Weekend Update: Butterfly Sanctuary, Ayala Centre

Weekly Recap

The weather held up fairly well this week, with very little disruption from Tropical Storm, Queenie. Temperatures remained in the low 30’s (with the humidity escalating the perceived temperature to approximately 36 – 38 degrees).

We will be relocating from Lapu Lapu to Cebu on Monday, and remaining for the next few months. Other destinations will be discussed and decided upon closer to the new year. We have found that the transportation costs are really adding up commuting across the bridge on a fairly regular basis, so moving closer to Cebu City centre is a logical choice.

Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary

Jumalon Butterfly Sanctuary is an open air sanctuary for butterflies. This allows the butterflies to come and go as they like.  Each butterfly has a specific type of plant that they are attracted to and they are able to detect / seek out their plant in excess of 1 km. The Sanctuary has an abundance of these plants, therefore attracting the butterflies to the specific location. Our visit lasted over and hour and half and we were peppered with so many facts about butterflies, that I doubt I even remember a fraction of them! The Sanctuary was founded by our host’s father, who at the age of 12 started to study and collect butterflies. Sadly, in 2000 he passed away at the age of 91.

While wandering through the narrow pathways surrounded by the walls of plants, our host identified each different butterfly that we encountered. She would lift up leaves and point out the individual butterfly eggs that had been laid (approximately the size of a pin head). We were even lucky enough to see one land to lay an egg. The kids seemed a bit skeptical until she pointed out the tiny white dot on the underside of the recently vacated leaf.

The Sanctuary also acts as a hatchery, wherein the caterpillars are able to form their chrysalis (pupa) in a much safer environment, allowing them better protection from outside predators (birds and insects). Some clipping were even taken from the trees and placed in bottles of water (quite a few of the smaller butterflies hatch within 3 to 7 days). The picture below is a newly formed chrysalis that had fallen from the branch in one of the aforementioned protective enclosures. Our host was concerned that it may no longer be alive, so applied pressure to the fragile chrysalis. To our surprise, the caterpillar was indeed still alive and responded by kicking back in response (similar to a baby in the womb). The kids both took turns gently touching the chrysalis to elicit this protective response. It was very enthralling to witness this  - highlight of my day!

To Natasha’s delight, the visit concluded with the opportunity to release a newly hatched butterfly.

Ayala Center Cebu

Ayala Mall is another very popular attraction located in Cebu City. It has 4 or 5 floors, I believe, and is quite similar to many of the other larger malls in the area. What really set it apart for me was the open green space in the centre of the building. Ayala Center may very well be our staple mall while in Cebu.

(Reminder, pictures uploaded on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daniellezahorodney/)