Mactan, the island of new beginnings

June 2, 2010 -- Finally fulfilling the yuppie's dream (to spend excessive cash on travel), I with my good friend, Riziel Cabreros, went on to start the grueling realization of the Cebu-Bohol ultimate adventure!

Here's a sneak on itinerary making, yeah I do it in tables and military time schedule. Thank you :p

After an hour and a half of air travel, we've landed body and soul on the land of the 1521 History of the Philippines (or the "1521" LSS-able Yoyoy Revillame song was based on).

From Mactan-Cebu International Airport, I advise you NOT to ride the airport yellow cabs who'd slash your pocket money in half through their 70 pesos (US $1.50) flag down rate and 4 pesos (US 10 cents) charge for every succeeding kilometer.

On the other hand, some of the white regular cabs can be located at the departure area. They range from rip-off cabbies asking for 150 pesos (US 3$) for travel to Mactan Shrine (which I think is not all that far) to good ol' metered drivers who'd even advice you on how to travel cheaply and wisely.

From the arrival exit bay, walk across the next building (departure area), turn right and walk up the stairs and you'll find some white cabs waiting.

First destination: Mactan Shrine (Total cab expenditure 100 pesos (US 2$).

Sad thing was our part deceptive part honest cabbie wanted to charge us 150 pesos (US $3) for his ride. Considering he did not know where the shrine actually was located I call dibs on branding him jack-the-cab-ripper.

Talk about honesty and 150 pesos! Still, since we arrived and only paid him 100 pesos (US $2) I've forgiven him ever since (or ever since I've typed it down).

It did little harm when we were dragging our luggages (check it out, LUGGAGES!!!) while gallivanting through the vicinity. All the more, we were treated for what we are and for what we flaunted too much to be, tourists. LOL.

So after around 15 minutes of photo-ops, walking and well, more photo-ops, we decided to use the Cebuano travel which is practically veering away from cabs and using the padyaks, the tricycles, the vans, buses and jeepneys.

For first timers, when they start talking in Bisaya, it is okay to say "Tagalog only" or "Sorry, tagalog lang po", although they can't fully entertain the Tagalog thought, rest-assured they'll meet you halfway.

Also, note that "eskina" is not a landmark, a street name or a specific name for a place at all. It is in fact, the "eskinita" or the alley you walk through. Lost in translation number one: I remember clearly when I called up my Dad that night, I proudly said "yeah, then we asked the padyak (tri-bike) driver to take us to the eskina" in a tone that says "Yeah, and I thought eskina was far from Mactan much like Pasay to QC but heck it was just like three "unwalkable by tourists" blocks away). Thumbs up!

So from Mactan Shrine you could ride a padyak that'll bring you to an eskina where you could catch a connecting jeep to Alegre which costs 20 pesos (US 40cents). The usual price of jeepneys (jitneys for the English connoisseur) costs 7 pesos (US 11 cents) for the normal route and kilometer. Luckily, no one was riding the jitney with us, so we literally had a service vehicle helping us around. And then another eskina comes up where the jitney driver drops you off to ride a tricycle costing around 30 pesos (US 60 cents).

Funny thing about our tricycle driver, he's so happy to drive around pretty (ahem) turistas that he's here. S

ay "Peace!" manong!(and he did!)

And so we've moved on, manong brought us to where cabs are usually located. (Ironically, since he knew we kinda wanted to spend as little into transportation as possible, he suggested we use the safest {expensive-st}traveler's transportation which is the taxi)

Fortunately, a van with the SM Cebu sign came first so we only spent 25 pesos (US 50 cents) going to Cebu City. You could also wait for vans with Ayala sign.

Taking into consideration the bottle neck area after the bridge connecting Mactan to Cebu City, all our expenses were of optimal value and well-spent.

In SM Cebu we decided to take the cab since we had no idea where our hotel was actually located.

Here's a rundown of our photos in Mactan. Happy viewing! :)

Here's me and my good friend Riziel (Hi ziel!)posing with a part of the Mactan Shrine actually located at Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu which was actually taken by the good use of a tripod and 10second self-timer button

Here's Lapu-lapu, who became the first Filipino to rebel against European invasion

Here's the monument dedicated to Magellan which is believed to be the spot where he died in the "Battle of Mactan"

Here's another view with a Spanish inscription, "The Glory of Spain"

And to (the) other Spaniards who I've not heard of before (due to pending Mactan history check).

This commemorates the story of the Battle of Mactan (read the inscription here)

Next stop. Alegre Guitars. So why Alegre of all the guitar makers in Cebu? Well, let's say, I did rely largely on online resources, blogs and forums ergo, Alegre came up and so here it is.

Let us start, (as a quick shift from the apparent boredom) with the banjo shaped into a phallic manful procreative gift (to say the least)

and the undersigned :)) with a cello bigger than my life.

and an array of many, too many display of strings (FYI, cheapest guitar they offer costs 1,100 pesos (US $22)

And of course, the cuter more affordable guitars that range from the key chains costing you 10 pesos (US 5cents) to 200 pesos (US $4) for the big ash trays or 1/32 Camagong guitar models.

and the funny little coconut monkey bra every girl who wants to join a Hawaian Luau(feast) should have.

Hi Ziel! Don't forget to haggle for your life.

And so she did look after paying some 100 pesos (US $2)

Again, the undersigned.

And the Alegre Guitars insignia.

Total Mactan Travel cost:

From Airport to Mactan Shrine: 100 pesos (US $2)

Mactan Shrine Padyak to Eskina: 20 pesos (US $0.4)

Padyak to Jitney (Alegre Guitars): 7 pesos (US $ O.21)

Tricycle to Alegre Guitars: 30 pesos (US $0.6)

Alegre Guitars to taxi bay: 20 pesos (US $0.4)

SM Cebu Van to SM Cebu: 25 pesos (US $0.5)

SM Cebu to Hotel: 75 pesos (US $1.5)

Total expenditure: 277 pesos ( US $7.11)

*note that some expenditure especially tricycle/padyak/taxis are divided by two passengers.

-pau