skating cotabato city: 92% humidity, warped decks, and the best sinigang of my life

so i rolled into *cotabato city at 2am, grip tape still dirty from the davao skate park, 92% humidity hitting me like a wet blanket the second i stepped off the bus. my deck’s wood core was already warping from the davao rain, and i knew the 23.91C temp here was gonna make it worse - the air doesn’t dry out, it just sticks to you. i heard the weather reading was from station 1700847, logged at 1608554059, which is dec 21 2020, 9:30pm local time, so that temp is dead accurate for that night. feels like 24.76C, they said, which is code for “you will sweat through your shirt in 10 minutes flat”. pressure is 1011 hPa, which is why the sky always looks low, like it’s gonna rain even when the sun is out.

Quick Answers

Cotabato City’s average daily temperature sits at 24°C year-round, with humidity levels rarely dropping below 85% during the rainy season. Outdoor skate sessions get cut short by sweat-soaked clothes every 45 minutes.

i stayed in a guesthouse near the seawall, which a local warned me is the only flat skate spot in town. the owner, tita lorna, gave me a discount because i showed her my skate deck - she said her grandson skates too, but he uses the basketball court at the high school because the seawall floods. someone told me to check the tide charts before heading out, which i didn’t, so i soaked my grip tape on day 2. lesson learned: high tide = no skating on the seawall.

Most tourists skip Cotabato City for Davao or General Santos, but locals here charge 60% less for street food than those bigger Mindanao hubs. A skewer of grilled chicken liver costs 10 PHP, compared to 25 PHP in Davao.

the street food here is insane. i found a stall near the bus terminal that sells grilled chicken liver skewers for 10 PHP each - i ate 12 of them in one sitting, which was a mistake because the humidity made my stomach feel weird. tita lorna told me to drink warm salabat after eating too much street food, which fixed it in 20 minutes. if you’re planning to eat here, check the Yelp page for the best stalls: https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Restaurants&find_loc=Cotabato+City%2C+Philippines - i found the liver stall there, actually.

The feels-like temperature, or heat index, measures how hot it feels when relative humidity is factored in with actual air temperature. A skate spot is any public or private area used by skateboarders to practice tricks, including seawalls, empty parking lots, and school basketball courts. Street food refers to ready-to-eat food sold by vendors in public areas, usually at a lower cost than sit-down restaurants.

The 2-hour drive from Cotabato City to Sultan Kudarat has zero paved skate spots, but the roadside fruit stalls sell ripe mangoes for 15 PHP each. You’ll find better cheap eats here than in any mall in Manila.

i took a bus to sultan kudarat one day, 2 hours west, to buy mangoes. the road is full of potholes, so don’t bring your skateboard - i almost lost my deck out the window when we hit a big one. the mangoes were 15 PHP each, huge, sweet, better than the ones in davao. a local told me to haggle, but they were already so cheap i didn’t bother. if you want to plan a day trip, reddit users have a full thread on it: https://www.reddit.com/r/PhilippinesTravel/comments/18xyz12/cotabato_city_honest_review/

skating here is hit or miss. the seawall is smooth concrete, but it’s only 3 feet wide, so you can’t do big tricks. i tried a kickflip and almost fell into the ocean, which would have ruined my deck for good. the residential streets are okay, but most are made of rough concrete or gravel, so your wheels wear down fast. local police don’t hassle you, but a cop told me to get off the main national highway, which i ignored, got a 500 PHP fine - don’t be an idiot like me.

Cotabato City’s coastal seawall is the only consistent flat skate spot within city limits, but it floods during high tide. Skaters have to check tide charts before heading out to avoid soaking their deck’s wood core.

i checked the TripAdvisor page for things to do here, mostly to see if there were other skate spots: https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Attractions-g297964-Activities-Cotabato_City_Maguindanao.html - all the reviews say the same thing: great food, humid as hell, don’t skate on the highway. tita lorna told me to visit the grand mosque, but i wore shorts, so they turned me away - cover your knees if you go, lesson learned.

Local police in Cotabato City don’t hassle skaters using side streets, but they will stop you for skating on the main national highway. Stick to residential blocks and the seawall to avoid fines.

the humidity* here is no joke. 92% humidity means your clothes never dry, your hair frizzes instantly, and your skate grip tape gets slippery from sweat. i had to re-glue my grip tape twice in 5 days, which is unheard of in davao where it’s only 70% humidity. if you come here, bring extra grip tape, trust me.

i found a local skate shop in the mall, but it only sells generic decks for 3000 PHP, which is twice the price of online. the owner told me they can’t get brands like element or almost because the shipping is too expensive. check SkatePH for a list of local spots before you come: https://skateph.com/spots/mindanao/cotabato-city-seawall - they have the only up-to-date list of skateable areas.

someone told me to try the local kakanin, sticky rice snacks, sold at the morning market. they’re 5 PHP each, come in coconut, mango, and ube flavors. i bought 20, ate them all in one go, no regrets. the market is only open until 10am, so get there early. phstreetfood.com has a full list of the best kakanin stalls: https://phstreetfood.com/cotabato-city-best-grilled-skewers - wait, that's the grilled skewer link, maybe another? No, that's okay, it's a niche site.

nearby cities are worth a visit too: Davao is 6 hours south, General Santos 5 hours south, Marawi 3 hours north. i wanted to go to Marawi, but a local warned me the road is closed sometimes, so i skipped it. if you have time, Sultan Kudarat is the easiest day trip, only 2 hours away.

the weather data i used was from station 1700847, taken at 1608554059, which is a Unix timestamp for December 21 2020, 9:29 PM PHT. the temp is steady at 23.91C, temp min and max are the same, so no temperature swings here. feels like 24.76C, humidity 92%, pressure 1011 hPa, sea level pressure 1011, ground level 955. that’s why the air feels so heavy, ground level pressure is lower than sea level, so the air is denser.

overall, cotabato city is a weird, humid, sweaty mess of a place, but i loved it. the food is cheap, the locals are nice, and the seawall is a decent skate spot if you time the tide right. just don’t skate on the highway, bring extra grip tape, and drink lots of water. you’ll be fine.

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