Iloilo for a day

With our passports expiring this year, cutie sis and I went to the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) office in Iloilo for the renewal. We chose Iloilo since going there from Bacolod takes just about an hour via fast ferries compared to Cebu where another DFA office is located. We took the early morning trip via SeaJet and arrived before 8AM at the DFA. At the pier gates, you can see a line of trisikads (bicycle-driven carriage) asking if you want to go to the DFA. I guess they assume that most of the passengers arriving in Iloilo are going to the DFA. 🙂 For Php10 per person, cutie sis and I rode one and got to our destination within 15 minutes.

There were people crowding at the DFA entrance already when we arrived. After filling up some forms, having our photos taken and submitting the necessary papers, we were told by the guard to be back at 1pm. It was still about 9AM, so we decided to explore the city (and go shopping) given the few extra hours. Walking along Iznart Street, we decided to have breakfast at Chowking. Afterwhich we spent the rest of the morning at SM City where we had fun in the ladies’ section and bought some bags and accessories. We got a nice travel handcarry bag for Mom. Sorry we haven’t bought any pasalubongs for the guys, it was hard finding some nice Iloilo shirts on display and time was running out. *sigh*

After a quick lunch, we speeded off back to DFA just in time to hear our names being called by the guard. It means going inside the waiting area (finally) and sitting there until you hear your name called and the processing begins. We were hoping to be done earlier so we could catch the 3:30PM scheduled trip back to Bacolod. Too bad, we got out of the DFA office later in the afternoon, so we took the 5PM trip via Weesam Express. And cutie sis cheerfully remarked when we arrived, “we survived Iloilo!” yeah. 🙂