I'm looking forward to getting up into the mountains, doing some island hopping, etc, but these walks on Cebu's city streets still have lots of foliage, all kinds of color, and something new everywhere I point my camera.

 

The statue of the Child Jesus (or the Santo Niño de Cebu) is one of the oldest Christian relics in the Philippines. The original statue was given as a gift to Cebu by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521, and the statue/dolls have become a regular feature of the The Sinulog-Santo Niño festivals held in January. These photos are from an exhibit at the SM City Mall last weekend.

My bother Mike told me once "there are no people in your photos". I've always been more comfortable with trees, nature and city streets shots. That has continued here in Cebu, but I'm getting a little bolder. I've actually asked a few people recently, "can I take your picture?". They've said Yes, and smiled for my camera. That said, I still like the colors, the architecture, quiet streets, graffiti, etc.

 

from 18Jan2021: "I love wood. I walked through the UW Bothell campus again yesterday, and I took more photos of the larger than life wooden figure sculptures. I looked closer at the shapes, and the grains of the wood. It was a damp and gray day, and I took these shots with my cell phone."

5 years ago, 17Jan2017: "yesterday morning with a blue sky and amazing colors, on our road trip back from Portland..."

Over 80% of Filipinos are Catholic.

"The devotion to the Sto. Niño in the Philippines is as old as the history of Christianity in the country. The image of Sto. Niño was given to Queen Juana by Ferdinand Magellan after she was baptized with her husband, King Humabon, in Cebu in 1521."

https://santoninodecebubasilica.org/chronicles/viva-pit-senor-viva-senor-santo-nino/

I visited three of the Buddhist Temples in Cebu City this past week. The young man in the last photo was returning home from a Santo Nino celebration.

 I walked up towards the Guadalupe area the other day...

Cebu Walk #1 11Jan2022 pt 4

We live in part of a 3 building complex, and I stopped there at the end of my walk. There's a small clothing store trying to resume/survive following Covid, the general Philippines economy and Typhoon Odette, in the building between us and the hotel. A U shaped driveway can be seen through a window in our hallway leading to the street, and the store is on the left. I walked through a dark hallway leading to the store, past some mannequins in waiting, and the Pepsi gas pump...

Cebu Walk #1 11Jan2022 pt 3

Cebu Walk #1 11Jan2022 pt 2

I love this place... Maybe I was just bored, and needed a change of scenery, literally.

I walked for over an hour this morning, meandering for a little under 3 miles. No camera, just walking, and thinking "I wish I was a good writer". How can I capture this without a camera? It was around 8:30am, and B Rodriguez St was alive with activity as I walked West from the Fuente Osmena Circle. The mental photos I took were wonderful. The colors, the smells of food from Carenderias, shops selling everything under the sun, people everywhere, a polar opposite to some of my last walks in October, in Bothell WA. I crossed over the Guadalupe River, turned South on V Rama Ave, looking for a larger road so I could head back East towards Osmena Blvd. At J Alcantara St I turned West for a bit, then zig-zagged my way back up towards Fuente Osmena. There was more zigging and zagging than my Map-my-walk app shows here.