds were everywhere but if you walk to the far out part of the sea then everything becomes more clear. There are a lot of fishes and corals. I think Hadsan is really known as a diving spot than a beach. I even got to witness some fishermen fishing using a sharp metal stick (I know, how technical, hey I'm no fisherman)!
After a few hours in the water, we had to wash up already so we are sure not to miss our flight. Fortunately, our flight home was not that delayed and all in all our stay was great!
My boyfriend picked me up from the airport and then we proceeded to Sto. Nino de Paz parish so we can hear mass. As we were hearing mass, a miracle happened. It did not seem much of a miracle at that time but now I think of it that way. It saved us. It's not quite how I planned to do it, but it was enough for me in retrospect. I am just glad that we talked about it and we were able to fix things. It did not happen instantly, but one step at a time. Thank you baby for being patient and for trying so hard to make this work.
In case you are wondering, we are now as happy as ever! :)