Business and Pleasure in Cagayan de Oro City

Before the Spaniards came, the Cagayan de Oro area was known as Kalambagohan. The main town Himologan was a hilltop fortress, which is about 8km from the present Poblacion. At the time of the Spaniards, it became the seat of government for the nearby provinces of Misamis Oriental, Misamis Occidental, and Bukidnon. Even until the present time, Cagayan de Oro remain to be the center of these provinces though they have developed politically and economically. In 1960, then president Elpidio Quirino granted the status of chartered city to Cagayan de Oro.

Its strategic port location allows it to develop rapidly and is considered one of the fastest-growing cities of the Philippines. Cagayan serves as a gateway to the Visayas region, with many ferry boats en route to various destinations.

I consider Cagayan de Oro one of the more cosmopolitan cities of Mindanao. It's highly urbanized and up-to-date with Manila trends. The nightlife is rocking, with many bars and restaurants to choose from. Food is scrumptious in most places, and the people sociable and willing to party.

During school days, the city is abuzz with students, not only from the city, but from nearby provinces as well since there are many prestigious universities in the area, including the Jesuit-run Xavier University.

Its proximity to the mountainous Bukidnon and to the beaches of Misamis Occidental and Oriental make it a good pit stop for extreme adventurers. Mountaineers can choose to climb Mt. Kalatungan of Bukidnon. Beachcombers can go en route to Camiguin. Other activities like the zipline, Macahambos caves, White Water Rafting, rappelling and many other adventure sports are available.

There is much diversity of culture in the place. Cebuano/Bisaya lowlanders, people of the Islamic Faith and indigenous peoples. Even their language have some variations with most Cebuano people. Instead of "nindot" which means "beautiful," they use "chada/tsada."

The Kagay-anon festival is celebrated every 28th of August. But most activities are slated the weekend before or after that. It is a time when Cagayan becomes more alive with street-dancing, indigenous and modern music that flood the roads and the people celebrate the town.

Quick Tips:

Make sure you have enough space in your baggage to bring home some products from the nearby provinces. Get some Chedings's Peanuts from Iligan City, pastel from Camiguin, and pineapple from the plantations in Bukidnon. All of these are available at any department store or mall.

There are many good places to eat in Cagayan. Whenever I am craving some American food, Bigby's Restaurant is a good choice. There is also German food from Vienna Kafeehaus, while Asian Fusion is available at Sentro.

Bring your shades and sunblock because Cagayan can get to be very hot and walking downtown can be very interesting with the many stores and eateries around. Though it can be a battle for your lungs because of the heavy volume of vehicles that go through the narrow streets.

A map would be very handy, especially if you plan to go to the other provinces from Cagayan de Oro.

Gaisano Mall, LimKetKai Mall, and SM City are the major department stores in the city. Anything you need would be readily available though at a slightly higher price from the smaller markets. The taxis are already quite familiar with this place so there would be no trouble getting to these places. There are also jeeps from downtown to these places.

For other information on Cagayan, you can also visit their official website.

Best Way To Get Around:

Transportation is quite easy in Cagayan de Oro. Taxis are easily available and the drivers know the city quite well. The latest phenomena is the Toyota Altis taxi which overshadows the older models. People would often ignore other taxis to ride in a spiffy Altis. But a ride is a ride for me, so I don't really choose.

From downtown, jeeps are available to most destinations within the city. Admittedly, I am not very familiar as to which street certain routes pass. The main Divisoria road, where the downtown is located, have routes going to LimKetKai and the Agora bus terminal.

My favorite vehicle is the motorela, a motorcycle which has an extended body which can fit up to eight people, even ten if you push it. It goes around the general area of downtown for six pesos. It will even bring you right to your doorstep! Jeep fare costs 7.50.

There is also an airport in Cagayan, which has direct flights to and from Manila. Ferry liners travel to Manila as well, but there are routes to Cebu City, Dumaguete, Iloilo, and other Visayas cities. There is the bus terminal of Agora and Bulua which takes you to different parts of Mindanao. The Agora terminal has buses going to Davao, Bukidnon, Tacurong, and Butuan areas. The Bulua terminal covers the general area of Zamboanga, Misamis Oriental and Lanao.

Cagayan de Oro is one of the places I frequent whenever I do field work. It is a pit-stop between Davao and the other places I have to visit for work. Thus, I have become quite acquainted with the place. Whenever I have to stay overnight there, I would reserve a room at Casa Crystalla.

There are several reasons why I choose Casa Crystalla: 1) it fits our official budget for lodging; 2) among those places where the budget fits, Casa is the cleanest and most comfortable; and 3) it is located in the center of the city and provides easy access to restaurants and transportation.

Casa Crystalla is just a stone's throw away from most of the good restaurants of Cagayan de Oro. It's room service is from Mom's Corner, which has scrumptious affordable dishes for its customers.

The staff are also quite friendly. They don't have a bellboy, but the security guard will take your bag himself and take it to your room.

As for the room, I would usually take the standard room. On lucky days, I'd get the queen-sized bed. Usually, I get the room with twin beds. The beds are comfortable enough, though you could see from the sheets that they have been in use for some time already.

The television is quite small, and the remote sometimes doesn't work so you'd have to get up to switch channels. I don't spend much time in the room so it doesn't really matter much to me.

There is enough closet space for users, with some hangers for use as well. Again, I don't need this much because I usually just stay for the night.

Casa Crystalla only provides towels and soap for the guests, so it would be best if you would bring your own toiletries.

What I do like is the clean bathroom. The standard room only has a small bathroom but at least it's clean, and they have finally improved on their Bhagwan heater which takes such a long time to heat that by the time you finish your shower, the water is still not that warm. This time they have the Aquastar heater which warms your water in no time; a warm shower at a hotel is already enough to make me happy with my stay.

The older air-conditioning used to be noisy but the newly-renovated rooms have quieter A/Cs now, so your sleep is more restful.

All-in-all, with their standard room rate of P650, it's quite worth it. What really matters to me is the comfort and cleanliness of the place, and Casa Crystalla has it.

They also have a three suites available to their guests. There are two beds slightly bigger than those in the standard rooms. The room space, TV, and bathroom are much bigger too. You even have a mini-sala set in the suite, and it only costs P950.

Casa Crystalla is definitely a value for money, so much that they are often full-house!

Gazebo Cafe is quite a cozy and homey place for those wanting to spend time relaxing with a nice warm cup of coffee. For those with laptops, this would be the perfect place to spend time typing away because the place is a free wi-fi zone.

I have already passed by Gazebo several times during my previous trips to Cagayan de Oro. The exterior piqued my interest but I always forget to go there because of the many errands I have to do in Cagayan. Fortunately, one of my friends from Manila was staying for a while and we agreed to meet at Gazebo for coffee.

When we met each other there, she was raving about the good food, great coffee, and genius free wi-fi. She would spend countless hours working on her laptop at Gazebo Cafe.

Since I was still full and only needed a drink, she recommended their iced tea, so I had an order. True enough, it was very refreshing and not too sweet. It had a blend of citrus flavors that quenched my thirst.

My next trip after that meeting, I made sure to go back to Gazebo to have a try of their meals. I got to Cagayan around 9pm. When I made way to Gazebo, it was already closed. It was only open until 8:30. So I went back the next day for lunch.

For lunch I ordered the tuna and mushroom pasta and frozen coffee (I forget the name). The coffee was delicious! It wasn't too strong, plus it had a nutty taste that I enjoyed very much (must be the flavor I chosen). It was thick but not too thick that it was hard to drink. The pasta was also superb. The toasted garlic bread went well with it. The sauce was creamy and they were very generous with the tuna and mushroom; and the whole time I was eating, I was browsing through internet sites.

In another room of Gazebo, there is furniture and decor for sale. Some of the stuff looked like it came from Bangkok and Italy. The wooden furniture for sale was lovely, the kind that would furnish small-town London kitchens, I would imagine. There were also paper lamps, similar to those displayed on the ceiling of Gazebo. It was just a marvel to window shop the things for sale.

I am definitely going to try the other pasta and meals on the menu of Gazebo! My friend has other recommendations which I have not tried yet and my first experience with their pasta made me want to go back for more.

Hot coffees range from P50-70.
Cold/Frozen coffees range from P70-P100.
Pasta ranges from P90-130.
Sandwiches range from P60-P100.