Despite expecting Maguindanao's blue lagoon to be concealed deep in the forest, reachable by at least an hour or two of trekking, I had still anticipated a good old surprise. When I stepped out of our van and saw a few kids dripping wet, I simply figured they had come frolicking from a nearby stream. Our friend Jeff told us, “I think these kids came from the lagoon.” I was already standing at the mouth of a wide trail on the elbow of the Shariff Aguak Road when I heard him. “You mean, the lagoon is just nearby?” Claire asked. Jeff’s reply sounded like music to my ears—as I was in no mood for a lengthy hiking activity that day—“Just less than two hundred meters ahead.”