The Philippines - My Experiences There

Many islands--up to more than 7,000 of them! However, some are so small that they aren't inhabitable. But at least 4000 of those islands do have folks living on them. And many of those islands have their own culture and even their own language! More than 175 languages have been recorded in the Philippines--however, only about 171 of them are considered "live" languages (that folks actually speak in common conversations among themselves). Some of the more common languages of the Philippines include the national language of Tagalog, and of course, English. But then you also have Kampampangan (spoken in the province of Pampanga), Illocano, Pangasinan, Cebuano, Maguindanao, Visayan, Maranao, Waray-Waray, and Bikol. Since Magellan and his crew sort of stumbled over the islands back in 1592 after they left the island of Guam and claimed the Philippines for Spain (naming the archipelago after King Philip of Spain), Spanish also became a standard language there as well. Spanish is still spoken in some of the "mestiza" areas of the Philippines.

In most of the buildings of the Philippines, you'll find one of the most predominate critters (no, I don't mean the ants or the cockroaches--although these are mighty prolific,). What I'm talking about is the gecko. Considered "lucky" to have in a home, the gecko gets around and can be seen mostly at night but also sometimes during the day scampering around the walls and ceilings and even the floor to catch ants, other bugs, and even crumbs that have fallen from the table.

If you venture out into the provinces and on most of the islands of the archipelago, you'll find the carabao, called kalibaw in Tagalog--the water buffalo that's used not only for transportation, but for hauling loads either on its back or by pulling a cart, and also for its milk. They are also sometimes used for their meat, but that sort of ends the value of having them around.

There are a few different varieties of monitor lizard in the Philippines. They seem to call them all by the same name, "bayawak". At certain places in the Philippines, you can even get "barbequed bayawak"!

In the jungle areas of the Philippines, you'll find the large flying foxes, or fruitbats. Although in some areas of the Asian Pacific and many of the Pacific Islands, these animals are eaten as a delicacy, you won't find many of these in cooking pots here.

Being in the tropics, the Philippines is lush with foilage. GREEN foilage. Foilage of all types.

You can't miss the predominant coconuts. They are everywhere. One of the favorite drinks in the Philippines is "buko" -- the juice/water/jelly found inside a young coconut. The fronds of the coconut trees are also used in weavings for baskets, trays, hats, and mats. The wood of the trunk is also used for structural beams and for planks for boats and buildings.

Also very common all over the Philippines is bamboo--this plant, a member of the grass family (like the coconut, for that matter), is used for all sorts of construction--from the scaffolding on the outside of building projects to the wall and floor coverings to the accessories decorating the rooms. A versatile plant, indeed.

Once you get away from Manila and heading out on the Northern Luzon Expressway (NLEX) or the Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX), you'll find yourself whizzing past vast expanses of green--the rice paddies. Rice is THE predominant food staple in the Philippines. In fact, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is just south of Manila in Los Banos. At IRRI, they do research on drought resistant and salt-water resistant and fungus/disease resistant strains of this versatile food crop.

If you are on the sideroads through the barrios, you'll occasionally find yourself behind flat-bed trucks hauling sugar cane--you can find short lengths of the cane in some of the markets--and sometimes kids like to snag a short stick of cane off a truck or from a field to chew on.

Tropical fruits are all over the place in the Philippines!

In most barrios and communities of the Philippines, you'll find very large mango trees just loaded with these great-tasting fruits.

Also, another predominant fruit you will find all over the Philippines are the different varieties of banana--from the little, dark-purple-skinned sweet "lady fingers" to the large, plump, green "plantain" cooking bananas. They are all over the place--and delicious (even in egg-rolls called "turon"!).

Healthy fruits abound--and the different varieties of papayas can be found still on the trees or along the sidewalk being sold by street vendors. The juice of this fruit is used sometimes to help tenderize meat in marinades.

And, although you might think of Hawaii when you think of pineapples--but in the Philippines, you can find vast fields of this delicious fruit of the bromiliad family.

For the more strange fruits, you can find the breadfruit and the langka. These two fruits are very similar in overall size and shape--although the langka can get extremely large--they are the largest tree-borne fruit.

Squid graphic courtesy of Squidoo Squid Graphics For Your Lenses! by GreekGeek.