Boracay

Carlos and I made the full day trek from Sabang, Mindoro to the beautiful Island of Boracay. One 25 minute Jeepney ride, one 2 hour Jeepney ride (at times off-roading), 3 hour van ride, 4 hour ferry ride, 10 minute banka (boat) ride, 15 minute tricycle (like a tuk tuk) ride, one gravol, 1/4 bottle of SPF 50, and two squatter toilets later, we arrived at "Club Ten" in Boracay. By this time it was about 10pm and we were starving. The guy at the hotel pointed us down a long and narrow ally towards the beach. The ally was dark and dirty and quiet, but as soon as we got to the end of it, the beach greeted us with an unexpected sensory overload of music, lights, and the delicious aroma of the many restaurants lined up along the beach. We chose a restaurant where a guy and his guitar filled the atmosphere with songs from Jack Johnson and John Mayer. We sat at a table closest to the water, took off our shoes and buried our toes in some of the softest sand I've ever felt. To the right were huge palm trees decorated with little white lanterns, and to the left - the crystal clear water of Boracay. In one word it was... Perfection.

Carlos and I spent the next few days chillin on the beach, snapping photos, eating prawn curry and tofu salpicao for lunch, and of course making friends with the little kitten at our hotel I named "Palaboy" which means homeless or stray. There were some big parties going on all weekend for Chinese New Year, so on our second night we walked along the beach to a club where we met some Canadians and had our first dance in a club! The next night we chose this chillaxed looking Chinese restaurant that had low tables and benches on the sand and little red lanterns everywhere. We shared lotus fried rice, stirfried veg and tofu, and some prawn dumplings. A firefdancer performed for us beside the crashing waves, and the waiter asked us "do you think that's a boy or a girl?" I was totally convinced it was a girl until the moment he said that! At the end of dinner were able to watch the fireworks display going on down the beach. Such a relaxing night... oh and at least once a night the power goes out for about a minute which is just enough time to glimpse up past the palm trees into the night sky and see just how bright the stars are...