Welcome to Sagada-Igorot.com. My name is Kamulo, an Igorot from Sagada. I'm currently based in the northern suburbs of Illinois with my lovely wife and 3 growing children - all boys. I'm an IT consulting professional currently working for a client in the healthcare industry. I maintain several blogs and I do some online marketing as a hobby. I am the creator of this site, and I'm primarily responsible for updating it.
Sagada, Philippines - My Hometown
Sagada is the first home I've known. I was born, baptized, got my first communion and attended elementary school in this town. My wife, Kosta, also traces her roots back to Sagada since my mother-in-law is a townmate, and possibly, even a distant relative.
My formattive years were spent in the neighborhood of Nangonogan in Poblacion, Sagada. My family later moved to Dagdag, Sagada; one of four barangays that compose what is known as Central Sagada. The pine covered terrain, cool climate, and beautiful sceneries of this town were very ordinary for me. I only realized how much I longed for Sagada when I was exposed to the heat, pollution, and stressed up living in the capital city of Manila. Sagada, to a lot of countrymen from the lowlands, is an excellent place for a vacation.
The Igorot People
Growing up, I always knew I was an Igorot and I grew up proud of that knowledge. I got exposed to how limited others think of the Igorot people when I attended the Philippine Science High School and the University of the Philippines in Diliman. Even in these premier institutions of education, Igorots were thought to be lower than the normal Filipino. There are misconceptions on the looks, culture, and intellectual capabilities of the Igorot. This site, amongst other things, is here to educate our fellow Filipinos of who we really are - a proud and hardworking people, with a rich cultural heritage that is different from most other Filipinos because we were not subjected under almost 400 years of brutal Spanish colonization.
Site Objective
This site is first and foremost, a personal website. It possibly is the first website on Sagada and the Igorot people by a Sagada Igorot himself. While there's not much to update on Sagada attractions and Igorot facts, I have incorporated a blog where I plan to share my thoughts and experiences on being a Sagada Igorot.
Thought this site contains links and travel information to Sagada, it is not a travel website. As a personal site, its purpose is bound to change over time. I've recently added Google Adsense advertising as a means of covering hosting costs for the sagada-igorot.com domain. I've also added an online store for visitors interested in purchasing Sagada, Igorot, Philippines, and Filipino related products online. A Philippines section has been created as a means of providing high level tourist information on my beloved country. It is also a way of highlighting Sagada as a destination amongst local travellers within the Philippines.
Site History
Sagada-Igorot.com used to exist as "Kamulo and Kosta's Home: Breathtaking Sagada, Philippines and the Proud Igorot people". This site was first published in Geocities on December 1997 when Kosta (my wife) and I were not yet married. It has been more than a decade since, and this site has undergone a few changes over the years. I recently made the decision to continually update it. The website is ranking highly among search engine results of queries on "sagada" and "igorot". I intend to keep it that way.
Here's a timeline on this site:
1997 - 2 pages of Kamulo and Kosta's Home was published under Geocities
1998 - Added two Sections; one each for SAGADA and the IGOROTS
2002 - Updated links information, re-formatted overall look and navigation
2007 - Added Philippine Section, online store, and included the B.O.T.S.I. (Blog of the Sagada Igorot)
- Created the sagada-igorot.com domain and renamed the site to Sagada Igorot Online
2009 - Moved all pages to the Sagada-Igorot blog hosted in Blogger for easier maintenance
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