Happy 2018 ya’ll!
It’s been about 2.5 months since we left the United States and it feels much longer. We’ve logged many miles and everyday brings a new adventure. Within our first month in the Philippines, we travelled 9252 miles – by airplane, ship, bus, car, taxi, tricycle and foot – whew!
We spent our first week in Manila deflating from the big move and adjusting to the time difference. We caught up on sleep and readied ourselves for phase 2: finding a place to live for the year.
Our top pick was Bacolod. We’d only visited once during a vacation in 2016, so it was a bit of a wild card. Bacolod is a city located on the island of Negros in the central part of the Philippine archipelago. The island runs north to south and is divided into two provinces – Negros Occidental on the west and and Negros Oriental on the east. The Occidental side of the province speaks Hilagaynon (Ilonggo) and the Oriental side speaks Cebuano. It is flanked by Panay on the northeast and Cebu on the west.
What drew us to Negros were the ocean, the mountains and the food. There are several mountain ranges running down the center of the island with at least one active volcano, Mt. Kanlaon. Although much of the forest cover is gone, only 4% remaining, it is still very green and relatively undeveloped compared to our province in Luzon. The marine life is abundant. There is quick access to beaches, snorkeling, and diving. Bacolod has all the conveniences of a large city, but still has a small town feel with about 560,000 people. It’s also a nice launching point to other islands in the Visayan region like Panay, Cebu or Siquijor.
You’re probably wondering, what’s with the name of the island – Negros? Yes, it is problematic, a remnant of Spanish colonization and carries lots of negative connotation in Spanish speaking countries. When the Spanish first came to the island, they encountered dark-skinned people and named the island Negros. The pre-colonial name of the island was Buglas, meaning “cut off”. There is no current campaign to change the name back to Buglas, which would be so cool…
After our first week in Manila we flew to Bacolod and hit the ground running, searching for apartments and visiting schools. We had a short-list of rentals that our aunt and friend helped us find and visit. They were all mostly western style homes in enclosed subdivisions. Most of the upper class live in fenced-in communities or villages oftentimes with 24 hour security guards. After a week and a half of searching, we decided on a village with lots of beautiful old acacia trees, a large vegetable garden and cafe. We returned to Manila to fetch the rest of our things and get a loaner car from Nueva Ecija. We moved into our place on December 1.
Everyone we meet here asks us “Do you have family here?” “Why Bacolod?” It’s pretty unusual to end up in a town without having any family or a reason, like work, to draw you to a place. Locals usually give us the eyebrow, with a hint of suspicion and questioning eyes, “Are they fugitives on the run?”, “Why aren’t they living in their home province?” And then I go into my explanation about immersing ourselves in the local culture, environment and language and about how it is a valuable learning experience for the kids and a little interlude from our lives in the US – this they understand. “Ahhhh, you’re on a one-year vacation” they usually say.