Cagayan de Oro Highlights (Oct. 12, 2009)

For those who want to check my first three days in CDO, please click the links below:

Cagayan de Oro Day 1

Cagayan de Oro Day 2

Cagayan de Oro Day 3

~~~oOo~~~

We now come to my last day in Cagayan de Oro. Though I’ll surely be missing Mer and my friends, I was also very excited to come home and see Peter. It’s been a week since I’ve been away from Peter and I couldn’t take it much longer. To think that I’ve been contemplating before to live in Boracay by myself for a month. Now I know that I really wouldn’t be able to handle it. Teehee.

Anyway, my flight that day was scheduled at around 5:00 pm. So my morning, noon and early afternoon were spent not just bonding with Mer but with our other friends (former high school classmates) as well — Michelle and Michillene. My cousin-in-law Kai, Mer’s Dad and Mer’s girlfriend Gracielle followed too.It was an afternoon of pigging out for us at Roadhouse Cafe then Coffee Dream fro their thirst-quenching frap concoctions at SM Cagayan de Oro. I swear, it seemed like it was just yesterday since we all last saw each other. We still looked like the way we did back in high school! No kidding! It’s like not a year has passed by since we graduated. Hehehe. I had so much fun and I hoped we can do this again when I come back to CDO for some zip line and white water rafting adventure in the near future. Peter must come with me next time! Can’t wait!

Then it was time to say goodbye…

Peter picked me up at the airport. Before heading home for some much needed “bonding”, we had light dinner at Max’s restaurant nearby. How I missed my Baboo!!! Thank God we’re together again. ^_^

Cagayan de Oro Highlights (Oct. 11, 2009)

For those who want to check my first two days in CDO, please click the link below:

Cagayan de Oro Day 1

Cagayan de Oro Day 2

~~~oOo~~~

Had Mer not been preggy and had Peter been with me, I would have had a different plan for my third day. Altho, I could’ve done my plan by myself  if only I was that brave. You see, for many years now, I’ve contemplated doing white water rafting  in Cagayan de Oro. Before, my grandparents wouldn’t let me. But now that I’m old and they know I can take care of myself, they were even the ones pushing me to go! Tsk, tsk, tsk.  And just recently,  my sister Abba recommended that I do the longest zip line in Asia which is located in Bukidnon, just a one hour drive from Cagayan de Oro. Argh. Since circumstances were rather not favorable for me to do these things at that time, Mer and I sort of planned to do them  maybe in a year or two, when her baby, Heaven, is a bit old. ^_^ Like they say, there’s always next time. At least I’d have another reason to come visit. 

So, on my third day,  together with Mer’s relatives, we visited the Divine Mercy Hills located in Ulaliman, El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental. It was less than an hour’s drive from Cagayan de Oro City.

Going there, we passed by the beach I used to frequent with my grandparents and cousins when I was much younger. The beach still looked clean and awesome from afar. Too bad, we didn’t have the time to do some beach bumming. Maybe, next time. By the way, notice the blue cloth Mer and I were wearing (see photos below). That’s coz they don’t allow people wearing backless tops and skirts must be 2 inches below the knees. My goodness!!!

Anyway, Divine Mercy was constructed as a project of the Divine Mercy Foundation in Mindanao, Philippines. It has the following amenities: 50-foot statue of the Divine Mercy, Divine Mercy Church, area of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration, the residence of the Chaplain, The Way of the Cross,  Mary’s Garden, Field Altar, Seminar & Retreat Facilities, Monastery, Administration Building, Parking Areas, Coffee Shops, Gift Shops, and restrooms. The total land area for the whole thing is 95, 352 sq. meters. It’s really, really big!

For inquiries, you may contact them at 0822-350-1393. We stayed there all morning and just before lunch, we headed back to Cagayan de Oro City where I asked Mer’s Tito to drop us at my grandparents’ place for lunch.

It was nice seeing my grandparents again.They both look happy and enjoying themselves. If before they had, like, 12 kids staying with them, now, they have like 9 dogs to keep them company (aside from their maids and drivers)!

Even at a retiring age of 80+ for my grandpa and 60+ for my step grandma, they’re still busy with their respective careers. After retiring as DepEd Superintendents and GSIS Board of Trustee and Consultant, they are now into teaching  and advising Ph.D. students in one of Cagayan de Oro’s universities.  How awesome is that?! I wanna be doing something fun and meaningful too when I’m at that age. I think that’s what’s keeping them healthy and happy. I wanna be like that too. ^_^

My grandparents prepared a grand feast for us. It’s like high school days again when we had tons of food every single day. No wonder I grew really fat during my first year in high school here. Teehee. Who wouldn’t? I was used to eating nothing back in grade school and then voila — when I started living here, there was just so much food! Hahaha! Talk about being patay gutom! Hahaha! Kidding!

Anyway, we spent a few hours just chatting with my grand folks.Then Mer and I napped in my old room. Memories….

Late that afternoon, I had my grandparents’ driver drop us at Dynasty Hotel first so we can buy some special pansit for Mer’s folks. Then we headed to Mer’s cousin’s house where we sang the night away… 

 At this point, I was already missing Peter A LOT.  I was really, really, REALLY horny for him that I couldn’t wait to go home.

I started seeing green that even Mer’s 21 year old cousin looked yummy to me. Good thing, his kid was so cute playing rockstar that it distracted me from my evil thoughts. Harhar!!! It was already dawn when we came back to Tita Wink’s place to sleep. It was another good day for us. ^_^

To be continued…

Cagayan de Oro Highlights (Oct. 10, 2009)

For those who want to check my first day in CDO, please click the link below:

Cagayan de Oro Day 1

~~~oOo~~~

On my 2nd day at Cagayan de Oro, Mer and I decided to go explore the city… well, sort of. Hehehe. Well, first on our agenda was to go to Divisoria and look for an internet shop coz we both had to check something for our VA jobs (such workaholics). Thank God for Netopia which was just around the corner at R & M Building, Abejuela Street, Cagayan de Oro City. Yipeee! 

We then headed to Xavier (Ateneo de Cagayan) and checked out their many nooks, crannies and museum. High school memories came rushing back. This was where I first met my M.F.E.O. soulmate (meant for each other) or so I thought; where I participated in tons of interschool competitions, quiz bees and activities;  in the church where I opened my scholarship acceptance letter from Ateneo de Manila;   where I stalked  many of my crushes, etc…etc… Teehee.

(more…)

Spooky and Festive

I am experimenting with a new schedule for myself. It goes like this:

12 mn - 9 am  > work stuff

9 am - 12 nn   > blog and biz stuff 

12 nn - 5 pm   > sleep

5 pm - 12 mn  > fun stuff

And by fun stuff, I mean, whatever it is that I feel like doing.  It may be reading the many books which I  have  yet to finish/start reading; it could be playing with my toys (wii, drums, guitar, keyboards, PSP, videoke); it could be watching movies either on DVD or at a nearby cinema; doing some witchcraft; it could still be blogging like what I am doing now at this hour (It’s 8:45 pm on a Wednesday evening); etc. I thought of changing my schedule so I’d feel more productive without getting burnt out. 

Today, for fun stuff, I started it by playing with my drums while listening to Chicago hits on my ipod. Since I’m the queen of multitasking, I also cooked rice and reheated my tuna and hotdog tomato sauce for dinner to save time. After about an hour, I decided to play some spooky music (Harry Potter Soundtrack is my favorite) which then inspired me to decorate the house some more. I want it spooky and festive.  To make it spooky, I used my flimsy scarves and shawls for effect as well as my plastic jack o lanterns. To make it festive, I hung the star lamps I got from IKEA in Singapore last weekend (yeah, I haven’t blogged about that trip yet…coming soon…next week…promise…check my side bar for the upcoming posts)  So for about 1 1/2 hours, that’s what I did. After this blog post, I’m gonna head downstairs to watch a horror flick while having dinner. I love Halloween!

Here are the photos. What do you think?

P.S. I’m all alone at home. Mwehehehe.

Cagayan de Oro Highlights (Oct. 9, 2009)

This travelogue is actually a continuation of my trip to Cebu last Oct.6-8, 2009. I had a very early flight (something like 5am) and so coming from my Sky Adventure, I didn’t sleep anymore. I just took a bath, dressed up and packed. Abba and Chris brought me to the airport. They were scheduled to visit us in Manila some time third week of October and so I won’t really be missing them a lot (they’re now here as I write this post).

My flight to  Cagayan de Oro was uneventful (thank God!). I was a bit apprehensive when I boarded the plane because I saw the darkness looming in the horizon. Must be the typhoon that was expected to hit the northern part of the Philippines that weekend (Pepeng). But since I was going the opposite direction, the sky was sunny and clear.

My main agenda for visiting Cagayan de Oro was to spend time with my best friend Mer who is currently 8 months pregnant. It’s been so long since I last saw her and I just wanted to be there for her even if it’s just for a few days. Also, I wanted to visit my grandparents to see how they are and what have they been up to lately. The last time I visited them was back in 2005 when Peter and I did our 3-week Visayas-Mindanao Tour. Wow!

During my stay, Mer and I  resided at her Aunt’s house (thanks a million, Tita Wink!). We were out  most of the time hanging out and catching up. On my first day, considering how tired I was from lack of sleep the day before, I decided to rest. In the evening, we went to her cousin’s place where there’s wi-fi so we can do some VA work. That’s it on my first day in CDO. It’s pretty boring but for some reason, I welcome the normalcy of that day. Cagayan de Oro (despite everything that happened to me there back in high school) still feels a bit like home. And you know when you’re home, right? You just want to chill and relax and do normal things. I didn’t even think about taking photos of the surroundings every step of the way. I was just happy I was with my best friend in a city that witnessed my puberty (with all those feelings of angst and states of hormonal imbalances during my early teens). Teehee. 

To be continued…