ENVIRONMENT & CONSERVATION
The animal sanctuary is home to different species of owls, an injured civet cat( below), a leopard cat( below left), tarsiers( bottom), possums( above) and much more. ness of people for their plight. And that is exactly what the Moussempes are advocating: awareness and education. And they do it with such passion and light in their eyes that I believe that these animals are well cared for. And they wouldn’ t have had better guardians.
The last places I visit are the museums … yes, museums. There will be four. But right now only two are open. The collection is colossal and diverse spanning different genres, cultures, and eras. Nicolas talks to me about the magazine, and in our conversation he mentions owning the first translation of
Pigafetta’ s book of the Italian chronicler’ s journey to the Philippines, with his maps and attempted dictionary of our language. Although he didn’ t have time to show it to me, I can’ t help my curiosity and would definitely come back to see it, perhaps accompanying Pao our graphic artist along since he is such a fan of maps( as you can see in this magazine).
The rain doesn’ t seem to let on, and I don’ t mind staying for a while. I’ m in no hurry to leave. The architecture of the building is tropical and cool, with a nipa rooftop, designed by Nicolas. Above the café, the museum would rival those in Manila. I stare fixatedly at
an African idol, which later on when I’ m back in Manila I would happen to chance upon in the History Channel. There are African masks, Chinese terracotta, Japanese paintings; Balinese paintings that are made with needles like tattooing, it’ s so intricate I don’ t know how they mustered it. Nicolas shows me a metal sculptor that my gaze has dismissed as nothing that extravagant. Simply put, it looks like some artist’ s idea to weld five sprockets together with a clamp on top. It came from China, and with a simple flip on that clamp / pipe on the top it morphs into a dragon. Ingenious! It’ s from the Dada Movement. In other words: crazy.
It’ s already 5pm when I reluctantly realize that I have to go in order to make it to my other destination, the Bohol Bee Farm, which is five minutes away from the Botanical gar-
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