(Feb. 6, 2012)
I was in the dumps after driving hubby to the airport. I realized it was his last day in Roxas City, and the sentimental mushy guy that he is, he forgot to emote, feel nostalgic and be dewey-eyed because we were so busy packing up things, doing some last-minute stuff and he was just on time for his flight. I took his photo, probably the last, with Dachi (his beloved company car) and another one with the Roxas Airport as backdrop.
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| View from our windows: my flying friends |
I came home with only a melancholic silence and the chaos of packing up greeting me. The gloomy weather did not help uplift the mood, while the beautiful chirruping of the birds made me realize I’ll be missing this place. Argh! My heart is breaking and tears are threatening to fall as I write now. Never thought I could get this attached to this unassuming city.
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| The Plaza |
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| Roxas City morning traffic |
Roxas is a quaint, rustic, romantic place. If I remember it right, this was how I described it to a friend when hubby and I together first arrived here, although it was his first time, it was not for me. As a small laid-back, not-so-developed city, it has its shortcomings. Customer service, not even the courtesy of a smile, is still unheard of in some establishments (especially among the staff in Gaisano Mall - the only “mall” with 2 branches in the city), but there are also quite a number of businesses with people, such as the staffs in the two beauty salons (Rudy’s and Fixzone) where I have my foot spa, pedicure and manicure, who sincerely and warmly interact with you like you would expect from people in rural areas. We also sometimes feel frustrated not being able to buy stuff we need without going to Iloilo. Heck, we even have to take that 2-hour drive to watch a movie. But this can be compensated on the fact that you can greatly save since you don’t get tempted with the offerings in the market. Speaking of market, the Lipunan public market sell fresh catches of the sea from bangus, crabs, shrimps, squids, and various fish. I just don’t have culinary skills yet hence we rarely buy these.
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| Seafoods in Baybay |
The chaos of a sea of tricycles can also bug you. It’s just a small place with really few vehicles, except for these 3-wheeled rides that often dominate the road. To be fair, we admire the high visibility of traffic enforcers in this city with or without an event or VIPs around. Hubby was also impressed by the smart efficiency of its police station when he requested for a police blotter when he had a minor car accident.
The weak points of this place are little things we have gotten used to and learned to live with. These are compensated by the pluses of the place, such as a generally peaceful and quiet environment. At 9 PM, I often feel that I am the only one awake in our subdivision. And when I look up to the sky from our veranda on a cloudless night, I can clearly see the stars shimmering since there are no tall buildings to block them or other artificial lights to pale them. Every morning, I hear the wonderful chirping of birds and I see them pay me a visit on our window sill or along electric wires. Sometimes though, they share the airwaves with the cacophony of barrio fiesta music. The lousy sound system and the badly mixed music murdered by the ‘DJ” did not help to please our ears. And this usually drags on the whole day until the wee hours of the morning and will repeat the following day until the days-long celebration ends.
But right now I hear my flying friends again, and the sun is already showing up, but I’m still feeling sad to be leaving this place. It’s not that I am not looking forward to moving to Davao, of course, I do, because we miss big city living, true malls, and burrito and taco that are not sweet because they have no condensed milk in them.
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| Inside ACC Crepes and Coffee |
Besides the place that we are renting here, some of my favorite haunts in this unassuming city include ACC Coffee and Crepes and El Pueblo where Ramboys (where we love its liempo and sizzling liver) and Festa restaurants are located. I don’t like though their very tiny crammed 5-seater, 2-table coffee shop, which is just really an extension of Festa. You can also take your coffee alfresco but on the few occasions that I was there, the stifling weather did not make it practical to spend time outside. Hubby and I also consider ourselves “regular” customers of Coco Veranda and we even have a “pet waiter” there whom we tip ridiculously, he ends up running after us when we leave the restaurant just to thank us.
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| Potential "Lovers' Place" |
I also like the romantic, rustic feel or the vicinity in the plaza, museum, cathedral, river, especially at night when the lights are on. I especially like the almost live-sized chess pieces/set on the plaza and enjoy people enjoying their “big” games their. How I wish some city official or developer will come up with the idea of developing this place further into the “city of lovers” or the “honeymoon city” or something like that by harnessing the river and bridge and offer gondola rides just like in Venice. They can also put up bistros and cafes with alfresco dining under the big trees somewhere around or near the park and use cobble stones for their street there.
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| Never been inside. |
Perhaps they can relocate the public market away from the scene so that vendor will not have the tendency to pollute the river and mar the scenery. Then maybe they can introduce some kalesas to take the tourist couples or groups around the city or around places of attraction. Maybe they can invite artists or if they have their local brew to do painting in the plaza, or hold photography contests. For sure, the idea will also make a great backdrop for a wedding photography, so making the city a wedding destination would also be an opportunity. These are some of the ideas of the romantic in me.
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| Wish I had played a game or two with the locals. |
Another thing I like about Roxas City is Saboroso, their local version of Sbarro, also serving pizza, pasta and salads. It’s very affordable but delectable although the taste is Filipino. Its flavors will not really make you forget your name, but it can give Greenwich Pizza (with its branch just ride beside it) would give them a run for their money. It would be a great establishment to be situated around the romantic plaza I’ve been babbling about. It’s a pity it is right now inside Gaisano Mall. Maybe because it’s the foot traffic that they’re after. The city has several brands of pizza: Yellow Box, Pizza Junction, (Italian resto ), but so far none impressed me and I find them very expensive. Maybe the inexpensive Alberto’s Pizza of Cebu will be a hit in this city.
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| Cheaper and Filipino version of Sbarro |
When it comes to food, there are a couple of inexpensive places that hubby loves coming back for more: Inday Norbing’s specializing in lechon kawali and Pancit Malabon where he loves its kare-kare, Bicol express and a wide variety of Tagalog viands. Sadly we are not big fans of their pancit malabon. Hubby has become a suki to these places.
The stadium is another place hubby and I frequent because it is where we run when we have time. I used to run around our subdivision (St. Francis) but tall grasses (which I may be allergic to) and barking dogs deter me from doing so. The setback when running in the stadium is that there is an access road for vehicles to pass by right outside the track and as you try to catch your breath after a few rounds, you can also inhale the distinct smell of tricycle emissions. Heck, there is even a “legal” section near the gym for smoking. Whaat? a sports center with a smoking area? Beats me!
Despite these foibles, the city has become endeared to me and hubby. Most of the people are also very warm, sincere and hospitable, such as our landlord and landlady, and my gynecologist. Our landlord/lady even readily offered their own home for me to stay when we mentioned that I’ll be spending the last night in a pension house since all our things would be shipped out already, and they’d even offered to drive me to the airport when I leave the place. Ah, such, warm and generous people!
For all these reasons, we will surely miss this place. Goodbye and thank you very much, Roxas City!
