Our mission today was to tour Cebu city on our own - an adventure given that we had no idea what to expect and dreaded more horrible taxi drivers ahead. Honestly we'd love to go on the jeepneys again but we waited 15mins for our metered car and bargained with the driver settling on 250 pesos for the 40mins ride to Ayala Mall at the city centre. Apparently it was THE hangout for all of Cebu, a looming shopping icon on the tourist map. At first I thought its scale on the map was misguided but the mall really turned out to be a big-arse labryinth of shops and more shops! But we wanted more than a comforting mall. We wanted to mix culture with excitement, local eats and picks under the freakin Cebuon sun!
And we got egged on more when the kind tourist info lady told us 'Maams, Carbon Market not safe.' To prove her wrong, we flagged the first cab (which went by the meter, hurray!) and zipped to the frenzied mercato, not before pulling over at the Cebu Moument aka the Parian. We had to repeat the 'Cebu Monument' so many times to the non-English speaking driver but he couldn't understand even when we jabbed at it on the map. In the end, I told him to go to the Paa-riaaan in my best Filippino accent and it worked becos' he went 'Ahh, the Parian'. 
When we got there, N and I stared at the monstrosity for 2secs and gestured for him to move on. I was already dying from the heat when we got off at Carbon Market and immediately we were waylaid by 2 trishaws and scruffy-looking boys. The surrounding streets were chaotic and we tried to stay alert while deperately blending in. What gave us away was probably me snapping away at the dried seafood stalls and the other fresh produce. 
The ladies were busy shredding the vegetables, cooking and packing the tiniest individual garlic cloves into clear plastic pockets (most bizzare). N bought straw bags and these greenish olive-looking fruits seneguelas which were bitter while I contemplated how to lag back all the pile of ripe glorious mangoes. We didn't stay long but managed to tour most of it before we jumped into a cab. This time, we WANT the f@cking mall, the air-con comfort and safety net of cleanliness and order! 
But we decided to check out the fort and basilica since we figured we won't be coming back to Cebu city for the rest of the trip or ever. The fort was deserted, save for the trio of blind performers and the vendors there. We could imagine it must be quite a towering feat in the old days - standing guard over the coastline - but now it is just a shell for bored shopkeepers and locals.
Next we strolled past a public singing arena in a park where the contestants were belting out evergreens under the bloody hot sun while we gained little moisture from the green mango. Luckily the basilica was not far so we survived the blinding heat and fought the crowd of street vendors at its gate. There were all these aunties wearing similar flowy outfits (not sure what is their role) as the faithful made their way into the serene cathedral. 
It was a cool relief from the sun and reminded me of all the countless beautiful churches in Italia, especially my favourite Baroque-style one in Torino. As I was preparing to shoot one of the old oil scenic paintings, a cute little boy came into the picture and smiled a toothsome grin, posing for me under the big frame. The kids here are gorgeous; all doeful eyed and lively. After half an hour, we grabbed a cab back to Ayala Mall where lunch await. 
Cebu is known for its lechon, which is a national dish of whole roast pig on spit. The version here is apparently different from the other provinces so we had all these hungry expectations. When we got to the food court, we found a stall devoted to lechon with its glass window splattered with the fatty juices as the server nonchalantly chopped up the meat. Nice. Peeping at the pig's head, we braced ourselves for porky delight, which was rather porky. Actually just porky. N took a deepfried curly intestine and spat it out. 
So much for lunch. At the supermarket, we packed our trolley with dried mangoes (best!), banana chips (da bomb!), otap biscuits (Shamrock brand), cute baby-sized toiletries, chewing gum and una bottiglia di Lambrusco per me, before calling it a day and caught a cab back across the bridge to Mactan isle at sunset.
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