Along the Streets of Catbalogan, Samar

   Clockwise: Pasayan (deep fried shrimp with flour); 
Mais con yelo and puto; Locals having street 
foods for merienda; Mango Shake)

Writing about my recent excursions and experiences did not seem to enthrall me these past few months but my mother urged me to it. She said this could be my best repository to the things I did at a certain age. Something to look back 20 to 30 years from now.So let me tell you about my short visit at the quiet city of Catbalogan, Samar. 

I certainly won't forget this place for its food.

This place may not be the as familiar as Palawan, Boracay , Bohol, and other tourist spots but the people and the food here are gems. This laid back city celebrates the feast of St. Bartolome every 24th of August with weeklong anticipation. Colorful street dancing draws attention to both locals and guests. The deafening drum beats and enthusiastic dancers are just too hard to resist.

Days prior the feast day, battle of the bands, beauty pageants, and sports keep the people busy and sweaty. This is culminated by a street party where the local government unit turns streets into an enormous dance floor with high caliber DJs tuning in turning up the night into something unforgettable. Jumping to the remixes here also means getting drenched as water splashes from a firemen’s hose.

If you are a fast food fanatic, then this place might not be for you. As of this writing, the only familiar fast food chain I came across with is Jollibee. Moreover, this is compensated with local carenderias and pizza parlors. At 25-30 pesos you will be enjoying a decent and delicious merienda already. Catbalogan’s street foods are also very good. In Manila, I have enough of kwek2x and balot but here, I committed gluttony for its seafood inspired street foods starting from a fried shrimp mixed with flour, baduya  (made from tahong mixed with flour), shanghai rolls with tahong as fillings. All these dipped with spiced vinegar.

Either early in the morning or late in the afternoon, it is very cool to stroll the streets and sea sides of Catbalogan with a bike.