As I continued my hike toward Fidelisan Village, I noticed that they also have rice terraces. I guess it is no longer a surprise that they would also have this here. The Philippines is a rice eating nation and the people here in the mountains are no different. They do have a disadvantage when living in the mountains. Planting rice needs flat ground, and a mountain is no place to find it.
However, the people here ingenious as ever, flattened mountains into stair-like terraces. On these steps, it become flat enough to plant rice and other crops. In some places, there only mountain, so you would see stairs forming even on the sides of steep mountains to enable them to plant rice. The thought of climbing these stairs every day is daunting, but this is what I’m doing here.
Rice terraces are usually built in a valley like structure. The flatter the better of course. The rice terraces of Fidelisan Village are no different. Actually, they are more like textbook perfect model of rice terraces. When I visited, the rice shoots are just coming out giving the terraces a brilliant green color.
Along the way to the village, someone who overtook me a few minutes ago was waiting for something. Then he asked me if I wanted a guide. I thought the path should be staightforward enough that I should be able to find my intended destination in no time. Just like Sagada, this place also doesn’t have any signs. Not really very tourist friendly, right? I would rather view this as a sign that the place is not very touristed so there wasn’t really a need for a sign in the first place. Everyone in the village knows where everything else is anyway. I guess this is also part of the allure of the place which brought me here in the first place.
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