Cebu, a City of Sweets 0
Cebu, since my childhood days have taken the claim that they have the finest and sweetest mangoes in the world. Other Asian varieties may compete with Cebu but still Cebu Mangoes are proven to be sweeter and more delicious. Having a vacation to Cebu always led me to visit stores that sell mangoes and preserved goodies from mangoes and other fruits. These soul-feeding candied mangoes and fruits really proved their worth. They have always been listed as the most bought items for “Pasalubong” in Cebu.
“Pasalubong” means the take home gifts from a vacation. This delicacy has also been popular to foreign tourists as well. Being good to the taste, dried mangoes are cheap. Costing 40php per 100-gram pack, roughly around 90 cents to 1 USD, you will surely buy one pack after another. Aside from mangoes, dried fruits are also available in pineapple, jackfruit, and tamarind. Other fruit snacks available in Cebu are Banana chips and drinks like pure mango juice drink, calamansi juice and pineapple juice.
I loved what makes Cebu city “sweet”. Aside from the fruit-made sweets, the Otap is also a very popular sweet delicacy of Cebu. Usually an Oval-shaped 1/8 inch thick cookie-like texture made from an intricate process of mixing flour, sugar, shortening, coconut milk and coconut meat. It holds a unique texture which is relatively crunchy every bite.
It has been a tradition when eating Otap, you should place your other hand below your chin to catch falling pieces of the pastry, or else it will fall on the floor. However, it is the scattering of the Otap that makes it more enjoyable when being eaten. My cousins even refer to it as an addictively delicious biscuit. Along with Otap, another popular sweet delicacy is the Ampao. It is made from dried rice, which is arranged in rectangular blocks or in bite-size pieces. It is similar to the western “rice crispies” but has a Cebu taste inculcated in it. It is usually white in color, but some producers make Ampao in different colors, which usually are a big competition for my little cousins every time our grandmother brings them at home.
Other varieties of sweet delicacies from Cebu include the rosquillos or more popularly called as round-shaped cookies. Simple looking but complicatedly delicious, rosquillos are light and crisp made from flour, baking powder sugar and egg, which are baked at a diversified manner to make it unique. On breakfast, I like to pair my coffee with a pack of rosquillos and dip them to the coffee before eating.
The glistening white sand shores of Bantayan are delightful to look at even from afar, and as our ferry came closer to the island, I can already see the white beaches, coconut trees and huts. I was particularly amazed on how the water looked like dark blue to light blue, which makes the white sandy ocean floor visible to where I sat. 
It was an amazing drink to start with, sweet but a bit sour in taste. We ate as the sun faded into the horizon, and it proved to be a magnificent view. Orange sky with a big yellow sun about to set was a scenic moment to remember. Unlike the more famous Boracay, Bantayan is a more slightly isolated island where night bars and cafes are not that abundant yet. The night was breezy, and it was an ideal moment to have a campfire and talk.
They are never dismayed because Philippines have a lot of diving spots to offer. Scattered throughout the 7,107 islands of the archipelago, choices are close to limitless. In 2007, Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber together with New7wonders Foundation started a global nomination for the new7wonders of nature. The Tubbataha Reefs, was nominated, beautiful corals, marine life and a healthy ecosystem was the basis for the nomination.