Ang Dabawenyo

Yesterday — the 3rd and final day of DavaoFAT — found the adventurous bloggers at Eden Nature Park for buffet lunch and some well-deserved fun. There were 14 of us, including Aileen (Google Country Consultant) and Jay of TitikPilipino.com, as well as Avel and Mars of General Santos City.

Eden Nature Park is Davao’s pride. A mountain resort only 45 minutes away from downtown, it’s not merely a breath-taking tourist spot, but an ecological sanctuary and a cultural bedrock as well. The family behind Eden Nature Park has clearly endeavored to preserve a piece of nature as faithfully as possible, thereby providing both Dabawenyos and visitors to the city a healthy and refreshing respite from city life.

This was the highlight of DavaoFAT, and the bloggers are very grateful to the Ayala family and the managers & staff of Eden for hosting the last leg of the Tour. It was definitely an unforgettable day for all of us.

For lunch, we helped ourselves to the Park’s spectacular smorgasbord spread. That day, one of the long tables featured fresh greens (which they grow right there in the Park) with wondrous salad dressings. I particularly enjoyed the fresh okra, which came with a tangy dressing of chopped tomatoes, onion, radish and dried dilis (fish fry) in vinegar. Other items on the table: breaded fish fingers, chicken adobo sprinkled with golden slivers of garlic, a curious kimchi-like stuffing in cucumber shells, angel-hair pasta, and a number of other dishes.

A day in Eden costs P420 per adult (P280 for children), and includes the buffet lunch. For more information on their rates, please visit this link. Oh by the way, the activity center has free WiFi!

As a treat to the bloggers, our hosts also let us go on one of their Park tours. The first-timers in the group, they certainly looked like they had an enjoyable trip around the forests, mountain trails and various activity areas. But even for those of us who’d been to Eden many times before, it’s like you can’t seem to get enough. It was a perfect opportunity for photo shoots, blogger style! (A measure of just how much we had fun: 2.5 gigabytes worth of digital memories.)

For me, one of the more compelling sights of the regular day tour is the part that shows Eden’s agricultural wonders. They have all sorts of vegetables, herbs and spices, spread across acres of farmland. You feel so healthy even just by looking at all the greenery!

We also made a special stopover at one of the upcoming additions to the Park’s experience: a cultural showcase that will present a 3-dimensional map of Davao ethnica. The guide said it’s scheduled to open to the public very soon. Even in its unfinished state, I can say that it’s going to be worth the drive to see it when it’s done. There will be plenty of visuals for your eyes’ delight, as well as life-size replicas for the more tactile.

After lunch and a moment to lounge around, we answered the thrilling challenge to conquer our fears: the Sky Rider! According to Andrew, this “zip line” is 200 meters long. For P150, you get a couple of heart-stopping 20 seconds on the cables, which are suspended between two 60-foot towers. The grip of the harness against your thighs… the ripping sound of the rollers against the steel cables… the gusts of wind… the exhilaratingly empty space around your body high above treetops — What a rush!!

Here are some more pictures of the bloggers at Eden Nature Park during the Davao Food Appreciation Tour:

Photo credits:
Andrew dela Serna, Avel Manansala, Tiara Mejos