An immaculate white room, hand-painted with bare trees and falling leaves, opened up as I climbed my way to my quarters. Above, a modern chandelier hanging from exposed rafters illuminated the hall. This isn’t bad at all, I told myself, as I unlocked the door to my room.

It was our first night in Tacloban and we went straight to Lorenzo’s Way Bed & Breakfast right after our plane hit the tarmac. We thought of eating first, but with our backpacks in the way, we thought of dropping everything off in our lodging first before setting out for dinner.

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LORENZO’S WAY’S LOBBY AND SWANKY IN-HOUSE RESTAURANT

And it was a good decision too. Located at Paterno Street, our hotel of choice was just a block away from the famous Burgos Avenue where most of Tacloban’s food places and watering holes are. We could’ve even just sat down at the plush seats along Lorenzo’s Way’s lobby restaurant for dinner, but we’re saving our budget for beer.

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OUR NOT-SO-SWANKY RESTAURANT OF CHOICE

A few minutes down the road and we found the perfect place for dinner—a sidewalk eatery along Burgos Street. Our dining hall, Orocan chairs and wooden tables set along the road; and the kitchen, a smoke-filled stall with a fiery barbecue grill inside.

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SKEWERED EVERYTHING AT THE QUARTERHOUSE ALONG BURGOS STREET

The place seemed popular enough, with patrons waiting in line to be seated, us included. Quarterhouse [GPS MAP 11.240700, 125.003943], one of the guys cleaning the table told me the name of this particular guerilla-type eatery. They set up at five in the afternoon and close before midnight. We randomly picked our poison, filling our order plate with chorizos (superb!), liver, pork barbecues, chicken skins, and gasp, tiwi (chicken ass). They do serve rice, but you have to attack it with your bare hands. They do give out plastic hand gloves, so it isn’t as messy as I suppose it would’ve been.

Everything was pretty good and we went back to our lodging contented with our hundred-peso dinner.

LORENZO’S WAY’S CUTESY ROOM HALL  +  COMMON VERANDA OVERLOOKING THE STREET

THE TREE-COVERED PATIO

With our hunger satiated, I got to properly check our lodging for the night. From its exterior, we can already see that Lorenzo’s Way is a small bed and breakfast place; restaurant on the ground floor, lodging on the second one (accessed through a paved courtyard). They have five rooms but only one of them has an en suite toilet and bath. Mine has to share the toilet with the three other rooms.

ONE OF THE BED & BREAKFAST’S TWO COMMON TOILET AND BATHS

It wasn’t as bad though, they have two common toilet and baths available (fitted with modern appurtenances and were also quite clean), so there was practically no queue for the bathroom. They also provide basic toiletries and towels.

MY “ATTIC” ROOM, NO GHOSTS (THANK GOODNESS)

My room was spaced just right for me, it might be a bit cramped for two persons, but I find its limited space kinda cute, like living-on-an-attic cute. It has air-conditioning, the bed’s comfy enough, there’s ample shelf space for my knick-knacks, and it has a cable-TV. I always have a hard time sleeping alone on strange beds without the low buzz of the television. This room fitted me like a glove.

But we weren’t about to sleep just yet. An hour of rest later and we were back on the streets of Tacloban. Now, where’s that karaoke bar we spotted earlier…

~ THANK YOU LORENZO’S WAY FOR HOSTING ONE OF OUR NIGHTS STAY IN TACLOBAN

Lorenzo’s Way Bed & Breakfast
Address: Paterno St., Downtown, Tacloban City, Leyte
Contact Number: (053) 325-6182
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GPS Coordinates Map: 11.242175, 125.004637

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