Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Eagles and Catfish


Today was a tiring but fun day for us. We started the day by visiting the Philippine Eagle Center (PEC) in Davao City. The Center is home to 36 Philippine Eagles, 18 of which are captive-bred. It also houses 10 other species of birds, 4 species of mammals and 2 species of reptiles. Simulating a tropical rain forest environment, the Center offers the visitor a glimpse into the country’s forest ecosystem. Although the exhibits are used primarily to help educate the Filipino people on conservation, the facility is also considered a major tourist attraction in Davao City.

The PEC reminded me of the MCWD Family Park back in Cebu where there are also a few rare animals housed-in, but it really shows that the PEC is more well-funded so it is far more organized than the family park. It would really be nice to see the Family Park become a tourist attraction in the near future, rather than just a simple park with a playground, a mini zoo and a pool.

I was able to take a lot of close-up shots of most animals, except Pag-asa and some of the bigger eagles because their cages were so big, and kinda elevated that even with my camera's optical and digital zoom, the eagles were still so far away. I will be posting those pics as soon as I get back to Cebu since I left my cable at home.

We spent around two hours at the PEC, then we had our lunch at a native restaurant along the highway. My mother-in-law ordered for us, and it was my first time to see and taste a catfish or what is known locally as hito. I am very choosy especially when eating fish, but I was able to consume two large grilled hitos.

When I was about to board the van after lunch, a man with a lot of multicolored cowboy hats approached me and offered me a hat for PHP 300 (6.75 USD). I was thinking of buying one for my dad back home, but PHP 300 is quite expensive for a hat, nevermind if it looks like a really expensive cowboy hat. When I was already inside the van, the man tried to haggle and dropped the price to PHP 250 (5.62 USD), and when I said I'm not interested, he lowered the price to PHP 50 (1.12 USD). I was already decided not to buy so I politely declined and we went on our way.

After lunch, we went to the NCCC Mall to kill time, and I saw the very same cowboy hats sold by the man earlier, sold inside the mall at PHP 95 (2.14 USD). I wanted to buy a white one for my dad, but then I realized that my dad likes to wear a hat, but not a cowboy hat so instead, I just went to the basement and bought a pearl shake for myself instead. *burp*

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