bora.. bora bora

It has been years (maybe 5 or more) since my family has taken a vacation. We decided that this year, we'd try to break the hiatus (of not taking a hiatus) and go to Boracay for 4 days from May 22 to 25. This has been my first time and everyone else's in my family to the island and we finally got the chance to experience firsthand what the fuzz is all about.

And Boracay delivered. I have been to a few beaches (all near Manila, only Pagudpud being the farthest), and I could say that Boracay indeed impressed me the most. What's great about it is, as everybody would've known by now, the fine fine sand. No worries on getting your feet abrased while walking along the shore at all! There’s nothing quite like the white sands and azure waters of Boracay indeed.







What got me the most is how friendly the locals are! Believe me, my parents are the two most impatient people you could ever meet, always unforgiving to every waiter, cashier, saleslady mistake (I just duck my head whenever they throw their tantrums and pretend to be some place else). But they bot were easily charmed off by the friendly Boracay locales. We never met anyone who seemed "Mapagsamantala" (just greedy). Like for example, a boatman approached us if we want to go island hopping and we replied "Me kausap na po kami" (We already have arranged with someone else). He smiled and said "Ok, salamat Ma'am enjoy kayo mamaya!" (Thanks Ma'am, Enjoy the ride later!). It's like they are trained to be friendly so the tourists of would feel relaxed and welcomed.

We stayed at La Reserve Beach Hotel thru our Vacation Club, so we never really knew how much the rates were (transaction was conducted using points we paid years ago). It was pretty good, with separate house villas for privacy and comfort. Its location was also ideal, just right there at Station 2, two blocks away from D'Mall.

Our hotel, also being a French Restaurant served us croissants anf baguettes every morning for breakfast. It's a cozy little place to stay in to.

Speaking of D'Mall, I have heard of the "D'Mall" a lot before and I kinda expected it to be a mall smacked in the middle of the island but it turned out to be tiangge's, restaurants and other shops huddled together. We spent a lot of time there our whole stay, eating, buying pasalubongs, shoppping around, and again eating. My favorite of all resto's, I could say is the Lemon Cafe, where my sister and I ate the flourless Chocolate Cake and the Lemon Chessecake. Yummmm.



I was prepared to forgo the nightlife scene at Boracay, being as I am with my two very younger sisters and parents, but on our second night, I, my Mom and my sisters escaped my sleeping father and went to a bar for a little drinking. (bad bad)! At Rumba's cocktails are at buy one take one, within happy hour which starts at 4pm and ends at when they'd think they'd end it. As my three companions sipped their fruity shakes with the disguise that they do have alcohol in them, I finally found the drink to whack me on the head in just one tiny little glass. Never being a fan of fruity mixes, I always opt for the Kahlua or Bailey's variety. I got "Wet Dreams" which on the menu is a mix of Kahlua, Vodka and Amaretto. By the end of my "Buy One" I don't know if I could still get thru my "Take One" without hurling my dinner out. But I did. Though my sisters said I just got a lil biiiit too noisy by the end of the evening.



Being on a lil tight budget, we ignored most hotel restaurants with buffets at 400 each, and the lobsters being offered to us everytime we choose where we would eat. For me, the best meal I had in Boracay was in D'Talipapa (What's up with the D'), situated a lil over Station 3, it's just like Dampa where you get to buy fresh seafoods first and have it cooked by the carinderias nearby for P100/kilo. At a lil over P900 we had a delicious meal of Buttered Sugpo and Alimango. (My mouth is watering now).

We all got henna tatoos and my sister Kris even got her hair braided (which she later took out after we called her Stevie, as in Stevie Wonder).



We went island hopping on our second day, but only managed to go to the Crystal Cove and Cocrodile Island (for snorkling) because our time is up. At first I was worried that my Mom would not be able to go around Crystal Cove seeing all the steep rocks we have to step into, but she managed just fine and we enjoyed swimming around the water on the caves.





Snorkling was sooo much fun I don't know why I haven't tried it before. There's nothing like the feeling of lots of fishes trying to get to the bread in your hand and biting you in the process (hehe I exaggerated it a bit but it's definitely not scary at all).





On our third day we went Paraw Sailing which is just relaxing. Nothing but the waves licking your feet as you lay into the sides of the paraw boat.


In the afternoon, my sisters and I went at the other side of the island to hop to the banana boat. This is my third time wo try the ride, the first two were at Puerto Galera (which left me bad memories.. Yes being hurled alone, blind sans my contacts, and left forgotten by your so called friends who you are with at the ride, then being rescued only by a lifeguard a good 10 minutes later could be called a bad memory.) I was a little nervous considering my previous incident with the banana boat, but I just kept in mind that this is my sisters' first times and I should just let myself loose so that they could enjoy the ride. Luckily the ride went on smoothly. Ok I promise to try to let go of that banana boat incident already.

Hoping the third time is a charm

The fall was not as bad.

Obviously my sister is exaggerating.

When we were shopping for pasalubongs on our last day, we came across this stall at DMall which sells hand-painted tshirts by the singer from Asin (I forgot his name, I'm sorry). My dad went and bought a couple of shirts. The meaning of one shirt got me the most. The gecko (locally called tuko), were abundant in Boracay before but since the modernization of the island has become less and less. The question mark forms a gecko crying of what is happening of the island, as the sun is not as white and fine as they were before, buildings and pollution are arising and Boracay is now getting to commercialized. If this continues, we might all lose of the beauty of the island that caused it to be so popular in the first place. Point is, tourism is good and everybody is most welcome to stay but we have to take care of the place if we still want to enjoy it years from today.




All in all, our trip was a blast. Nothing beats getting to travel and discover a new place with the people you love the most in your life. We are only halfway thru the year and already I have been to three woderful places already. I'm excited on where I could go for the remainder of the year (thou I can't say the same for my savings). Hopefully I could return to Boracay soon and discover what the island has more to offer.