There is a place in Cebu I dream of going back to. (Went there last 2006, a quick side trip. Embee was attending something in the city.) It is the porch of Hannah's restaurant in Basdiot, moalboal. Sunset best time.

Seen is Negros island:

Birds flock to this boat, they were very noisy:


The porch of Hannah's restaurant:



on this porch Embee and I talked and talked and talked. I didnt like the afternoon / night to finish.

Argao, Cebu
There is a fishing village in Argao in southern part of Poblacion. They call it Lawis.
Been here for so many times during my childhood. Everytime I come back, I feel a punch in my chest...nostalgia they call it. There is also that realization that the Earth is the same, it is I who ages and passes. The terrain looks the same since thirty years ago and counting. It always tugs at my heart and sleeve when I stand up and go. I look back and wonder if ever I can come again.

Karaoke near pier. Argao, Cebu.

My aunt was anxious how to entertain us so we sneaked out when she rested. I wanted to show Embee the place where I spent my childhood summers. Later, we went to this karaoke and sang. Good we were the only guests. In the picture though the one singing was the one who served us food (and microphone later).










You can see in the last picture the sea. I remember our grandfather, he was chief of police of the town. He always invited us to swim here (though I never learned how to). He invited us early morning and after some 5 minutes of swim, he wanted to go home because he had to work.

It was also near this place that I saw one patient that was imprinted in my mind. She was my first encounter with breast cancer. I don't know if it had something to do with my future training in radiation oncology, which after a while I froze, but probably...just probably. I can still remember the face and the tumor of the patient. She was a sister of my mother's friend. Their house was just behind this now karaoke place. There was no karaoke before. People waited for the weekend dance at the plaza.

Argao, Cebu




Spent many summers here, some 3 decades ago. Time flies. Time is diamond.

ARGAO, CEBU
TOWN HALL AND JUSTICE HALL



Balay lungsod (town hall). My grandfather used to work here. My cousins, my sisters and I used to play in the spacious hall way inside the first floor or run up and down a big wooden stairway to the second floor. Behind this building was a tennis court which doubled for a dancing floor during the weekends.

On the first floor was the post office where I mailed my letters to my parents and pen pals. I had some pen pals when I was young and summer was good time to write to them.




Below is a beautiful structure (Hall of Justice)but this was once a "ruins". Years ago, there was a day care center and playground behind it. I was enrolled for some months there when I was small. I remember we had ballet. Even when we were older, we used to go there during summer for the see-saw and the swing. I wanted to show them to my husband but the school and playground are now gone. It does not feel good to not see the old markers of the town, and of my childhood.

Shanties below and between bridges. Mactan-Cebu City interphase.

Stakili.



Before the storm:


Storm:


Sleeping is a good way to wait for the storm to pass than worrying:

After the storm:

I nearly fell from the plank connecting the boat to the pier. Someone with quick reflexes held me.
It was rough ride to Consuelo, Camotes. . I tried to read to unfocus my mind from the waves.










































After a bumpy Habal=habal ride.
Santiago Bay was crowdless. The only other guests, a family friend of the owner.















The sea, how powerful.
















green lake park:

mangodlong: