The Philippines is an archipelago of over 7,000 islands with a year-round tropical climate. The rugged terrain of these islands gives them a strength of character that is reinforced by a multiplicity of cultural influences found almost nowhere else. Although Filipinos live close to the Asian continent and are descended from Malay and Chinese populations, three centuries of Spanish domination and 50 years of American protection have brought them close to the West.
Pre-Hispanic traditions also survive in the Philippines, particularly among the ethnic groups of the Luzon Cordillera, such as the Ifugao, whose hillside rice terraces are one of the country’s main attractions. Contact with Christianity has also endowed every town in the Philippines with a baroque church, the center of community life, and religious festivals just as picturesque as those in India or Indonesia. With the exception that the effigies carried in the procession are those of Spanish saints!
The Philippines, this string of paradise islands, represents nature in its purest form: Palawan, with its underground rivers, primeval forest, animal sanctuaries and superb diving spots; Boracay and Malapascua, with their beaches hemmed in white sand; Bohol, with its geological curiosities; Siquijor, the authentic island populated by healers; and Davao, on the island of Mindanao, where you can trek up Mount Apo amidst a collection of orchids that is unique in the world.
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