Negros Occidental

We spent our 2013 summer vacation in one of the biggest Islands in the Philippines, “Negros Occidental” it was a wonderful adventure.  I traveled the whole part of this Island from North to South and East to West, so many itineraries that I enjoyed compiling and writing about these travels. The last parts of these itineraries were North-East and going back to Bacolod City to the West side. 

I came to know that Negros Island was originally called “Buglas”, an old native word that is said to mean “cut-off.” The earliest inhabitants of this island were dark-skinned natives belonging to the Negrito ethnic group with their unique culture. When the Spaniards first came to the island in April 1565 they called the land “Negros” after they saw the black native inhabitants.  The socio-economic life of Negros Occidental depended mainly on the sugar industry. However because of low world sugar prices in the early 1980s was followed by possibly the worst industry and province-wide crisis starting in 1984 with the world sugar prices hitting rock bottom in 1985 and was also hit by a series of natural calamities. When the economic boom was beginning to spread into the overall economy of Negros Occidental brought by the various economic activities, the continuing downfall of the sugar industry in the late 1990’s continued to slow down the economy of the uptrend province. Now, Negros Occidental is booming in tourism due to the natural resources and many sights to see, like ancestral houses, beaches, museums, colorful festivals and native products. I will post one by one about the places we went to during our travel in Negros Occidental.