Twinkle, twinkle little fly

My blinking lights got her attention

I made plans to spend some time with my wife away from Boracay. I kept it as a secret except my sister Susan blabbed it away the day before. We headed out today to Palawan.I got a flight to Manila for P300($7.50) then to Puerto Princesa,Palawan for 778 ($18.52).What a crazy deal. This is an opportunity for us to spend time together and also to scout for others that might want to visit this area also.I befriended an Aussie lass who eventually tagged along with us.

We went to the Iwahig river.It is about 20K south of the city proper and right beside the Iwahig Penal Colony which is the country's, and probably the world's, largest facility of its kind: an open-air, practically wall-less community of minimum-security prisoners serving out the last years of their terms. Despite the fact that most of the 2,300 inmates have been convicted of homicide, the majority are minimum security prisoners and are thus not locked up within the colony. Instead, these minimum security inmates live in dormitories and work on one of the many agricultural projects located within the prison farm. Prisoners who are deemed to be at risk of escaping are confined to medium or maximum security areas, where they are monitored, but these prisoners comprise less than fifty percent of the Iwahig population. Many of the prison employees live within the penal colony with their families, and there is even an elementary school within the colony.

Our tricycle driver did not exactly know where the Iwahig river is so we ended up entering the Penal Colony outpost and asked for directions.Anita noticed that the person that gave us the direction was wearing a shirt that said inmate, I was rather oblivious to the situation. These prisoners are happy to be here and feels that life inside is better than what is available outside.Prisoners are even welcome to bring their wives and children to share their incarceration.

We finally made it to the Iwahig river. This is the place to watch a myriad of fireflies dance under the blanket of a night sky.The tour is run by the Iwahig Community Ecotourism Association. More than a dozen youth, all children of the Iwahig Penal Colony’s employees, are running the tours on rotation basis. A section of the riverbank near the Iwahig bridge has been cleared for the tour and there are stone pathways and grass huts as well as a pavilion for big tourist groups. We were asked to put on life vests and a salakot (native hat) before boarding the paddle boat. Our first stop was to view nilad, a favorite host plant of fireflies, along with nipa and tabigi, two of the thirty two mangrove species that are found in the area , according to our boatman tourguide. Swarms of lightning bugs lit up Nilad, a wondrous sight to behold. Manila was named after this same plant which once thrived in its waters. We spotted a few more isolated trees where the lightning bugs flashed on and off, the quiet swish of the oar in the water soothing the senses on a moonless night. Finally, we reached the high point of the tour – an island where hundreds of fireflies glittered in the trees. The guide would flicker his flashlight and the bugs would flicker in kind thinking that another bug is looking for a mate.Apparently the male bugs glow brighter than females.Must be singles night tonight as they are all glowing like crazy.They twinkled like Christmas lights in the dark night, echoing the twinkling of the stars in the sky.That was an awesome sight. Another amazing handiwork of GOD.The 1.5 hour tour costs P600($15).