No visit to Zamboanga City is complete without sampling Alavar Seafood Restaurant's Curacha — a giant deep-sea spanner crab half the size of a human face — drowning with the restaurant’s signature Alavar sauce. Eating it can be both satisfying and messy at the same time. Using your bare hands, crack the shell open to expose the thick and juicy meat inside, then glaze it with Zamboanga’s famous culinary sauce and viola. You’ll be surprised at how many crabs you have licked and sucked clean in the end.

A few days removed from being graced by the presence of National Living Treasure awardee Apuh Ambalang — a Yakan master weaver who unfortunately passed away at age 78 in February 2022 — in Lamitan, Basilan, we continued our discovery of the 'Habi' (weaving) culture of Zamboanga Peninsula by making an educational stop at the Yakan Village in Zamboanga. Despite the fact that this was my second visit to this Yakan cultural hub, I was immediately captivated by the vibrant woven creations displayed in the rows of stalls that greeted us after we alighted from our vans.