Living In Cagayan de Oro And Loving It

It took a while before I began loving living in this city. I mean, except for several years living some place else, I have lived most of my life here but I’ve never really given much thought to just what I love about living here.
Unlike Manila or Davao City, Cagayan de Oro has no rock solid claim to fame. A city is too often defined by, say, the number of museums it houses or perhaps by the quality of its restaurants. Cagayan, while not lacking, has very few of those. In fact, if you are one of those who, as the song goes, like the night life, I do not think this is the place for you.
Of late Cagayan de Oro has been called “the adventure capital of Mindanao” for its white water rafting tours and outdoor adventure parks. The sight of tourist-laden jeepneys with white water rafts lashed on their roofs has become an all too familiar sight. But besides its promise of weekend fun, there isn’t much going on.
But I think this is precisely why I love living here. Life is simpler here as they say. There is less clutter---there’s home, there’s work, and there’s what you plan for the weekend.
Here you do not have to gulp your coffee in the morning, risking scalding your tongue in a desperate effort to get to the office on time. You can sit back and brew your coffee; sip and savor the aroma and wait for the caffeine to kick in and prime your nerves. Here there is time enough for that second cup of coffee, if you need it. Provided, of course, you wake up way before needing to rush which is not too early here.
I love, too, the fact that everywhere seem to be nearer here. Nearer especially during summer when all the people who swell the population of the city during school time have gone home. Yes traffic occasionally goes bad here. But doesn’t it go bad on occasion almost everywhere else save perhaps in the boondocks?
Cagayan de Oro ,too, has the perfect or near perfect terrain for bicyclists—a little bit of rolling terrain here and there but generally as flat as flat iron. I live in a subdivision in Gusa in what used to be the outskirts of Cagayan. Yet if I have to cycle to, say, buy some bread in DV Soria in the heart of the city, the trip would take only about 20 minutes tops.
I love that mountains ring the city. I have been an avid mountain biker for the past ten years and I have found that the perfect MTB trail is just a mere ten minutes away. Where else can you ride your bike three times a week and ride a different trail each time?
But perhaps I love living here because this is my home: home in the sense that almost everything of note that has happened to me happened to me here. Grew up here, got married here, had my two children here. Will probably die here.
I guess I got lucky. Cagayan de Oro, after all, has the perfect mix of opportunities for making a living and living a life.