the quiet side of Cebu

Like thousands of other travelers, we went one summer to the province of Cebu expecting to bask on white beaches and sip chic little cocktails. Okay, we didn't exactly plan that, but at least one beach trip to the island of Mactan -- which is crawling with hotels, resorts, and foreign tourists -- was on the itinerary.

Let's just say that "beach trip" didn't go so well. In summary: We got kinda lost and spent the whole afternoon commuting through half the island. Getting lost like that was actually nice, but we wanted to be somewhere more... chilled.

And we found the perfect chill. Not at the beach, not at a resort, and definitely not in an urbanized area like Mactan.

South was the way to go.

words of summer

June has begun, and in this tropical little corner of the world that is the Philippines, that means summer is officially over. And while I am almost-tearfully saying "So long, sweet summer; I hardly saw you this year", there's Pinterest, just starting to bloom with sunshiny posts from the Northern Hemisphere. Every bright, sunny pin makes me die with envy. Why can't summer last just a little longer?

My summer this year had been short and bittersweet, and when I think about it, three favorite words come to mind:

Heliophilia - love of sunlight

Sprezzatura - a studied nonchalance

Ephemeral - lasting for a very short time

So long, sweet summer. Until we meet again. :)