G L A N C E S

How hard would it be to go around unfamiliar territory?  Having lived my entire life in Metro Manila, I was about to find out the hard way, when we touched down at the Mactan International Airport, on route to the Ford Escape Ride and Drive in the great city of Cebu. 

Our impression of the Philippine’s oldest city is influenced by a distant memory five years old—a time when we spent our entire time cooked up at the Shangri-la Mactan Island Resort.  Of course, we got the shock of our lives when we didn’t have the security of seeing our names misspelled on a hotel shuttle placard.  We’re on our own, this time.

You see, we purposely came two days earlier than the rest of the Ford contingent to get a further glimpse of life here. 

Upon exiting the baggage claim, there are two immediately noticeable things about Cebu—they were to become a recurring theme throughout the rest of our trip.  First, Cebuanos don’t normally speak Filipino (or Tagalog, whichever way you want to put it).  The common language here is Cebuano (duh!)—and if you don’t speak a word of it, you’ll have to rely on the suave straightness of your English.  Though it’s rather weird talking to another Filipino in a foreign tongue, we had little choice—it was either that, or we’d probably end up in a mental asylum.  Second is that the roads here are pretty darn fine.  In fact, the cab that took us from the airport (located in Lapu-Lapu City) to the Ford dealership at the heart of Cebu City was relatively squeak free despite traveling more than 56,000 kilometers—an amazing feat as even private vehicles back here in Manila can’t even muster 30,000 without giving a hint of loose screws underneath. 

As we rode away from the Ford Cebu dealership in a Metropolis Blue Ford Escape XLT, we began to rely heavily on a tourist map for our first day of road tripping.  It was a hair-raising experience since the map, though fine in showing the numerous historical landmarks depicted as caricatures, doesn’t show enough detail to go around the downtown area. Here, the roads are dotted with one-way directions, no left-turns and do not enter signs.  A crazy town—but at least it wasn’t congested.

The common mode of transportation in Cebu is the ‘multicab’. Essentially Suzuki SuperCarrys with their backs sliced off and turned into makeshift pick-ups, these cost merely 75,000 pesos for the top-of-the-range model complete with a rear passenger canopy and benches.  Like any good model range, the multicab comes with an astounding list of features than include a four-wheel drive system.  Though the Escape has one of the highest ground clearances in the soft-roader segment, these multicab drivers are actually capable of staring at us at eye-level!  The good visibility is essential in Cebu traffic. 

Though traffic jams are still unheard of by most of the population, we’ve noticed that rush hours here could be quite hectic—or rather, painfully slow.  However, it’s unlike Metro Manila, where a three-hour jam can clog everything from Roxas Boulevard to EDSA to Ayala Avenue to Cubao; in Cebu, it is usually the downtown area that suffers heavily from a dose of congestion.  Of course, congestion here is a relative word as heavy traffic here means just suffering from two traffic light cycles—maybe three at the most.  Not to mention, all of the traffic jams in Cebu only happen within a small radius near the downtown area—maybe five kilometers.

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