May-Ann shouted the hotel.

El-El shouted dinner.

I graced them with my presence. Which, I reckon, was a fair enough deal.

El-El celebrated her 40th birthday in Cebu. The September baby commemorating it in October at Sheraton Hotel where she was greeted with complimentary wine, cake, and desserts in the room. And then later during dinner, serenaded with a birthday song by the staff, along with another cake as if we still had enough space in our tummies to accommodate one more bite after literally stuffing ourselves full with all the food begging for us to eat.

I should speak for myself, shouldn’t I?

Yes, I stuffed myself full. I particularly zoned in on the garlic prawns, chili crabs, tuna and salmon sashimi, a bit of sushi, and this really nice jicama salad with mango that was sooo good!

Pre-existing Bali belly be damned.

So much so that the morning after, I ended up having a lovely chat with the hotel’s nurse. We talked about my delightful dinner and he awarded me with a couple of antidiarrheal tablets, on the house. Before I headed out to the same restaurant again for another round of endless eating but this time, the breakfast buffet version.

Aside from our resilience to weather typhoons and a corrupted government, one of the things that makes me truly proud to be Filipino is our hospitality. The friendly smiles you get as they greet you with their right hand on their heart, and the genuine fun they have as they sing you a happy birthday.

The vibe was definitely vibing!

The beach was alright. And by that, I mean it wasn’t exactly the best but you can’t expect much from Mactan because she wasn’t born with sandy white shores and if you do get little pockets of them at resorts here and there, you know they were imported from Bohol or some neighbouring island somewhere.

But the place was definitely nice and quiet. It never ceases to surprise me how you have to go through traffic, noise and chaos just to find the peace and serenity you’re looking for away from the jungle of the city without having to leave the city. Almost as if you have to earn it and once there, feel like you actually do.

All in all, Sheraton Hotel was a nice little overnight staycation scheduled at the tail end of our trip. A chance for my mom, my sisters and I to catch up and talk about… I don’t know, our rich inheritance of childhood traumas.