What started out as a trip to catch the annual Pintaflores Festival in San Carlos City turned out to be a totally different journey across the province of Negros Occidental. Together with The Road Trippers peeps, we were able to visit some new old sights along the towns and cities of Talisay, Bacolod, Murcia and San Carlos. We were also able to try out and taste the local dishes these places have to offer.
The day was a scorcher. The heat was oozing out from the concrete and into San Carlos City’s streets; chasing us like shadows, haunting us like ghosts. It was the day of Pintaflores Festival and we were not about to be dissuaded by such trivial things as heat strokes and what nots.
This is what we came all the way from Bacolod City for, the colors of the Pintaflores. But fate it seemed was not with us. Due to some planning oversight, the scheduled flight back to Manila was set on the very same day of the festival. It would’ve been alright if there’s an airport at San Carlos City itself, but alas, we have to go all the way back to Bacolod for our plane ride.
We were treated like family guests during our brief stay at San Carlos City in Negros Occidental. Our host accommodation, Skyland Hotel and Restaurant, made all the arrangements even before we arrived from Bacolod City and made sure we were as comfortable as possible.
Skyland Hotel is a medium-sized inn located at San Carlos City’s downtown area. It started operation during the late 90’s and has a total of 19 rooms. Everything is furnished with double beds and equipped with televisions, air conditioning and hot showers.
The evening was just beginning as we walked towards San Carlos City’s central plaza. The sky has still hints of the waning day’s blues and streets were quiet, as quiet as the public cemetery we passed en route to our destination; the San Carlos Borromeo Cathedral.
There isn’t much history about the city’s symmetrical cathedral; it wasn’t bombed, it didn’t crumble during an earthquake and it isn’t built of corals or stones like its hundred-year old brethrens. But yes, the parish is more than a hundred years old, taking its humble beginnings from nipas and wooden supports; it rose to its present form thirty seven years later.
My eyes opened and the hills passed; bright green, rolling and undulating with the wind. The sugarcane fields of Negros Occidental swept through our van window. I lifted off the latch and opened the window nearest me just a little bit, letting in a small stream of air to pass inside our warm vehicle. Nobody else seemed to mind, most of my companions were still stranded in Neverland, probably dreaming of lost boys and pirates, oblivious to the scenery outside as we sped off to San Carlos City.
This is what we came all the way from 
Skyland Hotel is a medium-sized inn located at San Carlos City’s downtown area. It started operation during the late 90’s and has a total of 19 rooms. Everything is furnished with double beds and equipped with televisions, air conditioning and hot showers. 
There isn’t much history about the city’s symmetrical cathedral; it wasn’t bombed, it didn’t crumble during an earthquake and it isn’t built of corals or stones like its hundred-year old brethrens. But yes, the parish is more than a hundred years old, taking its humble beginnings from nipas and wooden supports; it rose to its present form thirty seven years later.
