We live in a sub-urban, sub-rural community in a town called Liloan, which is located about 16 kilometers from Cebu City or 13.3 kilometers from the Mactan Cebu International Airport.
It is a nightmare to travel from where we live to Cebu City because of the horrible traffic situation in Consolacion town and Mandaue City. On good days, it takes about 1 hour and 45 minutes; on bad days, travel time runs for three hours.
But living in this community has its advantages including residing in a village where you can still hear the birds chirping and the frogs croaking. Nick, Toni, and JJ go out of the house at 4 p.m. on weekdays to play with the neighbors’ children. At 5 p.m., they come home to tell us stories about their friends and how much they have had fun with them.
Located three kilometers from our house is the Ibabaw Mountain Resort, an affordable destination located on the hilly part of Purok Ka Canog, barangay Santa Cruz in Liloan town.
The resort is our quick getaway whenever the children request for a dip in a “real pool.” (We have an inflatable pool at home that is good enough for a dip during the humid days but the mutants complains it is not deep enough for swimming.)
On the first month of the year, their favorite Uncle Hendrix celebrated his 29th birthday and Antoinette had a plan to surprise their uncle with fried chicken and pancit bihon. Uncle Hendrix’s Christmas gift was still lying somewhere in the house so that automatically became his birthday present too (ha!) which the mutants were so eager to present to him.
Getting there
We usually leave the house at 2 p.m. when going to the mountain resort. Because we only live three kilometers from the resort, we are usually there in less than 15 minutes. We hailed a tricycle to bring us all the way to the foot of the resort. One way-fare for us is between P100 to P150 depending on the number of people.
If you are commuting from Cebu City, ride a jeepney heading to Liloan, Compostela or Danao and tell the driver/conductor to drop you off at Eskina Yati. Cross the street where you will find a MLhuillier branch. If you are traveling with a group, you can hail a tricycle and pay between P150 to 200 if there are five or six of you in the group. Trust me, it is quite a challenge to go up there so be nice to the tricycle drivers. You can also take the habal-habal (motorcycle-for-hire) at P40-P50 per person.
Resort fees
For day use — that’s 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — the resort charges P50 for three to nine years old, while those who are 10 years old and above pay P100. Not bad! The resort also caters to the night swimming crowd with a slightly higher rate: P75 for three to nine years old and P150 for 10 years old and above. Night swimming time is between 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Tables and chairs without umbrella (P200), open cottages (P500), open big party cabana (P1,000), and open mini-cabana (P400) are made available for guests to rent.
The family has not stayed her overnight but the resort has several room accommodation options suited for couples, family and groups. Check out their Facebook page, Ibabaw Mountain Resort, for more details about rates and reservations for special occasions.
Pure fun, no corkage on food
We normally just spend three hours at the maximum at the resort, enough time for the mutants to get their pool fix. The resort has a modest size, nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary for us living here. But if you are from the city, faced with traffic congestion and noise pollution, this is a welcome respite. I love that this is part of our normal day to see green scenery and breathe fresh air.
The resort does not charge corkage on food so feel free to bring whatever it is the fills your stomachs. Take note that they charge corkage fees for softdrinks and alcoholic beverages. Drop them a message on their Facebook page for the details.
I love living out here because I am far from the city. I am also fortunate that I have a job that allows me to do remote work so in days when I have to focus on the children’s school activities or I need to stay at home to take care of domestic responsibilities either because the husband is out on business trips or Ate Joy is on a day off.
This year, we are discovering more sites and destinations here in Northern Cebu to avoid the crazy traffic in the cities. Check out the video of that getaway here:
