Maya, Daanbantayan: Gig and Dip | Travel Chronicles 2

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"Home Is Where The Heart Is", an abstract painting I made based on the map of Maya, Daanbantayan

There are countless reasons why I love Maya, Daanbantayan, a town in the northern most part of Cebu. My wife, Inday, was born and raised here. Maya is good to me. Not only because my in-laws and Inday's relatives made me feel welcome like I'm part of the family but also because of the laid-back vibe of the place. But since the passing of Inday's parents, we haven't been to Maya as often as we wanted to. And whenever I get the chance to be there, I always try to whip out my cellphone camera for some scenes worth drawing and painting. The pictures in here are from the trips I made to Maya in 2019 before the pandemic. These are just slices of life. My own impressions, so to speak, and in no way a guide to Maya. I can never do justice to the place in one article.

On these quick trips, we take the bus from the Cebu City North Bus Terminal at four in the morning. The trip can take about four hours. It used to take five hours before they built nice roads in the 1990's. The long ride is interrupted only twice.

First stop is for food and rest room in the Town of Liloan. It's a place called Titay's. Passengers buy bread, drinks, and their special rosquillos, the ringlet cookies, which is a must-try for firs-time travelers. I can't stop eating them. Second is another food-and-rest-room stop in the town of Bogo. Here, the passengers usually buy their famous pintos, a sweet corn cake with a citrus hint, wrapped in corn husk and steamed to a delicious perfection. You just can't take too many of these sweet snacks because they have a notoriously short shelf life. You have to consume them within the day you bought them.

As for me, I have a reason for not eating in Bogo. It is because Maya is only forty kilometers away, and I want to eat seafood and a native chicken stew when I get there. Okay, maybe one pintos and cold water.

A sketch I made inside a bus to Danao, a city that we drive through on the way to Maya

Usually the bus doesn't make a long stop in the Daanbantayan town proper before going to Maya, which is another eight kilometers away. Inday and I got off the bus for we have some business at the town hall.

Inday in front of the Daanbantayan signage

The Daanbantayan Park near the town hall

A fishing village near the town hall

Me at the Daanbantayan Town Hall entrance

Inday at the Town Hall interior garden

After our business in the town hall, we took another bus that will take us to Maya. Just in time for a nephew's wedding. A wedding is a family reunion as well as a feast. We did our part of the program.

That's my brother Dominic playing guitar and our cousin Apet playing bass

A little alcohol brings out the fun in catching up with what's news.

I made this sketch of my nephew's motorcycle in a later trip to Maya.

Maya is new. It has a new port with pump boats to Malapascua Island and Leyte. It has Internet. It has a restaurant and small carenderias and small resort hotels to stay. But Maya is old too. You can still go to the beach and swim and get sunburned without spending a single peso.

Going downhill to Suba beach

Taking time to enjoy the view

A small pump boat beached under a tree

A good thing about Suba beach is that it's clean except for a few wrappers and plastic left over by picnickers. People still have a lot to learn. It's far from the residential areas but not too far. Friends live uphill about a hundred fifty meters from where we are. And about a hundred meters south along the beach lives Inday's cousin. I feel safe here.

A whole family with their food baskets arrives to enjoy the beach just as we wade in the cool water. The children's joyous laughter seems to harmonize with the wind in the trees. I hope they don't leave any garbage.

I risked getting my phone wet just to get this picture of a beached pump boat

The coolness of the water brings smiles

Not your usual beach but just as beautiful. I hope people will learn to put garbage in their proper place. It makes me sad.

An early dinner of rice and chicken soup is the best thing after the swim. Friends and relatives share the food and a seemingly unlimited supply of strong Red Horse beer. The talk becomes livelier as the topic turn to gossip and banter in proportion to the alcohol consumed.

My brother-in-law cooking the chicken soup

This is what a dirty kitchen looks like.

Then suddenly it's time to go back to the city. We buy some fresh and dried fish in the Maya wet market. It's still cheaper here. There is a strange kind of relief to know we are going back to the city. It is tinged with sadness because part of me doesn't want to leave. But I know I have to go. I have a job to keep. Got to earn money.

Drying fish near the market