THE TOUR OF THE FIREFLIES / MAY 17,2008 =(

We finally arrived in Donsol to find the tourism office closed. We had wanted to get the “required butanding orientation program” out of the way so we can go out to sea as early as we want Sunday morning, keeping in mind that we had a 1:30 p.m. flight back to Manila to catch. Thankfully, the owner of the resort we were staying in apparently asked its keeper to wait for us at the office and to keep it open until we arrived. Yes, we were deep enough in the provinces to have the tourism office kept open at the mere request of the kapitbahay. Haha. =)

The orientation was really just a 15-minute VCD shown on a small TV. Nothing high-tech, but it did lay the basic ground-rules for interacting with the whale sharks. Stay 3 meters away from any point of the whale shark. Do not block its path. Do not touch it. The whale sharks are apparently very gentle but also very shy creatures. If it senses a threat, it will change its swimming patterns and will likely move to somewhere else where it can feel safer. The people of Donsol would obviously not want that. =)

The video was supposedly developed by the WWF. The environmental conservation group, silly, not the wrestling federation. Haha. Yes, the one with the panda on the logo. =) At some point, the butchering of the whale sharks in Sorsogon apparently came under its radar which then prompted the organization to send a troop to this small fishing village. Through education and communication, they made the natives understand the role the butandings play in the ecosystem and why they must be saved. The WWF was largely responsible for transforming this sleepy fishing village into an eco-tourism destination. It was largely responsible for converting its fishermen who only once cared about hauling fish into staunch protectors of the environment.

The best time to visit Donsol, they say, is between the months of February and April—when the ocean is still relatively warm, before the rain showers of May come in. The rain apparently not only changes the temperature of the water (forcing the butandings to migrate to warmer seas), strong rain apparently also brings in silt from the river, making the sea murky and making it virtually impossible to see anything.

We came in mid-May. Butanding sightings, we were told, are still a possibility, but the chances of going home luhaan (as the oldies would say) was also just as big. 50/50. Darn.

The first day was reserved for the Firefly River Tour. It was a trip both Sister Pusjing and I were excited about. As children, we both had fond memories of sitting on the front steps of House Better, watching the narra tree on our neighbor’s front lawn “burning” as soon as the sun went down. The tree was literally home to hundreds of fireflies, and we would always sit there in awe, staring at this year-round “Christmas tree”. Every night, right before bedtime, we would catch a few and put them in bottles. We would take them inside and set them on our bedside tables to serve as our night lamps. I would literally fall asleep watching the fireflies flutter around, their tails flickering in the dark, only to wake up the following day to find the fireflies gone. As in gone. Not dead. GONE. It has always been a mystery to me and as a kid (stupid kid, haha), I remember wondering if fireflies evaporated like vampires as soon as the sun went up. I suppose that as an adult (albeit still stupid, haha), I have a more logical explanation. Every night, Mother must have set all of them free as soon as we all fell asleep. =)

That was decades ago when House Better seemed to sit in the middle of nowhere, and when the air in the immediate outskirts of Manila was still relatively pure and clean. A few years ago, Tito Rod had the tree cut down to give way to the expansion and reconstruction of their home, but the fireflies were really long gone before that. They say fireflies thrive only in unpolluted air. Such was no longer the case.

Thus the excitement over the Firefly River Tour.

It was a chance to relive our childhood. It was a chance to give Patita an opportunity to see fireflies first hand as opposed to just reading about them in some science book. I saw a feature on the Firefly River Tour once on the Living Asia channel, and it heightened my excitement even more. So, never mind that I literally wanted to doze off soon after we arrived, tired and grimy from the long trip from the CWC to Donsol. Never mind that the Firefly River Tour cost us a pretty penny (P1,200 per boat if I remember correctly). Never mind that to get to the river, we had to endure a 20-minute P200 tricycle ride on bumpy and rocky provincial roads. Never mind that by the time we got to the “dock”, my back was literally aching and my mind was already wondering if this was all worth it. It had better be! Haha. (If you click on the photo below, you'd have a better idea of just how far we had to travel that day. Camarines Sur to Sorsogon. Ack!)




We boarded the banca and navigated the dark river with nothing but a gas lamp and a flashlight to show us the way. I should have sensed that our guide was already setting us up for major disappointment. We should have come in April when the winds are not as strong, he said. Hanging Habagat daw ng gabing iyon. Malakas ang hangin, pero susubukan na rin namin. Then again, I suppose I was too excited about the possibility of seeing both sides of the river lit up with a million fireflies (as I had seen in the Living Asia feature). We navigated the river, the motor droning. It was practically the only sound you can hear. In the dark, I felt like I was watching one of those movies where something just pops out of the water to snatch one of the people on board. It was the movie playing in my mind. Hahaha. We slowly turned the bend. I eagerly anticipated the sight. They say the beauty of the Firefly River Tour lies in the fact that you see nothing but darkness only to be dazzled by a million flickering lights as soon as you turn the bend.

We turned the bend.

We saw….NOTHING.

Nothing but darkness.

ACK!

Where are the fireflies?! Where are the DARN fireflies?! =(

Dapat po nung Abril kayo nagpunta. Di pa masyado malakas ang hangin. Hanging Habagat ngayon. Malakas ang hangin kaya kokonti ang mga alitaptap, pero subukan na rin natin.

ACK!

A good 10 minutes down the river (which is quite far when you think about it), we finally saw ONE SMALL TREE flickering in the dark. It was home to a hundred fireflies. The excitement has waned for us adults. If any, we were just thankful that we saw this one tree so Patita can get to see how live fireflies really look like. We approached the tree. Initially, I thought we had done so to be able to take a closer look. To our surprise, our guide reached out and shook the tree. The tree burned with more intensity. I suppose when the fireflies are stressed, they burn more brightly. Maybe. I don’t know. =( We moved on further down the river and managed to pass by a slightly bigger tree. We moved closer. This time, we asked the guide NOT to shake the tree. Let the fireflies be. We will just watch.

We decided to turn back soon after. We thought there was no point in going further down the river, and we thought spending more than 15 minutes looking up this puny tree was getting ridiculous. Even Patita was getting bored.

The 20-minute bumpy ride back to the resort was rendered more unbearable by the fact that without the adrenalin shot from having watched a million fireflies in action, all of us were reduced to simple, tired and disappointed tourists. It was like getting yourself worked up to see the World Pyro Competition only to deal with the sad reality of two small baby rockets that barely pierced the night sky before puttering out.

Our guide explained that because of the Hanging Habagat, the fireflies must have gone someplace else. On a good day, we would have found the entire stretch of mangroves fully lit. I couldn’t help but wonder if they moved somewhere else for an entirely different reason.
If your house is always being disturbed by the neighbors, wouldn’t you also decide to up and leave? =(

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The last in this series to follow in the next post! Right now, I have to work.