- Home in Dumaguete

Dumaguete is a friendly, not-too-large city of about 130,000, about the size of Columbia SC, nicknamed “The City of Gentle People.” According to some historians, it was Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero, who first described Dumaguete this way when he stopped here over a hundred years ago.

It has four universities and a number of other colleges and has a large number of expats. In 2014 it was named by Forbes as the fifth best place to retire in the world. The Philippine Retirement Authority named Dumaguete the best place to retire in the Philippines in 2018. It is also the provincial capital of Negros Oriental. Among the 6 cities and 19 municipalities of the province, it has both the smallest land area and the largest population.

Downtown near the public market

Dumaguete has four universities
and several other colleges.
The most famous is Silliman University.

Silliman is the first American college in the Philippines
or in Asia-founded in 1901.

Built in the early 1800's to warn the inhabitants of approaching pirates,
 the Dumaguete Belfry
is now a symbol of the city

Downtown “The Boulevard” is a nice place to hang out in the evening or take a romantic walk – with the ocean next to the boardwalk next to a plaza with benches and statues and trees next to the boulevard next to attractive restaurants and shops, all within a 50 yard swath.

From the north looking Southeast,
the Boulevard is a popular place to exercise
and socialize 

We found an apartment two or three kilometers from the city center. It is nice townhouse with three bedrooms and two baths with hot water in each. It’s completely furnished, and there’s plenty of room. It’s a very nice home, but it’s not perfect. Often there is no water upstairs and sometimes none downstairs either. And it is the only house I’ve ever seen that in order to open or close the downstairs bathroom door, you have to lift the toilet seat!

Kitchen area with a bedroom on the right

Dining area 

From the front

Our bedroom

Second bedroom

Looking out the front door

Our apartment is about 15 minutes from the ocean and 15 minutes from the mountains.

Soon after we arrived we would walk down to the local sari-sari store from time to time and hang out across the street under the shade of a couple of trees. The neighbors have been very friendly and helpful even though many of them don’t speak much English. They have been extremely helpful in helping us adjust to our new home.

Friends and neighbors
chillin'

And daily they provide a sampling of local cuisine (street food) at a bargain price so that often one can eat a whole Filipino meal for $0.75 or less.

With the help of kind neighbors we located and purchased a bright red 1997 Mitsubishi Lancer to provide transportation around town.