Butterfly Collection

A trap!

Over the past two years that I've stayed in Ipil Dorm in UP Diliman, I have "saved" a number of birds and insects that have gotten themselves trapped inside. These animals get in through the windows by the staircase and the doors on both ends of the hallway. The glass panels give the illusion of an opening, and the animals will make every attempt to get through. Some birds eventually figure their way out without help. Insects, however, mostly just fly, hover near the glass surface and stay inside until they die. Today, I found yet another casualty, a beautiful butterfly with neon green spots. I looked for several online databases of butterfly species in the Philippines (such as this and this) and found what appeared to be a perfect match - a tailed jay or green spotted triangle with scientific name Graphium agamemnon.

Detail of wing

Underside

While I will continue helping birds and insects find their way out whenever possible, I decided to begin collecting butterflies and insects that have been trapped and died inside the dorm. These creatures are just too beautiful to be swept with a broom and thrown in trash.

Navigating Baguio's Tourist Trail

Going to Baguio for the first time twelve years ago as a high school student felt visiting a foreign country. I have never been abroad, though (even to this day) but I never traveled a lot as a kid and to my limited experience the Philippines is Manila and Manila is about the heat, the jeepneys, air pollution, trash and mayhem at night. Baguio, with its uneven topography, pine trees, houses built on mountain slopes, the cold temperature, less jeepneys, less air pollution, less trash and less crime, was someplace else. When I got into mountaineering as an adult, I would visit Baguio only as en entry point to Benguet. And having seen the Mount Pulag and Kibungan, places which had more than just pine trees, Baguio became boring and pale all of sudden. I never thought that Baguio would one day become my main destination until I agreed to join a group of friends who will be spending the long weekend. I was hoping to rekindle the fascination I had with the city more than a decade ago.

Here's a rundown of my Baguio experience: