warm island seas
wonder | wander | women have not been back to the island of our birth since prior to the pandemic. Now that our tickets are booked for our imminent return, we are eager and excited to get back. Aside from family and friends, we miss our warm lush ocean, teeming with tropical delights.
Both to embrace in wanton abandon and to eat to our hearts content. They say we don’t fully appreciate home until we leave it. Our heritage and history were something we lived daily and ignored most of the time.
Now that we have moved away, when we are in the UK and US, we miss the delicacies and treats of the Philippines. Then when we’re back there we miss the comforts and conveniences we have over here.
Born and raised in this coastal province, the siren call of our native seas have us pining for it in our blood and bones. Winter is especially hard for our tropical bodies, making us especially joyous to return to these warm waters.
Negros is the fourth largest and third most populated island in the Philippines, with a total land area of 13,309 square kilometers (5,139 square miles). One of the many islands of the Visayas archipelago, in the center of the country’s more than 7600 islands.
Negros was originally called Buglas, an old Hiligaynon word thought to mean cut off, as it is believed that the island was separated from a larger landmass by rising waters during the last ice age.
The predominant inhabitants of the island region are mainly called Negrenses (Negrosanons to locals). As of the 2020 census, the total population of Negros is estimated at 4,656,945.
From May 29, 2015 to August 9, 2017 the whole island was governed as an administrative region officially named the Negros Island Region. Comprised of the highly urbanized city of Bacolod and the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, along with its corresponding outlying islands and islets.
Benigno Aquino III who was the president at that time issued Executive Order №183 but on August 9, 2017, Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order №38 dissolving the Negros Island Region. This year, with yet another president in office maybe it can be restored once again.
Whatever the concerns or politics, whether they work or don’t, thankfully we don’t let them interfere much with our immersion and enjoyment of this beautiful paradise. Making us long for it even more!
Originally published at https://wonderwanderwomen.blogspot.com.
