the last time i went to toledo city, cebu, i was probably about, i don’t know, 10 years old? atlas mining was at the height of its operation then. i remember it was a dry and dusty place but other than that, i don’t remember much about the place anymore.

it was a pleasant surprise to know that a certain resort has been attracting visitors from all over the metro to come and enjoy the landscape while contracting sunburn by the pool because, as with cebu’s weather, there’s a 90% chance it’ll be sunny all year round. even when the weather report predicts an oncoming storm.

the place probably won’t be called “the ranch resort” if it wasn’t actually a ranch, or at least resembled one.

yes, it was an actual ranch, alright. complete with horses and steel rails and green green grass and… my god! you should’ve seen those horses’ thighs! i mean, they were pure muscles, man! they were practically weapons! i couldn’t help thinking, “those scientists sure knew what they were talking about when they formulated the concept of the horsepower!”

they were racing horses. no surprise there. they were the kind of horses who looked and acted high maintenance. they probably ate gourmet horse food prepared by a chef who studied in some international culinary school specializing on equine fine dining cuisine. who knows what high maintenance horses eat?! salad? seriously?

another feature of the resort which might interest the fowl lovers out there is the aviary. ram enjoyed this part of the tour. he likes birds of all kinds! (wait, that didn’t sound right.)

in the aviary, you can see several kinds of winged creatures. funny, but the only thing i recognized was the eagle sitting atop a branch looking down on us like we were monkeys and he was ready to prove that his whole clan ain’t called monkey-eating eagles for nothing.

the rest of our visit inside the cage was spent searching for this rare bird whose name i don’t recall hiding under the plants. i don’t know what made the bird special apart from the fact that it’s probably one of the 500 left of its kind.

but if there’s one animal there who was special to me then, that would have to be the mean-looking bulldog who was turned out to be really friendly. i told jelvin he should get himself a bulldog. not because bulldogs kind of look like him, but because together they have a perfect chemistry. better yet, he should marry one. lol.

oh, and they also had a bee farm but there’s nothing much i can tell you about bees and bee farming when i myself don’t understand how it really works except that they’re there to make honey.