A Weekend Well-Spent Hiking at Good Sheperd, Banawa Cebu City

What's up everyone! How have you been doing lately? I hope you are all doing fine. If you are not, that's fine, it's not every day we are okay, but as we always remember, "It's okay not to be okay". Just take a deep breath, tap yourself and keep going. By doing that, be proud of yourself🤗❤

Anyway, the blog I will be sharing with you today is all about my weekend experiences going hiking at Good Sheperd Banawa, Cebu City. It is not always going to happen. That's why I decided to keep it memorable and for all of you to have it worthy of your time, reading. Without delay, let's get started.

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PURPOSE OF HIKING
Aside from each willingness to burn body fats and exercise, one reason also that we went is that to accompany my cousin, who is currently pregnant, and this week is her expected time to give birth. We joined her and letting her hike for a longer time. Together with my Aunt, they went all the way here from the province to prepare ahead of time for her to give birth. That's why we decided to go hiking. We went hiking for two consecutive days.

DAY 1

It was Friday Night when we finalized our plan to go hiking. We decided to go hiking at Good Sheperd Banawa, Cebu City since the place is just so perfect for an early walk, jogging and hiking. Early morning of Saturday (February 10, 2024). We woke up at exactly 5:00 A. M and started walking. Together with me at that time were my two aunts, my pregnant cousin and my younger brother. It is quite dark when we leave the house.

When we reached Paseo Arcenas, that is when we saw a group of hikers come after us. Passing by at Casa Rosita, a subdivision situated along the way to the place. The way going there is not smooth, it is rocky and dusty since there is ongoing construction along the road. Also, expect some slopes going there. I came to realize that it was quite far. Before reaching the place itself, our sweat keeps on flowing into our body by just walking up there.

We had reached our destination at exactly 6:00 A.M. Look at the views. You can definitely look at the city from the above. We also got to witness the sunrise right on time.

THE CEMETERY

The place itself is a cemetery in which most people buried there are Chinese. No wonder from what I have heard, the owner of the place is also a Chinese citizen. Since it is a cemetery, there are lots of Chinese graves buried around the place. Upon exploring the place, I noticed a grave that had the written name "Beatriz Yap". I wondered what we are related to, since my grandmother's surname is "Yap".

Anyway, aside from that it is a cemetery, the place is also famous during Holy Week, where people, especially Christians, gather to attend the Station of the Cross. As you can say, there are white statues around the place. We keep on walking, running and stretching out our body, exercising to sweat more.

We also took a lot of pictures in these arc full of beautiful flowers. The place gives us the feeling of being in the province because of the amazing nature. Some of the plants I recognized there are the Kalachuchi and bougainvillea.

After consecutive jogging and exercising, we decided to take some rest in this wide area with ladders and water liilies. Afterward, we headed home and continued to rest.

DAY 2

For the second time around, it was only me and my two aunts who went hiking again since my pregnant cousin got leg cramps from previous walkings. We leave the house at the same time, at 5 A. M in the early morning. As always, we are not alone while going there, since there are also groups of hikers coming to go hiking in the place.

We arrived at the place at 6:05 A.M. This time we had decided to explore more of the place. My other Aunt was the one to suggest where we would be going. We went inside to a gate coming through this place.

By the way, I have been into the place many times but I thought we had already explored the whole place. My aunt brought us into this area called the Good Sheperd Celestial Garden. It is exactly where the Station of the Cross happened. Beside this temple is the church, where people offer prayers and worship during Holy Week. Both my aunts are enjoying the view while my role is taking pictures of them. It seems like I am accompanying them just to be their photographer that time. But, I can't deny I am also having fun being with them, especially laughing together, since we don't know how to take a pose during picture taking.

Like I said, there's a lot of Kalanchuchi around the place. And here is me, making fun of the flowers putting it in my ear as props. My aunts also asked me to take pictures while having the flowers as background. After taking pictures, we proceed with taking warm-up exercises, jogging and stretching until we get sweaty.

When we are done, we decided to take another route going up. I was amazed at this part since I could literally see a view of the place. It is so wide, and you can really feel the early morning freshness of the air. As we were enjoying the place, we lost track of the time, and it was nearly afternoon. We can also feel the heat as the sun shines brighter already. So, we decided to go home, so we could rest and have our brunch.

That's it for now divers. Thank you so much for taking time in reading my blog. Until next time, see you around. Spread love❤❤❤