Cebu

Cebu was lovely. We went to Larsian, the famed (and DIRTY) barbecue pavilion, Basilica de Santo Nino, did a tour of the provinces, including Carcar, and Carbon, the famous and enormous outdoor market. Here are some highlights.



In Carcar, Roy the basketmaker tried to show me how to make one. I was really bad at it.
In Carcar's town center, a white American woman leads a Filipina (on her knees) to modernity. The statue was built in 1912 at the order of American officials.Larsian Fuente is an open-air barbecue market where dozens of family barbecue stalls try to win your business. You choose what you want, they finish cooking it, and you eat your bbq with rice, cooked in coconut leaves (aka hanging rice or puso in Cebuano). You get calamansi, sili, toyo, and Hep A on the side.
When I told my Uncle Beboy that we were having lunch there, he responded with a shocked silence. When we asked the Marriott front desk guy how to get there, he said, "Well, ma'am, you know, ahem, it's not, um, how do you say this, expensive?"

Dinner at Ayala Center with my Moreno relatives: Jaycel and her new baby Jaylyn, Auntie Jennie, Janelle, Uncle Beboy, and me. Uncle Beboy is my mom's first cousin.
Another reason to go to Cebu: torta. I ate about twenty. Okay, twelve.
Have you ever seen a mountain of dilis? We did at the Carbon Market, a historic, chaotic and beautiful mess in downtown Cebu.