At El Toro Zoo!

At the fourth day of our La Castellana trip, we watched the report of TV Patrol Negros featuring the zoo in town. We never really knew before that there's this spot in La Castellana if not for that report. 

So the following day, we went to visit it.

From the town market, we rode a pedicab going to the zoo. What faced us was a very tall gate made of plain sheets that hid the inside from the outside onlookers. The entrance fee costs one hundred pesos for adults and eighty pesos for a pair of student and parent during school tours.

The zoo was a bit busy since two classes from different schools in Negros scheduled a tour there. Nevertheless, it was still a feast for our eyes. Personally, this is only the third zoo I've been to. The first two was still when I was in elementary and I'm 25 now! For Kristoff, it's his first!

Our zoo tour guide is Clyde and I really thank him for showing and naming all the animals there for us. Whatta memory he has! Let me now tell you our experience through the pictures!

Kristoff was still asleep here.

This is an entrance to the part of the zoo that houses nocturnal animals. Unfortunately, Mark's phone ran out of memory space and all the pics we took with these animals weren't saved and we didn't realize!

Hi Mr./Ms. Owl!

Arapaima. A fish from the Amazon.

Oscar fish from South America.

Male double wattled cassowary from NE Australia.

Crocodiles from the Philippines.

Monitor lizard from the Philippines.

Green Iguana from South America.

Fahaka Puffer Fish from Nile River.

Golden Tilapia.

I can't help smiling. My son looks like his grandpa in this photo. :)

With the albino giant gourami from China.

Puffer Fish or Butete.

A kiss with the giant gourami.

Female single wattled cassowary.

Eagle! They do have different kinds of this.

They have a wide variety of birds, fishes and turtles! I just can't name all of them, got a poor memory and so not prepared! I should have bought my small notebook and pen with me plus a great space of storage card for all the pics! Lesson learned for the next trip!

I was lucky to get to talk to the owner of the zoo, Mr. Felix "Elic" Divino, a former farmer and teacher of West Negros University. He started this zoo back in 2009 and opened it first exclusively
 for his family and friends.

I got curious of the zoo's name, El Toro and asked him about it. It's from the first syllables of his and his friends' names pala. El for Elic, To for Tomas and Ro for Roland. :)

We're glad we came to El Toro Zoo. It's a whole new experience for Kristoff and for
my small family of three!

El Toro Zoo is located in Gomez St., La Castellana, Negros Occidental. For inquiries or tour reservations you may call 485-0121 or 485 -8130.

A Visit To The Daisy Garden

I love gardens and gardening! At home, we have a plenty of orchids and ornamental plants. However, they're just not being arranged properly to look awesomely stunning. Every time my son consumes his can of milk, I would just put soil on it, plant some ornamental and top the soil with animal manure which I can just get from the vacant lot beside our house, where the cows of the neighbors feed. 

It's been my dream to have these plants arranged properly, maybe do some landscaping at the backyard. Only that, I've been also busy with my son and with the house chores. I couldn't find any time for the hobby that I want to pursue. 

Now that Mark is home, I get a great help with tending to Kristoff. Uhmn, yes, only with tending to our son because I can't rely on him with the house chores. Besides, I want to do them myself. I understand he sacrificed a lot for nine months in the ship and now that he's home, he has a lot of projects to do in mind, so well, let him be.

So, with Mark around, and the motorcycle my parents newly bought, I thought that this could be a good chance for me to start adding more plants to our collection (this time, flowering), and when we have a lot already then maybe I can arrange them really nice. So, I invited him to go to a certain Isidra Celestial who is famous in town to have a daisy plantation.

The three of us, Mark, Kristoff and I went there through the motorcycle and it took us some 20 minutes. 

She has a wide yard for daisies, she has a plenty of the orange one. The other colors were also there, only that they are not as much as the orange. However, the condition of her plants were not very good since the typhoons of this month brought flood to their area that has damaged her garden. 

She refused to sell me the daisies now, she told me they would just die because of the weather. However, I could come back next month when I have readied my plot for the daisies, just in time when the number of typhoons decrease. The daisies thrive in hot weather, she said.

So, I will definitely be very back.

Upon talking to her, she gained my respect. She's not greedy with her plants, she actually ministers through them by putting her flowers on the church altar every Sunday.

For the meantime, these are the pics we had during the visit.

What are ya looking at baby?

Getting lost?

We were convinced by Mrs. Celestial to have our photo taken with this torch plants in red and burgundy.

Daddy was having a picture with the Masagana Coconut. It's just around 3 - 4 meters, yet it has already a lot of fruits!

First Trip to La Isla Bonita with Daddy Mark

I mentioned in Choosing La Isla Bonita that Daddy Mark was captured by the beauty of the said resort that even though he was still on-board, he promised me that we would go there again when he comes home. And so, we did!

But it was a sort of planned and unplanned thing. Yes, we planned of going there long before that day and yet we never really expected that that day would be the day. We were totally unprepared! Get what I mean?

Here's the story. Our little town, Hinoba-an doesn't have a working ATM machine, so we have to visit the neighboring city, Sipalay to withdraw. The three of us went to Sipalay ( 30 minutes by bus) and after withdrawing some money, we realized it was too early to go home and then...the idea of going to La Isla popped up!

It was around 11AM, we wanted to catch up with lunch, thus we hurried to go the market and bought raw bangus, pork, spices and seasonings, cooked rice, water and charcoal for grilling.

When we had already settled in the resort. Daddy started grilling while MK and me took some time to ourselves.

This is really family! How I missed this! Who wouldn't? Mark was away for nine months and this is one of the moments both of us are dying to have.

Choosing La Isla Bonita

The water seemed muddy because this photo was taken right after a heavy rain.

La Isla Bonita, formerly known as Tinagong Dagat (literally translated as Hidden Sea), is one of the most visited beaches in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental. Owned by the Campillanos family, a native clan of the place, La Isla Bonita has captured the hearts of the tourists that they usually come back every time they get a chance. Well, I'm not flattering you because we are actually one of those regular visitors.

We first visited there when Mark was still on-board and it seemed that he too got so captured by La Isla's beauty that he promised me to go back there, with him, of course. 

La Isla Bonita is a good choice for first time visitors of Sipalay beaches. Why? Here are some reasons:

1. Easy to reach even for those who don't have a car. We don't have a private car, so we just commute. Upon reaching the Sipalay Public Market, we can just negotiate a tricycle driver to bring us to the resort at Php20-30 per person. We get there for only 10-15 minutes. However, make sure to tell the driver to fetch you at a scheduled time because the place is not a part of the vehicles' route.

2. It's cheaper compared to others. If you only want to stay for a day, then you only got to pay Php350 for the big cottage which is the nearest to the kiddie pool and Php250 for the smaller cottages which are just some stairs away from the pool. Whichever you may choose, it's still practical with the scenic views you can see there.

3.  Worried about wearing bikinis or swimsuit? You don't have to in La Isla. You definitely have a choice - to have your light shirt and shorts on or go for the swimwear.

However, an always important reminder is before you go there, always contact the management first for bookings especially during the peak season (summer) and during weekends. They are usually fully booked.