If you haven’t read Day 1 yet, click here!

So, for Day 2, I decided to take my friends for a road trip down south to try Carcar lechon and visit Simala. I also wanted to bring them to my hometown of Dalaguete, but we didn’t have enough time due to “heavy traffic” in San Fernando so it was already very dark when we finished in Simala. Anyway, let’s go back to the start of the day!

First we picked up Anne and KK at Tambuli, then we started heading south through CCLEX. This was their first time to pass by the new longest bridge in the Philippines, and with the stunning view of Cebu City at the end of the bridge, I was a proud Cebuano at that moment! I mean, you can’t find that kind of view anywhere else in the country (for now).

Because we didn’t have breakfast or coffee, we stopped by Coffee Project at the end of SRP in Talisay. It’s not a Cebuano place but I honestly cannot think of any other coffee shop after this area.

We started the drive again…and got stuck in heavy San Fernando traffic! I felt so bad for everyone because we were cramped in the car! The bright side is that we were able to talk about different topics from comparisons between the Philippines and Nigeria (politics, wedding customs, etc) and things we would normally not talk about anywhere else. I really believe in the saying that we only have one chance, and it was that chance that brought us together there in that traffic jam, horrific as it may sound, to strengthen our bond as friends. #char

Anyway, we finally made it to Carcar and devoured that Lechon!

After eating (and buying some souvenirs), we hopped back on the car to Simala. When we got there, it was almost dark so we had to hurry!

The good part about arriving close to closing hours is that there isn’t a crowd anymore! You can freely go around and take photos. There was literally no line for the “Halok” which can usually take up to over an hour. The Halok is basically an act of “kissing” the miraculous statue of Mary, enshrined behind the church’s altar. The bad part is that the stores were already closed, so we couldn’t buy candles to light up with our intentions. I’m not a practicing Catholic, but this would have also been a good experience for our guests.

As it was getting dark, the “castle” lit up, as if a castle in the sky. It was my first time to see Simala in the dark as well so I enjoyed taking more photos.

Because it was already dark, I decided not to push through with bringing them to Dalaguete because that was still an hour away. I noticed they were also already tired, especially because of the traffic that we went through. Good thing the traffic was better on the way back to the city!

Before we went to our hotels in Mactan, we stopped by Il Corso in SRP for dinner. I took them to Fishes where we were all surprised by how good the food was, and how affordable it was, too!

We were starving so we weren’t able to take photos of the food. I think we ordered too much because we were on the verge of exploding, so we took the leftovers home.

A core memory is the walk back to the car, with the breeze from the sea – it just felt so relaxing, talking and then suddenly laughing out loud! There were people “camping” along the sea side, and that’s something I want to do next time I visit!

We dropped Anne and KK home, dropped the leftovers at my house, then went back to our hotel. We were tired but we didn’t sleep yet because this was the last night we can have some drinks and play mahjong!

It was still a productive second day overall. What I would do differently next time is convince my friends to leave early (like 5AM) to avoid the traffic! If there will be a next time!