Today is a day when I'm struggling to feel like we have enough of a framework, and my patience with living carless and household goods-less is wearing thin. That means it's a perfect day to blog about our day trip to Assumption Eco Park in Antipolo! :) I am so thankful to bloggers who have shared their local finds with me, and this is a great one.
Dear "Aunt Sheryl" loaded us up and drove us an hour out of our neighborhood up into the hills on the edge of metro Manila. The Eco Park is on the grounds of a Catholic school. For 65 pesos per child and 85 per adult, we got a guided tour, including a look at the butterfly museum, the shell museum, animals, an organic garden, a butterfly house, and a tree house.
I oohed and ahhed over the shell and butterfly collections, and my inner homeschooling mom went a little overboard with enthusiasm. There are so many tropical shells and butterflies that none of us have ever seen in person. I really couldn't help myself. "Look at this one, boys! It's naturally that color! That one looks like green onions. Isn't that super cool?" Yes, totally obnoxious.
The animals were definitely close, and the cages were clean, but not large. This hawklike owl really gave us the staredown. He looked a wee bit more aggressive than North American owls. I'm glad I'm not a mouse.
Our tour guide, Minda, gave the boys a cup of cracked corn so the boys could feed the pigeons and doves in the bird cage. The cooing that filled the air all around us as they settled by the boys' feet was soothing.
Minda told us what many of the different plants were, and I was really surprised when she pointed out a cacao tree. Yes, that kind of cacao. She cut one open for us. It wasn't fully ripe, but we all chewed on the sweet, fruit covered seeds. It didn't taste at all like chocolate. She said that you roast the seeds to make chocolate.
One of the best parts of the Eco Park was this tree house! There was a wonderful breeze among the branches. I wanted to stay there all day.
The butterfly house had a caterpillar area as we were leaving. The boys got to hold this spiky looking caterpillar, and Minda told us that it would turn into a large black butterfly with huge royal blue spots on its wings that we'd seen flying around inside. Though it looks sharp, the spikes are actually soft.
There was more than one cage of local monkeys. We got a lot closer to them here than we'd ever be able to get to monkeys in the U.S. The boys sat and talked and sang to them as they ran and paced. If we looked them in the eyes, they'd open their mouths wide and snarl. The boys named one of them "Gaper." :) When it was their lunch time, we enjoyed watching them eat corn off the cob. :)
Time for lunch with my own monkeys! We were able to go get our packed picnic from the car and find our way back to the tree house.
We had this place practically to ourselves on a weekday morning, and after our tour, we could just wander around and spend more time by the exhibits.
I'm so thankful that our first nature exploration in Southeast Asia was a success.
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