The official language of the Phillipines is Tagalog (pronounced tah-gah-lawg). However, in Cebu and Bohol the local Filipinos speak a dialect known as Visayas (pronounced vee-sah-lays). It is so different from Tagalog that Tagalog speakers often cannot understand Visayas! Luckily many people, both visitors and locals, also speak English. English is the unofficial second language of the Philippines.
The Philipino Peso is king! There are about 50 pesos per 1 U.S. dollar.
A typical bottle of water costs less than 50 pesos or $1 USD.
My personal favorite meal was sinigang. This is a sour-tastng soup that gets its sour taste from a filipino fruit known as sampalok. Other core ingredients include the taro plant (similar to a potato), pepper, cut onions, chopped ginger, veggies, salt, oil and water. My mom would cook this for me growing up, so I really enjoyed knowing that Filipino sinigang and American sinigang actually tasted quite similar!
