Villa Escudero - Picnic By The Falls

We head off to Villa Escudero (in the boundary of Batangas and Quezon provinces) for a refreshing picnic by the water falls! We were ofcourse with the babes once again-- Mom, Ninang Sheila, Nina and Bel.

The day was simply awesome! Our means of transport within the resort was quite unique- we rode'caritelas' drawn by humongous carabaos. En route we were entertained and serenaded by singers and guitarists who sang "kundiman" or folk songs. We even got lucky and sang "Bahay Kubo" along with the singers.

And the highlight of the day was lunch which was served at dining tables laid out by running water from the falls. We ate and waddled.. waddled and ate.

It was also an experience of Philippine history. We visited the Escudero Private Museum - which houses a varied and diversed collection of mainly religious arts which consists of procession floats and church memorabilia. Clearly these took us back to the Spanish era.

Also on display were dioramas of Filipino ancestors and their way of living then; antique oriental ceramics; costumes from around the world; wildlife; rare coins; old currencies; furniture; weapons of various kinds and sizes (our favorite!; and even clothes of past Philippine Presidents and spouses.

Coolness!

Camped Out!

Julio, Diego and good friend Javier camping out in the park.

We Can, You Can, Toucan!

We searched high and low-- wandered through the zoos and parks of Southeast Asia-- but he remained elusive. We are talking about Diego's favorite bird - the TOUCAN.

But wait!!! Of all the beautiful things that we heard about our local Avilon Zoo... could it be?! really possible?!.. That YES!!! A toucan indeed resides in this animal sanctuary in Montalban, Rizal. We saw pictures on the website, read blogs about it... but nothing beat the thrill of finally... finally seeing a toucan in real color!

So on that cloudy Saturday morning, we all went for an adventure... The Avilon Zoo was not easy to find and the drive was not traffic-free. But it was all worth it-- the zoo was very very nice indeed! The animal collection was impressive! Plus the animals themselves were all healthy, happy and groomed!

Mammals of all kinds- bears, kangaroos, wallabies, deers, capybaras, tapirs, armadillos, orangutans and babboons to name a few. But of course there were wild cats - the lions, tigers, jaguars, pumas and the leopards were just amazing! The clouded leopard remained as Mom's favorite. The Persian leopard was just too majestic that instantly it became Diego and Mom's new favorite.

Reptiles of many types and sizes - crocs, lizards, geckos, turtles and snakes. Even komodo dragons... We have seen so many species of these scary-looking creatures. There were some creepy creatures too such as tarantulas (and other kinds of spiders!!!!)and scorpions.

But for us, especially Diego, the pièce de résistance was its aviary - birds and birds and birds. Oh we have never seen such vast collection of these winged-friends of ours-- from the sweetest to the fiercest; from the tiniest to the biggest.


All we could say was "oooohhhh" as we walked along the cages of birds of prey like eagles, owls, hawks and vultures(imagine?!). And more "ooohs" as we came face to face with the giant ostriches and casowaries.
There were breeds of parrots, parakeets, mynas, canaries, hornbills and yes the magnificent toucan! Diego was just so happy to see one! And we could not blame him-- the toucan is a breed of its own class! Its colorful beak and gentle eyes are just mesmerizing!

On our way out-- Diego requested for us to pass by one more time his new friend, Toucan's cage-- just to say goodbye and see you again! This is definitely a beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Julio & Diego - Meet & Greet - Tom & Jerry