I WENT to the Carbon Public Market Wednesday morning, Jan. 8, 2020, to buy fresh spices that have become ruinously expensive in grocery stores.
I walked. It’s roughly a kilometer away from where I now live in Barangay Sambag 1, so there’s really no point in taking public transportation.
Mind you, there’s nothing like taking a stroll to the bowels of downtown Cebu City an hour before noon. Noxious fumes from dilapidated jeepneys that have slipped from the clutches of the PUJ Modernization Program invade your sense of smell. The homeless that have made the streets their home attract your attention.
It’s a dizzying experience for the uninitiated.
In fact, take my advice. Stay inside the comfort of your own home. Or wait until nighttime to do your shopping.
And did I say it was hot?
There was hardly any protection from the sun beating down on my head. Okay, there are trees along the sidewalks on both sides of Osmeña Blvd. to provide protection, but then that whole stretch from the Fuente Circle to Colon has become an obstacle course.
You have to expertly weave yourself in and out of parked vehicles and motorcycles. Sometimes, you find yourself having to step over someone. Or something.
Apparently, someone didn’t get the memo from the Department of the Interior and Local Government. I was tempted to get a photo of the scene in front of the Abellana Police Station at the corner of R. R. Landon St.
I know, I know. The director of the Police Regional Office 7 across the street must have called a meeting to discuss security measures for the upcoming Sinulog festivities. It’s still no excuse to blatantly ignore a presidential directive.
Meanwhile, do look down once in a while. Trust me, it will do you some good.
The whole heat thing, though, was to be expected and accepted. After all, we live in the tropics. And I have. Learned to live with it, that is. But nowhere does it say that I can’t yap about it.
Although I should mention that Cebu City is a frenzy of activity this time of year. Less so this year compared to in the past, if I may say so.
I have a feeling organizers are trying to focus on the religious aspect of the event, considering the whole archipelago will be celebrating—is that the right word to describe it?—500 years of Christianity next year.
Speaking of celebration, the habal-habal drivers who took home flat-screen TVs that were raffled off last Sunday during a gathering where they were told the mayor had signed an executive order creating an office that would oversee their welfare must still be grinning from ear to ear.