Philippines – Luzon
Like a fragmented bridge, the islands of the Philippines lie between Taiwan in the north and Indonesia in the south. Volcanoes, shifts in the earth’s plates with the resulting uplifts and subsidences, and melting Ice Age glaciers have created them. The largest island is the northern main island of Luzon. It is culturally and scenically very varied. At the same time, it forms the economic backbone of the country.
We drive to the mountainous region of Luzon Island. In steep inclines, a small narrow country road winds towards Bontoc. It was still pouring out of buckets early in the morning and the road is muddy and slippery. We are making very slow progress. But this gives us the opportunity to admire the landscape with its many charms. In some places the hills are completely deforested and in other places we are greeted by dense rainforest. The road is not very busy, two cars in the same place are a rarity. Usually only buses are on the road that are packed to the top. People even ride on the roofs as passengers. Our tour to the mountain region is supposed to last several days and we have pre-booked hotels and guesthouses for the nights.
In a small mountain village, at the entrance to the village, an Ifugao hunter welcomes us in his typical colorful and richly decorated costume. Communication is difficult because he only speaks his native dialect, of which there are said to be about 200. But with gestures and hand signals and body language, we get into a “conversation” with him quite well. At our request, he takes one of his preferred hunting positions.
The sun sets glowing red on the horizon. An impressive scenery. We are moving up to higher and higher regions. At an altitude of over 1,500m, palm trees and banana plants still grow here. Again and again we see artistically landscaped rice terraces in the higher regions. Entire mountain ranges are laid out with these terraces. For most inhabitants of these mountainous regions, this is the only type of income. A sophisticated natural water system supplies the rice terraces with the necessary water. You can see the rice farmers standing barefoot up to their ankles in their fields and planting the seedlings. A tedious and strenuous job.
An incredible variety of plants, fruits and spices accompanies us up to an altitude of almost 1500m. In European regions, the tree line often ends here. For the night we are registered in a small country hotel. We are glad to have made the booking beforehand as the hotel is fully occupied. There is no other in this region. We would have had to spend the night in the car. The white walls and ceilings of our room are black from mosquitoes. Good thing we took our mosquito net with us. We have renamed the hotel “Mosquito Hotel”. Nevertheless, we survive the night to some extent and the next morning the journey can continue.
