Summary:
From Captain Tiago's house, after a heartwarming conversation with Maria Clara, Ibarra continues on his way to the town of San Diego. In all of the places he passes through he notices no change in them since he left seven years ago.
Points of Note:
This is a chapter that describes the country's lack of progress during those days. Rizal allows the reader to concretely visualize the scenes and looks of the native towns, and is actually one of his greatest contributions to the history and heritage of Manila.
There are a lot of passages in this chapter, that abstractly define the principles to be lived by in the ancient day and age, as well as in today's modern times:
"The come to our lands searching for gold, and you go to theirs to look for the gold that we need." This passage explains that while Spaniards hoard the gold of the land, Filipinos should also travel to Spain and get an education abroad in order to acquire the wealth of knowledge.
"But keep in mind: Not all that sparkles is gold." This was told to continue the passage above, to suggest that not all that Spain teaches is right and true. One must learn to choose only to remember knowledge that is useful and valuable.