This morning, I went to interview some students at a retreat house for an article I'm doing for an online site. The students are from Tarlac. I got to chat with one of their teachers as I was waiting to do the interview. When he found out that I am an Igorot, he eyes got really big, and asked "Talaga?" And so I have to tell him that yes, we no longer wear tapis or g-strings, except on special occasions. And that yes, we do look a lot like other Pinoys. He just smiled and said "Ganun pala." Just to give you an idea what a breathing, living Igorot looks like, here are a few of our photos taken within the last couple of months.
As you'll notice, just like other ethnolinguistic groups such as Tagalogs, Ilocanos and Bisaya, Igorots as a group don't have a single appearance. Maybe in the past, Igorots as one group look almost the same although they belong to various ethnolinguistic groups (Ibaloi, Kankana-ey, etc). But intermarriages, migration, even the food we eat and work we do, have slowly changed the way we look.
Similarly, while many of us are poor, many others are professionals, entrepreneurs, and skilled workers. While we have beggars in Manila, we also have golfers in California, although I'd have to say they're fewer in number. But for this post, let's focus on our physical attributes.
High school students from Poblacion, Itogon, Benguet giving an upbeat song at a concert. 
Kikay Igorot Nursing students share their smiles.
Apong Patani and her friends in front of the Baguio Botanical Garden. She claims to come from the boundary of Bontoc and Kalinga.
This is me and two of my good, old, reliable friends. Hehe! Two of us come from Mountain Province, while our other friend is of Mountain Province-Benguet parentage.
Photo of a friend's high school buddies from Itogon, Benguet.
Igorot priests from Mountain Province and Benguet give a concert-for-a-cause at the Baguio Convention Center.It's not only in the way we look that we are different. We also have varying perspectives, even on issues that affect Kaigorotan as a whole. Who says Igorots are made of one solid block, anyway?
