Miss America Angela Perez Baraquio had never seen her parents' homeland. On Wednesday, the Philippines welcomed her with open arms.
Miss America usually is restricted to travel in the United States during her one-year reign. But as the first woman of Asian extraction to hold the title, the 24-year-old Hawaii teacher managed to squeeze in a packed two-day visit.
"The people have been so friendly," Baraquio, chosen at the annual pageant last October, gushed during a news conference at a restaurant. "Where I come from, people are color-blind. This is the first time that I'm not a minority."
Accompanied by parents Letty and Claude, who moved to Honolulu in the 1970s, Baraquio visited an orphanage, met with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and hoped to see her father's relatives for the first time.