The account of Sean McGrath’s travels around the Philippines, this book transports us from the white-sand beaches of Boracay to the stunning rice terraces of Ifugao. In Manila, he experiences a session with a faith healer and attends World Youth Day where he encounters Pope John Paul II.
McGrath strikes out for the cordilleras of Ifugao to do volunteer work and study community development, lured by the beauty of the rice terraces and old stories of tribal headhunters. With descriptive prose, he details the landscape and people of Ifugao, some of whom were hired as extras to portray the Montagnard tribesmen in the film Apocalyspe Now. His dispatches from Ifugao illustrate their daily struggles in trying to maintain their traditions against encroaching modernity. Philippines: A Travelogue draws on his remarkable journey to the archipelago.
