Delicacies

Cebuano Delicacies 

By: Jeje Soten

Osmeña Peak

Osmeña Peak

How To Get There

Take a bus at the Cebu South Terminal travelling to Oslob or Bato. Ask to be dropped off at the Dalaguete junction. It is a 3hour travel time including pee break. From the Dalaguete junction, hire a motorcycle (habal habal) going to the peak. It is beyond the Mantalongon wet market. From the wet market, it is your choice if you want to trek or just ride up. You will be dropped off below the peak. When you choose to trek, it will be an hour or so, depending on how fast you walk. The fare from the center town of Dalaguete straight to below the peak is one hundred pesos (100.00), if up to Mantalongon wet market only is sixty pesos (60.00). From where the motorcycle dropped you, it is only a 50meters treak up. The entrance is fifty pesos (50.00) and tents are available for rentals, the price depends on how big the tent you want. The road up to below the peak is well cemented so it is a very comfortable ride.

I was traveling with my husband and one of our friends, Micah. That trip was supposedly a group trip but some of our friends quit before this exciting trip, so that leaves to us, three. The climate when we reach the peak is very cold, for me. After we paid for the entrance fee, we started our trek up. When we arrive just near the peak, we had a trouble finding a place where we should set up our tent because it was a bit crowded since it was weekend. We settled for the takeout food for dinner and started talking. It was already night time because we arrive late. As we talked, I turned on the solar lamp and tried to look around. But all I can see is the same light from the tents that surrounds us. It was noisy. I was sure everyone was having a goodtime with the background sound of the crickets.

We were up at exactly five in the morning with zero visibility and an ice cold wind. The tent was starting get wet inside because of the extra morning dew and outside, so are the grasses. The fog was so thick that you have to open your flashlight to see the surroundings. So what we did was sit, boils water and settled for coffee and bread for breakfast. We waited for like thirty minutes to make the fog to get thinner. And it was like heavens agreed because in less than thirty minutes fog was half gone and was replaced with a very cold wind. It was like it rained the night before because the small road leading to the very peak was wet and muddy. It was already cold but it was already freezing when we reached the very peak. There was this big mountain-like rock that is lined up with other tourist who was like us eager to take a photo. When I tried to look down, all I can see was fog and fog and more. We waited patiently for our turn to climb that big rock and when it was already our turn, I had a trouble going down and up to that narrow road. Thank god my husband helped. If it was not for him, I can never reach the top of that rock. Since it was still foggy down from where we were, I did not see the ocean or trees and other things that can possibly be visible. But for me it was okay. Reaching the highest peak in Cebu is already an achievement.

By: Malelou Yambot