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For the most part, when you spend time with a local it will enrich your holiday more than any guidebook ever can. Meeting my first resident Filipino with a name that sounds like a movie star, was certainly no exception.

Val Sandiego and I enjoying a garden chat

As I walked through the streets of Pari-an in Cebu City, I was destination bound to a few of the attractions circled on my map. The Yap SanDiego Museum was not one of those destinations, but the unique beauty of the house did stop me in my tracks. The aged wooden exterior walls were a stark contrast to the decrepit art deco building next door and other grungy building fronts nearby. I popped my head into the open window and was overwhelmed with vases and figurines tucked into every available space of the low ceilinged room. The collections had a bit of a spookiness to them, accentuated by low lighting. A staffer appeared and mentioned the 70 peso entry cost. I scanned the building for a few seconds and walked away. Mistake numero uno.

I turned away because I thought I had seen everything the Museum had to offer. I turned away because I was still so unfamiliar with the currency that I thought 70 pesos was too much (=$1.64 canadian). I turned away because I was too focussed on getting to another site and wasn’t in a ‘go with the flow’ kind of mood. After I walked through the other site, the Casa Gorordo, I turned back and launched into a speed-walk. The Yap Sandiego House was definitely worth a visit.

The Yap Sandiego Ancestral House

Signage for all to know more of the Parian history

View from the downstairs doorway

I paid my entry fee and laughed with the staffer upon my re-entry. He directed me upstairs and pointed out a few features, but asked me to tour at my own leisure. “And you’re welcome to take photos and touch things here-unlike the other local sites,” he added. I told him of being reprimanded in the Gorordo House and he laughed.

As on the ground floor, every inch of space had been filled with an item of interest. Victorian dolls sat up in wooden cribs, wine glasses circled the coffee table in behind. All of the windows were open to the street with no glass holding in any more of the humidity, their wooden shutters folded up along the edges. I could hear kids shouting from the basketball court across the road, a reminder that this really was a house, in an actual residential neighborhood and not just a museum. With the natural light highlighting everything in sight, the spookiness that I had felt on the ground floor, had vanished. There was more character on this level. I recognized repeat faces in the photos that hung on the walls and in golden stand up frames on top of dressers. The pictures were modern, though made to look old by wearing stage clothes and using a sepia tone. The mother, father, daughters and son stayed in character with straight faces, but I sensed the eldest was biting her tongue to stop the giggles .

Upstairs Yap Sandiego House =family photos & glass & & &

Painting of how the Mabini Street once looked circa 1750

The original roof tiles!

The largest frame hanging on the side wall was not an aged photo, but a thick oil painting on canvas of an empty street scene. Red roofed buildings lined the cobble stoned road.There were no people. The windows were all open.

“If you look up at the roof from the inside, you’ll notice the terra-cotta tiles are the same as the one’s in the painting, and they’re all original. We are the only building int the neighborhood with the original roof. The floors are original floorboards as well.” The staffer had crept back up the wide wooden staircase to drop off a few more facts for me.

So how old is this house then?

1605.

1805?

No-1605.

But how can that be? There’s so much wood around-doesn’t it ware down or rot?

The owner did some restoration work a few years back, but all the floorboards were numbered as they were pulled up and treated. They are right back where they started, only they’ll last a little longer. And you know, the original glue for the tisa roof tiles was a combination of lyme and egg whites.

One of the downstairs dinner tables – and another family photo!

The original form of plumbing-a big spouted pot of water

View from the upstairs bedroom

I looked back at the painting and realized the building I stood in had been one of many red roofed houses in the area. I shook my head with disbelief at the house being over 400 years old. Stone castles surviving in Europe I can comprehend, but wooden houses in Asia? Through the rains and the humidity? I vowed to do some google researching to authenticate the staffers’ facts.

I walked over to the other half of the upstairs level and immediately felt I had stepped into an out of bounds area. The clothes poorly hidden in the corner of the bedroom and the toiletry kit sitting beside the sink were a bit of a give away. I learned that the owner still stays at the house on occasion.

The place was so busy with stock, I had a hard time focussing on any one area. I started to see the items more for what they were; a family’s collection of mementos rather than stock. Yes, this was a museum, but the personal touch became more and more evident. I could imagine a mother decorating the box of keepsakes by gluing on shells collected from the beach. I could imagine the girls in the family sitting around the table and crocheting all the placemats and window decorations. This was a home that had been opened up to educate guests of trends past.

Garden Statue

Garden greenery along the side of the Yap Sandiego House

The photo album story of restoring the house

I returned downstairs to have a look outside in the pebbled garden area. I noticed a solitary man darting around a corner with a watering can. The potted shrubs were thriving, obviously appreciating his attention. I photographed an aged statue and made my way to the corner of the triangular corner property to capture the biggest possible image of the building. The staffer followed me, pointing out the well.

That’s original too you know.

You seem to have a lot of pride for this house, I commented.

Well this house and the owner, who’s just over there, has done a lot for me and the community.

I perked up a little more upon hearing of the owner being present. Within moments I had an introduction to Val Sandiego and an opportunity to sit down and hear details firsthand. Val brought out a photo album showing the stages of updating the house. It had been a difficult journey overcoming the financial and bureaucratic obstacles in transforming his family’s heritage into a museum, but the end result is evident. The community is standing behind him and recognition for the local history is finally being seen.

I expressed my thanks for the additional insights and vowed to share my experience as best I could. Val then added the icing on the cake to my day, by inviting me to dinner the following night.

It’s a full moon at the Yap Sandiego House!

Perhaps one of the best atmospheres created for an authentic meal!

Dinner is served

With a black sky and a full moon backdrop, the atmosphere in and around the house took on a different life. There were still some local kids playing basketball across the street, and I passed many smells of dinner being prepared in nearby kitchens, but the Yap Sandiego Ancestral House stood out. The same open windows and doors allowed passers to peek in, but there was also an overall feeling of homeliness. And accent lighting. There were no more tourists in the area, yet people posed in front of the house. They greeted Val and the conversation flowed into introductions. Apparently, visiting family members need to see the house that embodies the history of the entire community. Val was gleaming with pride.

Our dinner of noodles and wontons, barbecued fish and chicken skewers was laid out on the table in the back garden. We were joined by a local historian and guide, Ka Bino Guerrero. I told him of my complete unawareness of Filipino history, which in turn, made stumbling upon so many unique buildings such a treat to discover.

I can’t actually recall covering any Filipino history in my Canadian education-I’m sure it just got lumped into the general Asia category, of which I soon forgot. I suppose if I had studied history further, I would have had more of an understanding of what this part of the world endured. But now in hindsight, this is why I travel. Learning just a few facts about the region certainly help in defining the current culture. For example;

Looking over the garden or a game of ‘sungka’

Victorian doll….that kind of gave me the spooks!

The China cupboard

• In 1521, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines and claimed the islands for Spain
• From 1565-1898, The Philippine islands were part of the Spanish East Indies, hence many Spanish names and surnames
• Cebu was a very significant port for ships from Mexico, collecting along the Spice Route
• There is an historic mark left by many cultures across the Philippines; Chinese pirates, Dutch, British and Japanese to name just a few
• Spain’s influence on its former colonies is significant to this day, the majority Philippinos belong to the Roman Catholic faith.
• Following the Spanish American War in 1898, most of the 7000 Philippino islands were occupied by Americans
• In 1946, the Philippines finally attained its independence
• The political situation has been calm for a while now. The 80′s and 90′s were filled with assinations and exiled leaders. Most notorious was Imelda Marcos leaving her 1,700 pairs of shoes when she joined her ex-president husband Ferdinand in Hawaii. Now she, and her son, dabble in the political scene and the occasional coruption trial.

Val Sandiego watching over the neighbourhood

Dedicated family & friends/historians & artists committed to maintaining the house.

Fiona and Val looking over the street from the upstairs window

Thanks again Val  And to all visitors to Cebu, enjoy your tour of the Yap Sandiego House-it’s definitely worth it!

Vases and Paintings

There are many examples of the Victorian art using shells

Light / statue / mirror

The Victorian lounge chair that made me felt too much like a trip to the doctor’s office!

The wide wooden central staircase

One of the (always open) street level windows

Outdoor night lights make the house a center point in town at all hours