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Published: February 17th 2007
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It's a shame to say that this is my first time to set foot in the island of Boracay, or maybe not. I've never really dreamed of coming here 'coz it is usually flocked with tourists and people from the city. Boracay has become one of the ultimate tourist and party destination especially at the hype of summer and every concievable holiday in my country (and yes, our President likes giving out holidays).
However, I was going to Iloilo to join the
Dinagyang Festival so my mates and I decided to make a quick stop at this much raved about beach haven. I should say, I was pretty excited to go to Boracay for the mere fact that I'm finally seeing it and disappointed I was not. Although I think I've seen better beaches, the ambience was really great, the locals were funny and it was serenely quiet. Must be because it is still the off peak season.
Anyhow, we left Manila early and in less than an hour, I was in Kalibo. An all girls trip was something to look forward to and the start of my 5 day-vacation has long been waited. Kalibo is a city in
boracay sand castle
every morning they build a sandcastle the Aklan province which is about 2 hours away from Caticlan, gateway to Boracay. My friends and I were debating wether we should get on the many airport transfers to Caticlan or take the backpacker's route: bus. Deciding was not easy since the port marshalls as they were called were already hovering behind, trying to convince us to just take the van along with other passengers going to Boracay.
It was tempting to just give our bags to the port marshalls and have them drag us to their waiting van but the idea of being crammed up to the bin with our bags and several other passengers didn't look good so we decided to take the bus. Right outside the airport are tricycles that can carry 4 grown men. Well, we were small girls so the 5 of us and our bags were able to fit in one tricycle. The driver, Mang Jun dela Rosa, took us to the bus station and he was courteous enough to direct us to a
Ceres bus, which is the only bus line that travels around the Panay Islands.
Two hours later, we were at the beach trodding our way around Station
tricycle ride
instead of riding the van from the airport, a tricycle and bus ride to Caticlan was favored 3 looking for Casa Camilla, the cheapest hostel we found online. Unfortunately, the locals are not great with directions because they kept pointing us to the wrong direction and to another hotel that had the word "Casa" on it too. They are however, great in offering services such as island hopping, banana boat, jet ski and all other possible things they can persuade you to spend some moohlah on. There was even this one local who basically chatted with us all the way to the hostel, giving us info about the price range of most of the activities in the area.
I remember telling all of them the same thing, "we'll think about it," when in reality our heads were made up. It's a Filipino thing I guess, to say "no" up front is not something we're used to doing especially if you see the earnestness in face of the one asking. Casa Camilla is at the end of the earth and by the time we got there we were beat. That however, wasn't going to stop us from threading the beach or looking for something to eat.
The beach front is lined up with different restos, souvenir
sport feature
just discovered one of the many features of my cam shops and hotels. There are a lot of locals selling trinkets, puca shells, accessories and small souvenirs that are quite cheap. Some accessories though costs hundreds 'coz of it's material. Mother pearls are usually expensive but this is cheap already compared to the those sold in the city. Girls being girls, we were detained by all those little trinkets laid before us instead of getting to D'mall, which was about a kilometer away from where we are staying, faster.
Walking towards D'mall, we once again got bombarded by locals with lotsa offers. They can even make it really enticing and their sales speech is something else. For the banana boat, they have something like "Banana boat mamn, may free na banana que!" or with the with the island hopping, "Island hopping with flying kiss!"! The best was when we passed by a cafe and there was a waiter and he said "iced coffee, tea or me?!" It was funny how we all stopped on our tracks and looked at him and then laughed profusely! That was one hell of a pick-up line!
As the sun sets, the restos turn their place into bars and some would put up
sunset
one of the best sunsets I've seen... dinner tables or lay mattresses on the beach where their customers can lounge. We found this reggae bar called BomBoms and it's such a cool place to stay at 'coz you get to drink your cocktails while lying on the beach. They don't serve dinner though but between 6-8pm they have happy hour cocktails, buy 2 for Php80 which was hella cheap.
I think Boracay in general is a great place... when there are no people partying all night. I plan to come back here again one of these days or maybe after the summer season. I don't like crowded beaches. Sad note to this though is that I wish the owners of the establishments in Boracay are Filipinos. Nothing against foriegners but this is a resource that would help boost the lives of the people who really lives there. Tourism in the area helps, but it doesn't alleviate them from their current stand in the food chain. Foriegners come here and marry hapless Filipinas so they can have a legitimate right to own lands and businesses.
Well, this is not the place for such sentiments. Boracay is great.. will surely be back!
PS: Beach
coctkails by the beach
bomboms located in station 2 near d'mall. reggae music and happy hour cocktails. Bum Infos:
1. Best way to get to this beach haven is by air. Caticlan flights are available from
Asian Spirit and
Seair. Flights are limited though.
2. You can try to get a flight to Kalibo, Aklan which is 2 hours away from Caticlan. Recommended airline is
Cebu Pacific Air. They're on time and more importantly, their planes look spanking brand new.
3. For Php250 you can get airport transfers from Kalibo to Caticlan and the boat fare from Caticlan Port to the island of Boracay. You won't have difficulty finiding these transfers, they'll be by your side the minute your plane lands.
4. Transfers though means that you'll have to ride a jampacked van with minimal space for you to stretch your legs for TWO hours.
5. Bus would save you the hassle of being knee to knee with your seatmate and it's a lot cheaper. Tricycle ride to the bus station is Php100 and bus is less than Php80. It gets cheaper if you get to share the tricycle fare with a friend or two or four.
6. Outrigger boats to Boracay costs about Php20, but you also have to pay an
enviromental fee for Php50 and terminal fee for Php20 again. Ah, the fees men invents. By the way, you have to pay another round of those fees on your return trip to Caticlan.
7. From the port of Boracay, you'll have to once again ride a tricycle so they can take you to the beach. Depending on where you'll be staying, they can either drop you off at Station 1, Station 2 or Station 3. Walking to your hotel is inevitable.
8. Station 1 houses the 5-star hotels, hella expensive, Station 2 has the averaged priced hotels, restos and D'mall (the shopping district), Station 3 cheap hostels, inns and the like. The beach front is almost the same, except that I think Station 2 has the beast beach front. Boracay is a 4km stretch. Walking from one station to the next, I don't recommend it.
9. Banana boat standard price is Php250 per head, Island Hopping as far as I can remember is Php1300-1500 a day, Jetskiing for 30mins/Php1000++. I think you can haggle the price for the boat. Parasailing is about Php1500.... but prices are cheaper during the off peak season.
10. There are a
under the palm trees
lying under palm trees and just basking in the morning lot of budget inns in the area but are mostly located in Station 3. Casa Camilla, since it was off peak, we were able to negotiate, but it is very far so unless you like walking miles, try it.
11. For more Iloilo infos:
Hala Bira Iloilo: Tripping with Food and Churches
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