Cebu: Queen City of the South

I have always found Cebu to be the ideal place to live. It has enough business and industrial activity to make jobs available for the hardworking professional. Yet, it has remained chiefly provincial in its customs and way of life. It is perfect for someone who wants the conveniences of the city, but cannot live with the hustle and bustle that is Manila.

I lived in Cebu for a little over a year. I moved in May 2005, and I have always liked Cebu since.

Cebuanos are warm people who speak a sweet, pleasant tongue. I lived in a residential compound and everyone was like family.

Cebu is a cheap city to live in--when I lived there, you could buy fresh cucumbers for $0.40 for 1 kilo. The food is generally cheap, your utilities won't take much, and rent ranges from $53 per month for a room, to $210 for a practical apartment.

One of the fun things to witness is the annual Sinulog Festival, which is always held on the 3rd Sunday of January. This festival has been celebrated for almost three decades now. The festival is all about the Sinulog dance, with the two-steps-front-one-step-back steps taken from deeply-rooted traditions of debated origin. Some say the Sinulog dance has been danced by natives prior to the Spanish occupation, but there are those who say that the steps were danced by a sick man after miraculously being healed by a dream in which he saw a child pointing to the image of the Santo Niño. To this day, the steps are danced by candle vendors while chanting traditional prayers before they hand the candles to their customers.

If you want to enjoy Sinulog, it would be a good idea to book a room as way ahead as 3 months before the festival. I'd recommend booking at a place which is around the Fuente Osmeña area, so you can watch the parade without having to walk very far and you can as easily go back to bunk in. There are nearby party places, in Escario St. and Mango Ave. which are also accessible if you have a room in the Fuente Osmeña area. AND be prepared to walk--a lot. Many streets will be closed then, and so getting to places would be near impossible with vehicles that it's probably faster to get there by foot. A bike would be a good idea, too, but if you have no means of transporting your bike or renting one, I'd simply recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes. I'd strongly advise against flip-flops and sandals because they won't be much good for walking [i got blisters walking in my favorite Havies], plus the fact that the weather can be unpredictable and leans towards having rains, hence there's a good chance you'll get your toes wet and dirty. No biggie really, but just a heads up if you're the type who'll mind.