the next thing i noticed after the refreshingly cool wind blowing on my face when we arrived at eden park?

peacocks. lots and lots of peacocks. roaming around freely in the premises, particularly in the open-air restaurant; waiting for you to turn your back so they can go grab whatever food is on your table. they can be really sneaky and if it weren’t for the fact that they look really pretty when they’re showing off their feathers, guests probably would not bother feeding them with scraps.

with the park’s massive land area, of course they offer far more than the sight of free-roaming peacocks. they also have an amphitheater, which was a garden surrounded by a garden. perfect for family photos. (yes, i have a very big family. the davao trip was a reunion of some sort. paternal side. a big shout-out to daddy allan and his family for accommodating all 13 of us relatives from cebu!)

aside from the amphitheater, they also have this cultural park/outdoor museum called tinubdan which features the culture of lumad, the indigenous people of southern philippines.

and then there was “lola’s garden,” which was, well, a garden with nothing much to see except for the wishing well decorated with huge gumamela flowers and the view overlooking davao city (if i’m not mistaken). if there’s one thing that stood out for me, it was definitely the carabao. a wonderful work of art that looked so realistic i had to touch its back to check if it really had mud on it.

there are many activities to do at eden park. you can go trekking, ziplining, camping, whatever suits your fancy. for us, it was horseback riding, which i believe was a great experience for aeva. and for me too, i guess.

until the stupid horse decided to scratch himself on the tree, leaving me with a gash on my right knee. another horse-related scar to add to the numerous whale shark-related scars on my leg. man, i love these kinds of memento!