Early in the morning of the next day, Easter Sunday, we departed Guimaras for Iloilo City, bringing along a memento of our Guimaras visit – a kaing (bamboo basket) of delectable Guimaras mangoes. We were dropped off at Plaza Libertad where we heard mass at the Church of St. Joseph.
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| Dining on La Paz batchoy |
Later, we were driven to SM Iloilo, in the city’s bustling commercial district, where we all had lunch at Teddy’s La Paz Batchoy. We each had a bowl of the famous La Paz batchoy, Iloilo City’s most popular dish This soup is made with pork organs (liver, spleen, kidney and heart), shrimp, vegetables, chicken stock, chicken breast, beef loin and round noodles with soy sauce added and topped crushed pork cracklings (chicharon) and leeks. After this delicious repast, we still had time to visit the Amusement Center where Jandy and Cheska took a train ride.
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| Jandy and Cheska |
The original SM Iloilo (opened on May 1979), located at the cor. of Delgado and Valeria St., was demolished on February 2, 2004 and a new building was build in the vicinity (inaugurated on December 8 that same year). In 2007, an annex building was built to complete the shopping center’s redevelopment.
From SM Iloilo, we all left for our afternoon Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight back to Manila.