Slow, easy-going life

Dumaguete, when first it appears as the fastcraft slices through the clear waters and turns to make for the tiny harbor, presents a refreshing view of trees and plants in abundance. It is as if a pristine paradise is being approached, one very much different from the neighboring Cebu City which boasts of taller buildings and more concrete than trees; trees which make a place more welcoming. The hundred-year old acacia trees daily share their shady branches with birds chirping above as well as soften the harsh ultra-violet rays of the sun encouraging pedestrians and students below to negatiote distances on foot with less discomfort.. The fastcraft has stopped plying the waters to service travellers of Cebu, Tagbilaran, Dumaguete and Dapitan, an obvious victim of economic forces.

A plan to modernize the Port of Dumaguete was successfully impeded by the people with the vigorous support of Silliman University. It might bring bigger ships and more traffic to Dumaguete at the cost of the marine ecology of the bay, a price the people of Dumaguete were unwilling to pay. One project which has successfully intruded into the branches of the historic acacia trees of Silliman University is the expensive skywalk that spans a narrow street, hardly worth the trouble of climbing it and going down. just to get to the other side.

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• Reaching Out
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• Underdogs World