Bohol Is Where Amicable People Live

Last year, as part of a school requirement, I went to the Philippines to learn their culture. Upon further research, I was able to find out that there are more than twenty races and ethnicities in the said country! What a number! Then I thought to myself of giving a try and experience to maybe two to three cultures. So I researched. Based on my investigation, I was convinced to travel in Bohol to learn about their culture deeper.

Bohol is a province in the Philippines. It is historical in nature because a Spanish legend during the time of Magellan came and visited the place. Boholanos, or the people in Bohol, were said to be friendly. All throughout generations, this tag among Boholanos has been adopted. Now, they gratefully commemorate this through the Sandugo Festival of Bohol that is celebrated every July each year. In this celebration, the governor of Bohol usually acts Miguel Lopez de Legazpi (a Spaniard explorer) while the mayor of the city in Bohol plays Datu Sikatuna (chieftain in Bohol). On the historical date of March 16, 1565, a blood compact between these two leaders took place. This symbolizes the friendship of the Philippines and Spain as a whole.

Small Yet Big Enough!

I have always dreamed of going to the Philippines, a very small country, yet a very diverse culture. As learned, this Southeast Asian country is composed of more than seven thousand islands. There is actually no exact number of these islands as the number varies from time to time; so that when the country is on its high tide, the number of islands become 7107. But during its low tide, the number becomes lesser.

The country has plenty of islands making it very interesting for travel. Though one country, these islands greatly represent varying cultures unique from each other. For example, in the northmen part of the country, the people there speak differently with that of the southern part. Not only in language they differ, they also differ in the belief systems, in the ways of life even in the language used. As a result, people from the northern part claim that they are more advanced than the South. Same conviction is true with that of the southern groups, they also claim that they are more advanced when compared to the North.

Whew!