Obando in Bulacan, like many of its counterpart shrines around the Metropolis, is a town full of history and myth. It thrives in the waters surrounding it, and much of its stories have placed these very bodies of water at the fore of the lives of the people. Topographically an estuary, the town is nestled by the rivers Meycauayan and Pinagkabalian, and the creeks Paco, Hulo and Pag-asa. The water world of the Obando folks has long been given to fishing, and much of it is still seen in the present day town, which serves as a gateway to Bulacan in the northwestern region of Metro Manila.

How else can we know and understand the lands and the culture that is Pangasinan? In what she calls an “ethnocultural map”, respected Pangasinan scholar and University of the Philippines Philippine studies expert Crisanta Nelmida-Flores, attempts a cartography of Pangasinan based on its geographical history, and its three popular icons—Princess Urduja, the Lady of Manaoag and its traveling caravans.

It’s a little known fact that Tagaytay would not have been the tourist attraction of today had it not been for Taal’s fury displayed more than five times in our history. The tremors and subsequent explosions pushed the land upward even more and had created a lake we now view with awe and wonder. Molten rock and lava that were spewed for miles around contributed to the richness of its soil, allowing for lush growth.