It is always a privilege for me to accept guiding duties to the Banaue Rice Terraces. Recently, I was up there with four Dutch guests who were so awed by this man-made wonder. I myself am speechless at the high level of planning and construction the Ifugaos undertook to build this heritage site. And so showing it off to tourists is always a treat.
Other Asian countries like Japan and Mongolia have their own versions of the rice terraces. Ours is different, though. Consider the following facts:
- The Banaue Rice Terraces are more than 2,000 years old.
- The Banaue Rice Terraces soars to a height of anywhere from 3,000 -5,000 feet above sea level
- It covers a total land area of 400 square kilometers
- If laid end to end, it will run halfway around the globe
- The Banaue Rice Terraces supports its own ecosystem
What strikes me as extra-ordinary is that there could not have been that many Ifugao settlers in the Philippines many years ago. What our ancestors achieved must have taken immense effort and intensive manual labor on their part to build these rice paddies on the slopes of the Cordilleras.
Even with the encroachment of the Spanish and American colonizers, the indigenous people of the Cordilleras remained true to their culture and their inner resolve to not be subjugated by foreign rulers. They were the incessant mosquito that kept bugging the Spanish colonizers. They would plague the Spanish troops and their commanders with raids that left some of their victims headless. They protected their gold mines and built the rice terraces for survival.
Even until now, as the younger generation prefer to seek jobs in urban centers, those locals left behind make the effort to repair the damaged portions. The Banaue Rice Terraces remains, to this day, a testament to a proud people.
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