Siquijor - firefly fanatics

Thurs 8th Jan

When Spanish sailors first landed on Siquijor, they were astounded by what they thought were flames in the night sky and so named Siquijor 'Isla del Fuego' (Island of Fire). They were obviously not flames but actually thousands of fireflies.

Having never seen fireflies in action until this evening, I would probably have told said Spanish sailors to get a grip but when you get a group of fireflies darting up and down at speed, they ARE like sparks from a fire!!!

Seeing the fireflies flying about this evening was genuinely one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen. I could have sat by that tree and watched them for hours. Coupled with a clear sky and no light pollution, the stars were twinkling away as their backdrop. It was so magical.

Even more remarkable is where we saw them - essentially someone's garden! The 'firefly sanctuary' came about because the lady who bought the land noticed them while planning her garden ans so she has created a habitat to encourage their growth as a labour of love. She was SUCH a wonderful and interesting person to talk to we are going back in the daytime to a). see the amazing garden in daylight b). see her face properly as it was really dark when we were talking to her!

Aside from the excitement of the fireflies, today has been pretty low key. Mat went for a couple of dives in the morning and I had the best all body massage of the trip so far for the princely sum of £7 at today's exchange rate.

We scooted off to Siquijor town in the afternoon for a 'merienda' snack of 'halo halo'. Mat also got a hair cut and shave where I was pretty sure one of the ladies sat on the bench with me waiting was being rude about me. They speak Visaya in Siquijor instead of Tagalog so I really didn't have a clue as to what she was going on about. Maybe she could see me throwing disdainful looks at her son who was being a brat playing on the barber's chair being a H&S risk and she wasn't telling him off. I was too busy looking out for Mat who had a cut-throat blade being used on him and a brat not playing nicely 2ft away from the barber...

It also full on rained today! It's still hot hot hot but it was like being back in England for a split second!

And finally, athough the food at our resort is very good, we thought that we would venture out somewhere different for dinner. And different we got. Mat got served his dinner..... in a shoe!! It was very tasty but we're still bemused as to why Mat had to eat his rice around a stillettoe .....