One of the main problems in the Philippines is to get food to all
the millions
of people living there. Not everywhere is the nature like the plains
of USA,
where you can travel mile after mile, without seeing anything else
but
the next cornfield.
Another problem the inhabitants of those lovely islands are the
volcanoes.
From time to time they explode and it happens that they are more
dangerous than the people can accept. As when Mt.Pinatubo
exploded
in 1991, or when the volcano Mayon erupted at the beginning of this
year.
Rice-production
When the landscape goes up and down like on the picture below,
you have
to find out how to get things growing. And so you start working.
And working. And working. And you create one of the wonders of the
world.
They are considered one of the
wonders of the world., These rice terraces were cut
with simple native tools from the hard mountain rock over many years.
Water is led from one terrace to the next, all the way down.
Luckily they don't have to climb the mountains everywhere
they wish to
plant rice. Some other places, as on the next picture from Batad,
it is a bit more friendly.
Photo by Rene Thalmann (Copyrighted)
These terraces are the world famous amphitheater rice terraces
of Balad.
Finally we have those places where you can take it a bit
more easy,
you don't have to climb at all. May be that is the place
you would prefer for your dream-farm?
A decorative sky with cobolt
clouds is reflected in the shallow
waters in the rice paddies being plowed by a farmer, near
Zamboanga City on the island of Mindanao.
************
Mayon-volcano
Somewhere else on this 'web-site' we have
a story about the eruptions
from the Mayon-volcano, and yet
another story about the people
living on and around that volcano. But Mayon also have another
side, a more friendly one. The following pictures should give you
an impression of a picturesque nature.
In Legaspi, Albay, stands the world's most perfect
cone-shaped volcano
A hut and a city (Legaspi) on each side of the
volcano.
