JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

SM Iloilo looks like every SM in Metro Manila—boxy, utilitarian, and on Saturday at the height of the Dinagyang festivities, packed. It has the same shops as your neighborhood SM, plus local businesses, most of them food-related.

My sister asked me to buy barquillos so I asked a teacher from Philippine Science High School-Iloilo to recommend the best kind. She said Deocampo’s or Biscocho Haus. Extreme self-control is required when buying the local sweets: they are lethal. Don’t even open a pack when you’re alone. Before you know it you are piaya.

The Trappist monks on Guimaras Island make mango-based delicacies such as biscocho, jam, and tarts. Ignore all other claims: the Philippines has the most delicious mangoes on earth.

The Iloilo Horticultural Society has a showroom in the mall—according to our host, they provide the flowers for SM events, so the space is rent-free. (Our tour guide Troy Camarista said the residents of Villa Street outside the city have beautiful gardens where you can walk around and buy flowers.)

I spotted an exhibition of terracotta sculptures made by the Gawad Kalinga Sooc Terracotta Youth Artists Group.

Proceeds from the sales go to the livelihood programs. They also recycle Smart tarpaulins into bags.