February 2nd 2015 Cebu City- Magellans Cross

Ferdinand Magellan first came into the Cebu harbour on April 21st 1521. 3 weeks later he would be killed fighting the people of Lapu Lapu which is on Mactan island where the airport is located.

While at the Cebu Guesthouse I met an Australian named Mike who has been in Cebu City for a couple months now visiting his girlfriend. We chatted about Canada, Australia, and the Philippines and he told me most of the Cebu sites were downtown and it was all walking distance of an hour or walking so it was 3pm and I decided to see a bit more for today. As I walked to downtown I saw a building under construction and there was a welder sitting on a beam 30 feet up with any harness or safety gear and was just wearing sunglasses as he welded with no visor or protection for his face. While he was welding the hot molten slag dripped down onto the sidewalk with no safety in mind or anything flagged off. It is just get the job done around here.

While downtown I came across Magellans cross that was supposedly placed at this very spot by Magellan on April 21st 1521. I don't know why Magellan was credited with being the first guy to sail around the world since he only made it half way to Cebu Philippines where he was killed after a month or so here but one of his ships made it back so completing the journey without him. On the ceiling are painted murals depicting Magellan and his men putting up the cross for Christianity.

It would have been amazing to be an explorer back in those days and to discover new places. I am sure the Chinese and other countries had been there but it was new for the Europeans as Hernan Cortez had just conquered the Aztecs in the same year with 1000 conquistadors and Columbus had just discovered the Americas 30 years earlier.