Our first 'crime' :O (Day 139 of the world trip)

21.01.2020

The night was great. The bed is quite hard, but it can be quite comfortable and the temperature and noise didn't interfere with sleeping :)

We got up around 8:00 am and went to the hallway where there's free toast and dishes. We had our own spread, so we could take advantage of that. We also had a pear and after some rough planning, we went on the Cebu Sightseeing Tour^^

The city didn't really appeal to us as a tourist destination when we arrived yesterday, so our expectations weren't overly high. We would visit a few points of interest, but mainly just explore the street life. That's what makes it so interesting ;-)

We started by going towards the roundabout where we had to cross a street to go in a certain direction. Now that may sound boring and unnecessary to mention - but: we actually committed a crime!!! :O

We crossed the road, which has two lanes in both directions (a joke compared to India or Vietnam, where we were very experienced in 'free crossing' :p) and when we reached the sidewalk on the other side, I heard a whistle. Huh?

I looked around and saw two men with vests, one of them waving his hand. His gesture confused me. It didn't look like a beckoning, but more like a 'it's okay' wave :D

But since he didn't stop, I slowed down, stopped Jonas, and then the two men approached us. They were wearing official uniforms with badges and told us that we were not allowed to cross the road!!! There was a bridge about fifty meters further, but there was no sign indicating that it was mandatory to use it :D :D

If we had crossed a red light, I would have understood the violation, but we were quite surprised :p We had to write our names on the ticket ourselves and pay a fine of 50 pesos per person (about €1) :O

From that point on, I became a bit paranoid whenever we crossed a street :D :D I always wanted to run to the next pedestrian crossing or traffic light and wait there, even though the locals, of course, cross the road wherever they want. But who knows where an officer might be? :O :p :D :D

Well. It was quite funny overall, but I was still annoyed. So, for all those who come here: you are NOT allowed to simply cross the road if there is a pedestrian crossing or traffic light within sight^^

The street scene was similar to yesterday. There was security in front of many shops. Once we even saw an officer with a pump gun :O There were also small food stalls and other stores that looked sometimes fancy, sometimes quite poor and simple. We also saw garbage and homeless people quite frequently, which made the journey quite an 'experience'. This is how things really look here, not just paradise.

Our first stop was a monument that is a metal structure telling a few key moments from the country's history. The arrival of the first Europeans, the battle for the island of Mactan, and the Christianization.

The sculpture, which is really big, was really impressive, but unfortunately, the signs around it were not informative enough to put the pieces together into a coherent story :p

But we made up for it later in the hostel with a YouTube video :D :D

So, until the 16th century, the Philippines mainly traded with the surrounding countries, and a tribe on the island of Luzon, where Manila is located, was the ruler. In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan arrived here. He was actually Portuguese but sailed for the Spaniards.

In the 15th century, the Spanish and Portuguese decided to divide the so-called 'New World' between them, and in short, Magellan set sail to find a route to the spices that did NOT go around Africa and past India.

So, he sailed towards South America and found the Magellan Strait down there. Well. In any case, he eventually landed in the Philippines, specifically on the island of Cebu, where Jonas and I are right now.

Magellan raised the Spanish flag and made friends with the current tribal leader here. He and his wife were very interested in the newcomers, and Magellan converted them to Christianity. They were the first Christians here in the Philippines, and within a short time, 800 other tribal members were baptized in the Christian faith.

The king/tribal leader then ordered all his subjects to become Christians, but on the island of Mactan, where the airport is located today, where we arrived yesterday, the local tribal leader Lapu-Lapu disagreed with giving up his culture and beliefs.

Of the originally 270 men, only a few managed to reach the Philippines. When his new friend, King Magellan, asked him to convert Lapu-Lapu himself, Magellan took only one boat and a total of 49 people to Mactan. Lapu-Lapu's tribe consisted of 1,500 people, but Magellan probably had a certain arrogance due to his cannons and other weapons, so he declined the king's offer to also bring warriors from him. Hmm...

You can probably guess what happened. It didn't end well for Magellan :p The island of Mactan was surrounded by many rocks and corals, so the ship couldn't get close enough to use the cannons^^ They even ran out of ammunition before they even reached the land.

Lapu-Lapu was quite clever and dominated the battle from the beginning. He told his warriors to only attack Magellan because if the leader fell, the rest of the enemies would disappear too. And, what can I say? Magellan died.

It's actually quite interesting that this great explorer, whose name many know, died in such an ironic way :p As we learned in the YouTube video, galaxies and various other scientific things are even named after Magellan because he was an excellent and revolutionary navigator. It's almost ironic that he got into a fight precisely because of his great knowledge. Colonization wasn't always welcomed by the natives ;-)

If we had seen the video beforehand, the sculpture would have made more sense, but at that moment it was still nice to look at :p

Our next stop was the Cathedral of Cebu. There's another monument across from it depicting the former king who welcomed Magellan as a friend :) It's certainly no coincidence that this king got a monument across from the cathedral ;-)

The cathedral was just a cathedral - it looked really chic from the outside and had a very Mediterranean feel to it (the entrance sign said 'Entrada', although all the other signs are in English here^^) and inside it had ornate golden decorations, holy images, and the altar. It's great to look at, but with pompous temples like this, you sometimes wonder if so much splendor is really necessary when there's a homeless person sleeping on a cardboard box outside.

But anyway, I don't want to get too moralistic. Jonas and I also just passed by the homeless people instead of 'helping' them. Sometimes a money donation can make a misfortune even worse... But you never pass by completely blind!

Next to the cathedral, there's a (former?) monastery. On the way there, we saw a lot of decorations. Yesterday we already saw a few posters for the Sinulog Festival, and now we were 'fully immersed' :D

It always takes place on the third Sunday in January and is a festival in honor of the Santo Nino, the holy child. The story behind it also goes back to Magellan.

When he arrived here, one of the king's advisors was sick. He was lying in a tent and was close to death. The tribe had placed their own cult figures next to the patient, but they offered no improvement. Then Magellan came and placed a figure of the child Jesus in the tent, which he had brought from Spain.

That same night, the advisor was visited by the child in a dream and encouraged to get well again. The advisor jumped up and started to dance in full bloom. This movement he performed became known as the traditional Sinulog dance, which is celebrated during the festival, including competitions where even the President of the Philippines attends!

Since Magellan didn't survive his 'visit' here for long and since only three ships had made it here in the first place, the last Spaniards withdrew to Spain after Magellan's death. One of the ships took the route back through the Magellan Strait in South America but never made it home.

However, the other ship did make it back to Europe, and forty years later, the Spaniards returned to the Philippines. One of the soldiers found a figurine of the child Jesus in a burning house and decided that a church should be built exactly at that spot. And so it happened, and it is still there today (after several reconstructions)!!

I don't know why, but I find this whole story really fascinating. Cebu was already worth it just for that ;-)

The festivities for the festival last over a week. It doesn't end until January 24th, so everything was still crowded today, and believers were praying and lighting candles. There's a mass every half hour in the morning, and then almost hourly throughout the day, sometimes in Cebuano, sometimes in English.

Jonas and I briefly considered attending one of the masses there, but it was really hot outside, and I felt somehow uncomfortable participating without understanding the whole thing :p Because we only found out about this whole story later through internet research :D

After the monastery, which, by the way, has its own church and was also super chic and crowded, we went to the fourth and final point of interest in the city - the former fort.

Now, the fort in George Town didn't impress us that much, but that doesn't mean it can't be better in other cities :p

The way there led past part of the port, where you could see some really quaint restaurants that you can imagine in a stereotypical harbor setting :D

In front of the fort's entrance, some students suddenly rushed towards us again^^ Just like yesterday, they wanted to interview us about our impression of the Philippines, and of course, we agreed to the interview ;-)

Since there were so many of them, Jonas and I were interviewed separately. My girls, for example, asked me how I liked the festival and how I find the weather here, and they explained that they conduct these interviews to make friends. As a symbolic gesture, they even gave me a keychain that says 'Friends' and 'I love Cebu' <333 How cute is that?? :D :D

I asked them if they might be studying English or tourism, but no. 'My' girls are all studying accounting! They are conducting the interviews as part of their university project, but they also do it for cultural exchange, which I found even cooler! It's not just a project work but also somehow a voluntary thing that stems from personal interest. Wow :)

After our interviews, Jonas and I were in a really good mood again. I don't know if it was because of that, but this time we really liked the fort^^

It's triangular and doesn't offer much besides the foundations, but there are exhibitions in two rooms. One room displays paintings depicting the history of the Philippines, and another room contains old photographs from the 19th and 20th centuries :)

After the Spaniards finally left the Philippines, the islands were ruled by the Americans. Then briefly by the Japanese during World War II, and then again by the Americans, and then there was a dictatorship, and yeah. So, the country's history is quite extensive, I believe!!

On top of the fort, you could see a backyard, which unfortunately also housed piles of garbage. There were also flat cardboard boxes there, one of which was being used as a bed :(

On a bench in the shade, we had the remainder of our food from yesterday for lunch, and then we continued.

Tomorrow we will take the bus to the city of Moalboal, and we wanted to pass by the bus terminal to make sure we find it well tomorrow ;-) It can be quite annoying to search for it in the heat with both backpacks :p :D

The way there took us through the southern part of Cebu City, and it looked quite different here!

It reminded me a bit of New York, with the big intersections, countless pedestrians, and all the taxis and jeepneys here^^ There were also the obligatory sirens, but it didn't seem 'dangerous', but actually quite inviting.

The small shops offered colorful goods - clothes, toys, and fruit stands, making the street scene quite interesting!! Everything was also covered, so it was really pleasant to walk :)

When we bought bananas at one of the fruit stands, the clothing store behind us was receiving a delivery from an armored money transport. These look like small tanks or water cannons, and you see them quite often in the city. The transport of money is apparently well secured here!

Shortly before the bus terminal, there was a very big and chic-looking mall. In general, South Cebu City looks a bit wealthier, but maybe that was just my imagination :p

The mall was nothing special from the inside. There was a supermarket and many restaurants in the basement again. One chain seems to be very popular here: Jollibee. You can find it about every 100 meters, and apparently, you can get very good fast food there. It's always quite crowded at food stalls and restaurants, but it's the craziest at Jollibee :D

After the mall, we walked a few more meters to the bus terminal, where a bus was just leaving the gated parking lot. Two security guards were with it, and at first, I thought they were helping the bus turn.

But then we saw that after the barrier, additional passengers crowded into the bus (the doors are open during the journey) :D :D I wonder if they have a ticket? Or are they quietly riding the bus without being noticed by the driver? Are the officers here to stop such people? So many questions, but we didn't get an answer :p

Behind the promising sign 'Drug Test', you will finally find the entrance to the bus terminal. The security woman there pointed out that tickets can only be purchased on the day of departure itself, but at least now we know where to go tomorrow! :)

The way back to the hostel led past a few small universities, and the street scene was very clean and nice compared to the way there. There are apparently certain neighborhoods that are poorer than others.

Well. Back at the hostel, as mentioned above, we watched the documentaries. We will now go out for dinner (probably Persian again :p) and hopefully pick up our laundry, which is supposed to be ready at 7:00 pm! :D :D

We are both very excited about tomorrow's bus journey, and well, I'm glad we took this one day in Cebu to learn a bit more about the city itself. The students and their interviews will probably be the most memorable. The people are just very friendly, especially to tourists! :)