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Published: August 8th 2007
5:22 a.m.
Boracay timeAt 5:15am, Leroy gently wakes me up and asks if I still want to join Jamie and Linus to watch and photograph the sunrise. I get up and look outdoors to make sure the sky is still dark. By the time I pull on my clothes, brush my hair and teeth, and wash my face, the sky is light outside. No worries, the sun rises behind some hills so I haven’t really missed too much. I walk outside and immediately spot them on the beach, cameras and tripod in action. My Olympus Stylus 300 is just a pocket camera, simple and old. I get some bad shots at first, then turn the autoflash off and try to hold my hand steady. Lucky for me, I’m with two other people who are yammering on about apertures and ISO. At least someone else is gonna get some good shots even with the faint light. I can’t help but turn my attention to the sea, then the beach, then the sky, then the palm trees. I can’t look at everything at once, but neither can I resist the temptation to try. The beach is not empty, but there are only
5:24 a.m.
up before the sun smatterings of people and dogs on the white sand. An elderly couple took their early morning walk up and down the beach. It was low tide, and the dogs frolicked with each other by the water. That’s the romantic version - then the dogs also peed and pooped on the sandcastles the children had left behind. Warning to future Boracay tourists - don’t touch the sand near the sandcastles, they have been marked as canine territory! We had a great time watching the dogs and their interactions. Sun came out to join us and reprimand Linus for taking video of a dog doing number two. Yes, boys will be boys, even when they’re 33.
Early Breakfast with the Laptops Jamie and I sat down to breakfast at 6:30am while Leroy snoozed some more. Lee’s strategy was to avoid eating brekkie too early so that he wouldn’t go hungry before lunch. I couldn’t wait to dig into the tocino (sweet pork) and adobo rice - mm mmm, especially when you add vinegar with garlic and chili! I brought my mom’s laptop down so I could check email, work a little, and also try to catch up on our Australia blogs.
Sunrise troopers
Leroy is in the bed I was back in the room before Leroy headed down to breakfast, so I sat out on our balcony and typed away. At one point, Linus reprimanded me for not taking our vacation seriously enough and told me the SeaWind crew was going to Crystal Cove to explore the caves. Well, that’s news to me! Leroy and I had just 30 minutes to get ready, and he decided he’d rather relax on the beach and get a massage. I got ready, headed to the meeting place at the bar, and when I got there, I was summarily informed that the Las Brisas family discovered the plan and wanted in. Poor Leroy, he was already on his way there to hang out. Then I saw him crossing our beachfront and running to our room to get ready.
Crystal Caves Do Not Disappoint Soon, the family was all together and we repeated the process of taking tricycles to the jetty. We got into a bigger boat than yesterday (it thankfully fit the whole family) and we enjoyed the 30 minute trip to Tigwati-an Island where there is a park with caves. Today, there were no clouds, and so it was very
hot and bright. At the park, we each paid our P100 entry fee and hiked up to a bluff where the ocean waves were crashing into the rocks below. The view was incredible, and the wind in our hair lessened the burn of the sun. We took lots of pictures, of course - Leroy on a fort-like tower with Terran and Tita Reena looking over the bluff as if she’s sreaming, “I’m the King of the World!” The oldies decided that the narrow spiral staircases carved from rock were too treacherous for them to venture into the caves below. Of course, the youngies descended as quickly as possible with our sturdy flip flops. Leroy took Terran down because it really was too dangerous for the toddler to navigate the steps. The cave was small, but the inlet where the water would come crashing in was fantastic. It’s the kind of water that makes you fear the ocean, even though it is mesmerizingly beautiful. Turquoise waters would foam as they rolled into the cave, calming by the time they would lap at our feet. Every now and then, however, a bigger wave would come, and everyone in the cave would get
wet. Terran loved it, but quickly said, “Okay, let’s go back up!” After all, there’s another cave to see!
The youngies dropped all our stuff off with the oldies and headed on a hike to cave number two. Little did we know we should have left everything that could get wet. It was too hot to hike, but Terran sang us songs to distract us. Sun and Eunhee decided to sit at the top of the steps to cave two, which Sun deemed a smart move when she saw us exit the cave half an hour later. The steps to cave two also started with a spiral, and security helped us by carrying Terran. But once down the steps, you had to walk down a ramp into the mouth of the cave, where there was another inlet where water would come in. This time, however, the water was calm and swimmable. The ramp, however, was partially submerged in water, so you had to hold onto a rope so as not to lose your balance when a wave would hit you. Once past the underwater ramp (no worries, water only came up to mid-thigh on me… I guess up to
White sand in the making
Dead coral + water + weather, stir for a few centuries = white sand midcalf on Leroy, *wink*), there are a bunch of rocks leading to a small cave entrance. From outside looking in, it looks very small. There is a small sign that says, “Watch Your Head.” We are hesitant to enter the cave lest we have to crawl on our bare knees on the stony floor, but my cousins head into the cave and as we watch them, we see that there is enough vertical space to crouch and walk. Leroy makes sure of this before fitting his 6-foot frame into the small hole. Inside, you really do just have to remind yourself not to straighten out. Terran is lucky - he just walks through the cave. On the other side, there is a larger cavern that opens out into the sea. The water is, again, turquoise and beautiful. I go back through the cave before the others to see if I can really get a swim in on the other side, but once there, I wade deeper into the water and realize that it wouldn’t be much of a swim and I would simply end up drenched. But I take advantage of being waist deep in the cool waters before everyone
comes out and heads back up. Our next pit stop is the bar where we all rehydrate on water and soda, as well as indulge in cookies (Terran) and chips (everyone, but Xandra and I monopolized the Clover Chips, our childhood favorite!). It is just too hot a day and it exhausts us. We rest up then go back to the boat for the end of our short adventure.
Chicken Inasal and a Tricycle Ride Fiasco Our next pit stop was *d-mall*, the open air shop and restaurant center just a tricycle ride away. There are numerous restaurants there, but the oldies get sidetracked by shops on the way to the food area. I am dying to eat, but end up checking out the upstairs apartment of one of Xandra’s friends, which then leads to a bit of a temper tantrum from Terran because he wasn’t allowed to join in. I don’t interact with kids enough to tolerate the silent treatment from a three-year-old, so when he ignored me, I simply kept on walking. Hmmm, I really do wonder what I’ll do when faced with the same challenges. By the time Terran and Xandra are done looking at the
5:49 a.m.
More people get in on the action apartment again, I’m with my mom at Chicken Inasal, a restaurant that serves Bacolod chicken, which is a regional barbeque chicken dish. The whole family eventually sits down, all of us with beads of sweat rolling down our faces. But then, another feast ensues. Food is simply too cheap to not try various things on the menu. I particularly enjoy the salted egg and tomato, which is another food from my childhood. There is also kang kong (dark green leafy and stalky vegetable), green mango with ginamus (like bagoong, which is dried shrimp paste, but instead made with fish; it’s salty and balances out the sour green mango taste), and our chicken dishes. Once done with lunch, Leroy and I want to go back to the resort instead of window shopping with the family, so we decide to take the tricycle back. Tita Reena tells us the tricycle is P10 each to get back, so my mom gives us P20 (we have not had access to an ATM yet, and my mom won’t be able to get us cash until later this afternoon). Then, she worries that we’ll run into problems and gives me another P10 coin. Everyone laughs because
P10 won’t do a thing but buy you candy, so she gives me P50 total. I think it’s overkill, but I will end up wrong. We jump into a tricycle outside of d-mall and go back to SeaWind. I did not ask or arrange a price because I thought it was fixed and well-known. During the entire ride, the driver sneaks stares at Leroy. Seriously! He looks forward then to the right, then forward and back to the right. When we get to SeaWind, I hand him a P20 bill and he holds it in his hand and tells me it’s P40. I tell him no, then he starts on some story about how it’s higher because he was in the tricycle line at the store. Leroy is out of the tricycle and asks me what’s going on, and when I tell him, he shouts not to pay him. But by the time I get the, “Don’t give him the P20” I have already handed him another bill, knowing full well he is cheating me but not wanting to argue. I tell Leroy I don’t want to argue, and when the driver gets the money, Leroy turns to him and
tells him that it’s bull****. The SeaWind guard and a bunch of tourists are witness to the whole event. Leroy is livid that I gave in and let that guy treat us like chumps. We have different philosophies about this… I figure the argument and confrontation isn’t worth the 40 cents. Leroy cares about the principle and hates it when we are treated like foreigners who can and should be charged more for everything. I guess I’m just used to it. When I stayed at the Manila Hotel for Xandra’s wedding in 2001, she had to make the reservation for me as a Philippine local, because the rate was four times lower than for foreigners. Well, suffice it to say that from now on… there will be no additional taxes imposed on us for being tourists. Leroy will make sure of it as best he can.
The FlyFishing Fiasco As we cool our tempers back at SeaWind, Linus, Jamie, Sun, and Eunhee go flyfishing. I don’t mean it in the “A River Runs Through It” way. FlyFishing is a water sport akin to banana boats or rings. In 2000, I went to Spain on a 10-day trip a
good friend from college (Hi Louis!). It included Barcelona, Ibiza and Mallorca. Barcelona was for food and culture. Ibiza was for all night clubbing and foam. Mallorca was beach time, which meant Louis just stayed in his hotel and nursed a cold. While at the beach, I saw a sport called rings, where a boat would pull five donut-like (with no hole in the middle, so imagine a jelly donut!) inflated rings. The ropes attaching the rings to the boat were about 15-20 feet in length. As the speedboat gained speed, the rings would splay out, and they would purposefully angle the boat such that you would go over the wake and waves while holding on to your ring. All you could hold on to were little handles. I was the smallest and lightest rider, which meant that there was no drag on my ring. I flipped over and nearly lost my bikini bottoms as the wake of the boat pushed me under. Even getting back up on the ring was a nightmare and someone had to push my bottom up so I could climb up. When the boat started again, another rider’s ring tucked itself halfway under mine, and
I looked at him with fear in my eyes. A second later, I was flipped over again. All I wanted was to get off the ring and ride the boat back home. Ever since then, I have looked at such watersports with skepticism. Well, when Linus said he was going FlyFishing, I said, “Have fun, see you later!” FlyFishing looks just as scary! It looks like a raft with three long tubes that you can sit on that go lengthwise across the raft. You sit on them much like you would a banana boat, but instead of fitting six people on each tube, it only fits two. You have to hold on to a handle that is made up of similar material as a hose (which means they’re flimsy!). The raft is attached to the boat at its bottom, at about midlength, by a rope. This means that when the boat gains speed, the front of the raft goes up in the air and you end up sliding down the tube you’re sitting on and holding on for dear life. When the crew came back from their adventure, they were shaking and terrified. Sun told us it was fun and
that we should go, but it was a clear trap! Jamie tells us that Sun slid down her tube and had her butt right against Eunhee’s hands. Eunhee was afraid that Sun would let go of her handle and slide down, taking Eunhee with her into the ocean. So, every now and then, Eunhee would scream something in Korean and give Sun a big slap on the booty. Jamie found this hilarious. Linus was holding on like a madman, especially when the boat would take a turn and he was on the inner part of the curve. They are convinced the boatmen were giving them a particularly rough ride and enjoying it. When Jamie fell into the water, they laughed and took a photo of him with Linus’ waterproof plastic-encased camera. After that experience, they definitely had to hit the calm resort pool and bar.
Creating a Philippine Caipiroska We met up with the afflicted flyfishers at the bar and asked the bartender to make us a special drink - vodka with calamansi (Philippine lemon) juice and sugar. He took it a step further and blended it with ice. The calamansi is a really delicious citrus fruit. Juiced, it’s
what every kid grows up with as lemonade, but I find it a much better tasting lemonade than what we have in the U.S. My mom has a calamansi tree in L.A., so Leroy knows the drink well and frequently orders it at restaurants. It has to be made fresh, because the concentrate version is no good. Our new signature drinks are served up and they are refreshing and calming to the flyfishers. We hang out in the pool, where we challenge each other to swim six laps across the short width of the pool with just one breath. It’s tough for Jamie (quit smoking!), Linus (stop inhaling water!), and me (get bigger lungs and learn to swim more efficiently!). Leroy hits five laps at first, but says he has to time his exhale just right. His next attempt is aborted at three laps. My goodness, clearly we have a college athlete and lifetime competitor with us. Either the Filipino attitude of
bahala na (what will be will be) has dampened our competitive spirit, or we just don’t care enough to try. But Leroy keeps trying, and of course, he makes it. Then he says he bets he could do
Noontime adventure coming up
Getting ready to dock. Try parallel parking a boat. eight laps within the hour! Jamie pats him on the back and says, “Don’t worry, you’re on vacation, relax!” So we do!
Indulgent Beach Massages Taking Jamie’s advice to relax, I talk to some masseuses on the beach and set up hour-long massages on the beach loungers in front of our resort. Just P350 (U$7) each! Leroy goes over to Las Brisas for our special massage oil and we lay down on the loungers. It is late afternoon, the perfect time to get our relaxation on. I absolutely *love* my massage, she really knew how to get the knots out of my shoulders. Leroy loved his too. My mom had heard we were getting massages, so she joined in and got a foot massage (mistakenly stealing Linus’ reservation, which she would not live down). After an hour, and just as I was about to doze off, she was done and Leroy and I headed back to our room to chill out and wash up for dinner. The rest of the SeaWind crew lay down for their massages, and the sun set while we were all dreamily lazing about the resort.
An Epic Last Night in Boracay and the Crystal Cove
In search of the hidden caves Winning of the Ten Peso Bill
At dinnertime, we met up in the resort bar and called over the youngies from Las Brisas. The oldies had opted not to go with us. Tita Jenny had a headache from the heat, and they were all tired. So, sans Terran, we all decided to go back to d-mall to go to The Hobbit House, a restaurant managed by a cooperative of little people (I think that’s the correct term) that has branches in Boracay and Manila. Basically, the waiters are all people with dwarfism and it is a way for them to have steady employment. We’re going there for the food and live music, as it is famous for having live folk bands. Of course, this means we have to take a tricycle to d-mall. Linus, Sun, and Eunhee go ahead of us because they are famished. It seems that since they are Korean, they are treated as foreigners as well, but Sun doesn’t care. She just gives them a P50 bill whenever she rides the tricycle with Linus and/or Eunhee and there’s no disagreement. I tell Jamie he has to come with us so that we don’t overpay. A tricycle sees
us waiting by the roadside entrance of SeaWind and stops. There is a woman and child inside and he tells them to get off and walk the rest of the way. I hear her say, “Ang daya,” (“That’s not fair” or “that’s not right”), and I tell Jamie that I don’t want to take this tricycle because the guy is a jerk. The kid must have been two years old! But Jamie tells me he thinks that it’s the driver’s wife and kid (as if this makes it better) and that it’s okay to take it. Then, Jamie asks the price (he knew about our afternoon fiasco!), and the driver looks at Leroy, up and down, up and down. “20 pesos each.” No way! Jamie says it should be P10, the guys says something else (I never understand the excuses for why the price is higher), and then Jamie says how about P50 for three of us. I tell Leroy that Jamie is negotiating (he too does not like arguments over money like this), and Leroy says “no way.” I tell Jamie, “We’ll just walk,” to which he responds, “It’s far!” Well, when the driver hears the word “walk,” he
Crystal Cove
"I don't want to take a picture!" agrees to the P10 price, Jamie pays him the P30, and we are on our way. Invoking the spirit of Brandee, the walk away comes through. Leroy 1, Tricycles 1.
At The Hobbit House, Linus and his crew are at outside tables with Newcastles on order. We ask them to make calamansi-vodka drinks, and they are ready to please. Xandra, Sam, and Baba meet us and we all dig in on various dishes. The place serves German food, Filipino food, pasta and pizza, Mexican food, and other random dishes. Xandra, who has not had a drink in two years, tastes our calamansi concoction and orders her own. And so begins the night that Xandra got her groove back. Sam and Baba went to the Chinese restaurant across the plaza because Sam absolutely had to eat Chinese. During dinner, we get a little more tipsy and start cheering for the kids going up the climbing wall in the plaza. By the time Xandra has a fifth of her cocktail (perhaps the equivalent of three swallows), she is verifiably tipsy. We convince her to take a picture with a napkin on her forehead. Napo in the Faché! We then begin the
Crystal Cove
"I'm definitely not smiling, then..." discussion regarding the fate of the Ten Peso Bill.
See, back during Christmastime 2000, my cousins Ogoy, Sam, and Moe had a day of daring each other to do embarrassing things. I will need Sam to verify the facts, but basically Ogoy first won a worn and tattered P10 bill while stuck in traffic during the Lantern Parade. Sam had wanted to bring her professor a batch of cookies (brownnoser!), but because of the parade, they were parked on the roads and ended up eating the cookies and giving up the mission. While in the horrendous traffic, Ogoy got out of the car and screamed out, “What’s up with the f-ing traffic?!?” for all the riders in jeepneys and cars (with windows open) to hear. Then, Sam went into a small video store and made a speech wishing all the renters and shoppers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Next, Moe won it by going up to two young ladies on the street and telling them that they were so pretty that he just had to wish them happy holidays. All this was a silly game that they played one day, and the ten peso bill exchanged hands
Crystal Cove
Be free...just make sure you have someone to catch you all day. Well, in August 2001, our U.S.-based family came to the Philippines for Xandra’s wedding. After the ceremony and reception, we all returned to the Manila Hotel and hung out in the hotel bar where there was a band singing covers of popular songs. There were two female singers in the band. Apart from us cousins (Xandra was, of course, missing as it was her honeymoon night), there were only a few other people in the hotel lounge. We were drinking Smirnoff Mule, which is a bottle that looks like Smirnoff Ice, but is brown and has a ginger ale taste. It’s delicious, and I wish the U.S. had some of it too. Linus was getting pretty sloshy, and we requested “Like a Virgin” from the band and put Linus’ name on the request paper. We also wrote in that he wanted to sing it with them. Normally, Linus would have easily declined, but he was tipsy and happy enough to agree. So he went on stage and, with two writhing Filipinas by his side, he sang Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” with 100% enthusiasm, face scrunched with the high notes and all. I took mad pictures, but unfortunately, I
Crystal Cove
Mother Daughter left my old Pentax camera at the bar that night and no one turned it in to Lost & Found. It has always been a family regret that we do not have photo evidence of that night (this is pre-digital camera time for me). It was because of this effort that Linus won the Ten Peso Bill in 2001, and it made its trip to the U.S. to be displayed in his apartment and never to be won again until we were all together. I have come back to Manila at least three times since then, but none of us could compete for the Ten Peso Bill until Linus returned.
And so, at The Hobbit House, my cousins vowed to win it back. Now, the dares may not seem too threatening, but you have to understand Filipino culture. Calling attention to oneself is usually avoided. We had spent the past two days in Boracay trying to come up with appropriate dares for each cousin. If Xandra could get a man or woman on the street to agree to a pranic healing, for example. She declined as it is against the rules. We tried to get Sam to go parasailing
and lose her bikini bottom before landing; she said no. We asked Baba to walk into the ocean at night until the water reached her chest or she hit the reef shelf; she declined, even though this was a totally doable dare (unlike our other suggestions). Tonight, we dared Xandra to sing “More Than Words,” by Extreme with the folk band on stage. Unfortunately, Xandra didn’t know the words, but she was tipsy enough to beg the guitarists for a chance and leaf through their entire songbook while chattering on about “the family dare” and “the ten peso bill must come home” and “please, at least three minutes.” She sounded like a lunatic, but they agreed to play along. And so, it was Baba aka “Baba Marley” who went up on stage and sang “Waiting in Vain.” We hooted and hollered, took pictures and took video, and thus the Ten Peso Bill was won. But not for the Philippines! It’s going to Taiwan, since Baba is going to college there!
Ten Peso Trike and Stumbling in the Grocery Store After Baba’s performance and once we all agreed that the exchange would take place in Manila on Saturday night during
Crystal Cove
On top of the world the family dinner, we walked back to the d-mall entrance. Sun and Eunhee had already gone home. As Leroy made sure that we would only pay P10 for our trike ride home, Xandra and I went to the grocery store to bring back water (and Pringles) for the family. Goodness, did she really have just one drink? The woman was stumbling into things in the aisle and begging for me not to leave her side lest she fall over. We were joking that if Terran made
dede (breastfed), he’d say, “Mama, this is the best dede I’ve ever had!” As Xandra stumbled about, pointing at grocery items and laughing, Linus came to get us and tell us that Leroy had made his deals—P10 per person, no more (Leroy 2, Tricycles 1). We all climbed into one tricycle (that’s right, all six of us) and went back to SeaWind. Leroy had to carry Xandra into the resort, since she was stumbling about and giggling. The bar was closed (what, it’s only 10pm!), so we parked ourselves on the beach loungers while Leroy went to Las Brisas to get Taboo. And so we had another night of Taboo on the beach, just
the youngies this time. We called it a night after the Americans beat the Pinoys 83 to 70. We still had to pack and get up in time for breakfast and a 7:30am departure. Sigh, has our time in Boracay really come to a close?
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Alea
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The Shirt
¡Esto es lo que decía, Sims! LOL. Aww, family time... Boracay is stunning. Xandra drunk- HIlarious : )