Island Adveunture to Cebu

June 19, 2012

This is part one of our trip to visit some of the other Philippine islands. We went to the islands Cebu and Bohol. They are a part of the Visayas Islands located in the Central part of the Philippines. The mission president over the Cebu mission just happens to be a close friends of Lyndon's family so we were able to stay with them. They were great hosts taking us around to the local sites.

Since Cebu has the oldest history of any of the Phillipine Islands we mostly visited the historical sites. Cebu is the island that the where explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by the Filipino warrior Lapu-Lapu. We visited Magellan's marker and Lapu-Laupu's Monument on Mactan Island right next to Cebu. I thought it was worth visiting.

Beautiful plants in the area.

We headed back into the city and saw the Cross of Magellan, the Basilica del Santo Nino, Cebu Cathedral, and Fort San Pedro.

The Cebu Cathedral was much bigger and more beautiful, in my opinion, than the Basilca. I like it better because its architecture is in the Baroque style which is much more to my tastes. The building is not in good shape but not much here is kept up nicely. The interior was very nice and resembeled all other cathedrals I have seen although it was not as grand.

The Basilica del Santo Nino holds the most religious icon in the Philippines, a statue of the Santo Nino. Supposedly Magellan gave it to the Queen of the Philippines back in 1521. It is a beautiful building. We took a look inside because a service was being conducted at the time. We wanted to move on because people were trying to get us to buy anything. A little kid followed us down the street trying to sell us key chains.

The Cross was put up by Magellan back in 1521. It is now encased because people come and chip away at the cross for spritual purposes. The ceiling is beautifully painted with scenes of Magellan's landing in the Philippines.

Our last visit in that area was Fort San Pedro. It was built by miguel Lopez del Legazpi in 1565. The fort was not in the best shape. Outside, the date of the fort's founding in carved into the stone, which is pretty neat. There was a lot of random assorted things inside. A banzi tree garden, for one, I did not expect to see. Inside the fort is just an open area with random gardens here and there. You can go up and walk around the perimiter of the fort. The views were not spectacular or anything but it is cool to walk and be where history has taken place. This is probably one of the oldest sites that we have visited. It was neat just to be there.

Sister Schmutz offered to watch Cosette so Lyndon and I were able to take a excursion baby-free. We went to see the Taoist Temple just a little ways from where we were staying. We started to walk but there were no side walks and traffic was kind of crazy. Cars and bikes do not stop for pedestrians here. The Toaist temple is supposed to be a place of peace and quiet. There are signs posted by the prayer rooms asking for silence. The place is decora ted in very very bright colors. The decor clashes with the "spirit" of the place.

We had to take our photo with the Great Stone Dragon.

The next day we went to visit the tops. They are look out areas up in the mountains above the city. one spot we went to required some hiking.

This picture of Cosette is too cute not to post!

And this one too :-)

Hiking in the jungle.

We found out Santa does not live in the North Pole but in the Philippines. And he enjoys a good game of basketball.

Lyndon and I were able to go out on our own again later that day. We went to a couple of the museum Cebu has. We went to the Cebu Museum which should not be called a museum at all. It was a room with a few paintings, but what do you expect in a third world country. We then visited the Zugbo Museum which was better. The museum is housed in an old prison. It was a museum about the history of the Philippines. There were some artifacts that were from 3,000 to 1,000 B.C. I enjoyed the exhibit on the Japanese occupation of hte Philippines during WWII. There was some Philippino "gurrilla money" from that time.