Boracay!

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The flight from Puerto Princessa was pretty uneventful which is great when it comes to flights! We made it back to Manila to catch the connecting flight which was delayed getting to Boracay by a couple hours for some reason. So there we sat on the floor like little kids playing card games to pass the time until our flight finally was called to board.

We had to catch a 10 minute banca boat ride from the jetty port to the actual island and on the way we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the sunset as it dropped below the horizon. Boracay is famously known for it's sunsets and we wanted to experience them every night we were there.

Coming into Boracay on the main drag was not something that I had pictured in my mind. When you type into Google, 'Boracay', all you see is a beach with no one on it and palm trees swaying in the wind, paradise. They never show you pictures of the streets and areas outside of the beach. The main drag was insane with tuk tuk's, vans, scooters, and people walking alongside it. Above us, power lines were intertwined in an electrician's worst nightmare looking like a beehive of wires wrapped around a telephone pole! The road we were on was the main road that ran the entire length of the island. So needless to say that any time of the day was busy and a traffic jam.

The first night we had decided that we were going to go to Cocamanga's at Station 3 and do the 15 shot challenge. We had read about it online and it sounded like a fun time! As we ordered the challenge, Patrick and I discussed our strategy to overcome and conquer. We were going to do the first couple shots right away and see how we feel and go from there, sip some water in between shots and we would be good to go. The first one was by far the worst; Canadian Prairie Fire. Whiskey and Tabasco combined to make a terrible concoction. It really made you think about the rest of the shots and we promptly studied the menu to see which ones could cause us trouble in the near future. The beach sat directly behind us and hearing the water lapping upon the beach with reggae music in the background reinforced our thoughts that we were in paradise. We finished the challenge with flying colors while documenting each shot and got our honorary Cocomanga's jersey(which I've never worn since I got it). We roamed the beach the rest of the night checking out the different bars, restaurants, and the endless buffets that lined the beach. Once the sun went down, all the buffets would open up and offer any type of food that you could imagine. It was crazy the amount of food you would see lined up with hosts and hostess' beckoning you to come in and try theirs. If you weren't getting summoned by the buffet people it was all the massage people offering their services. I've never heard "Massage, sir?" so many times in my life. By now I had learned to either ignore them, wave my hand, or say a quick no and turn away.

When I was younger, I never was one to to sit around on the beach and just lay there. I always wanted to play in the water or throw frisbee or do....anything, besides laying there. It drove me crazy when my sister, Katie,would lay there and not play with me. That's why I can justify teasing her so much when we were younger. Or maybe she turned the tables on me and was punishing me for all those years. Times have changed and for the next couple of days the beach was our second home. It was a constant decision making paradigm of whether to lay on the beach or get into the water to cool yourself off. It was a pretty tough couple of days I might say.

The beach was always super busy with people walking up and down to each Station, which are the different sections of White beach (Stations 1,2,3). The sand was perfectly white and extremely soft, void of any sharp seashells so it was great to jump into the clear water and see your feet in the sand. When the sun started to set, the beach became alive with cameras and paraws (traditional Filipino sailboats) taking tourists for a sunset cruise. The sunsets were absolutely gorgeous! Your sitting there on the beach watching the sun set into the ocean and the colors of the sky just light up to all these beautiful colors with the paraws crisscrossing in front of you. Seriously, every picture you took of the sunset would come out perfectly. It was neat how the whole beach would stop whatever they were doing and just stare and snap away at the sunset. Meanwhile the kids are still playing in the water, building sand castles, and throwing sand at each other, obvlivious to the beauty that's in front of them. Once the sun went down, everyone broke out of their sunset trance and got ready to go out for the night, whether it was a nice dinner, an endless buffett, or a bar night.

Puka beach-a beautiful beach at the northern tip of the island that Patrick, Leana, and I took a tuk tuk to check out. It was a gorgeous beach that was empty of all the people trying to sell you "Oakley" and "Prada" sunglasses or massages or boat rides. There were random people every couple hundred yards playing in the crashing waves or relaxing in the sun. Directly behind us was a jungle of lush foilage with palm trees lining the whole beach. It was great to catch the sunset from a different place on the island and devoid of all crowds.

One of the places we were really looking forward to going to was called Ariel's point. A whole day excursion of boat rides, beer drinking, buffet lunch, and cliff diving! Probably one of the best days I have had in the Philippines. We took off on a 45 minute boat ride around 11:30 with boatmen handing us free drinks along the way to lose our inhibitions for the cliff jumping. The boat pulls up to this area of cliffs with open air structures scattered on top with diving boards at different heights above clear, deep water. We docked and disembarked the boat to the path that led through and underneath the rocks up to the diving platforms. They had many different places you could jump from. 5, 10, and 15 meter jumps. The 15 meter jump was a monster to look at from down below and even from the top. Whew! The alcohol flowed even more steadily since everyone was on solid ground and the jumps were higher than expected. A Kiwi (guy from New Zealand) was the first one to jump from the 15m. I think they have something in their blood that makes them crazy. There were some Aussies on a separate boat trip and they were just as crazy. Everyone was watching as people were hitting all the different heights and some went off to snorkel and kayak around the area. Then lunch was served and it was delicious! Just what everyone needed after the boat ride and a couple jumps.

I tried so many times to do the 15 meter but couldn't come to terms with it. No amount of alcohol could make me jump and I think there is a certain height that my body just will not jump from. Maybe if I close my eyes next time and someone pushes me, I could do it. Next time...Although this way it gives me another reason to go back to the Philippines! After several last calls to board the boat (with no one wanting to leave) we boarded the back of the boat and didn't realize what we were in for. Apparently the back of the boat is the wettest. Everytime we hit a wave, the water would come in and just drench all of us. It was so much fun! We docked the boats on White beach and waded to shore just in time for sunset. As the sun was setting we were walking down the beach throwing the frisbee in between everybody and acting like a kid before we settled our butts in the sand to watch the finale and decide what we were going to do that night. Once again, one of the best days I've ever had. The perfect day filled with everything you could ever want. If you want to see some videos of Ariel's point, check out Youtube and you'll have a better understanding of what it's like.

The next couple days were pretty uneventful. Wake up, eat, lay on the beach, nap on the beach, get in the water, people watch, nap, walk on the beach, eat, out!

The night before we were to head home we ate at an all you can eat buffet and it was delicious! Amazing food and a ton of it. On a side note, none of us ever got food poisoning. Apparently a decent amount of people get food poisoning at some point and are out of commision for a couple of days. High five for us! We set our alarms to wake up at 4:30 to catch the banca boat ferry back to the mainland and catch a 2 hour van ride down to Kalibo airport that had a cheaper flight back to Manila. Somehow we ended up staying out all night and heading to Kalibo with no sleep. The van was absolutely packed to the brim so a decent nap was out of the question. We passed out for a quick hour on the flight to Manila. Outside the airport we waited an hour and a half for the terminal bus that would traffic us from Terminal 3 to 1 and when it never came, we took a taxi. Arriving at the terminal we found out the flight was at a different terminal. Back in the taxi and to the correct terminal. It makes perfect sense to have multiple terminals with no way of connecting each other except corrupt taxi's....After clearing security we made up for it by having an enormous, greasy pizza!

Arriving back in Korea was one of the most depressing things ever. After living in perfect weather, having nothing to do, and wearing swim trunks and sandals all day, the cold and darkness hit you like a ton of bricks. Vacation is officially over. But the best thing to do in a situation like that is to start planning the next one! Until next time Philippines...

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Photos

15 Shot Challenge
Patrick and I at the beginning of the 15 shot challenge!

Bartender
Bartender pouring our shots

Finished!
Easy victory!

White beach
White beach with Willy's Rock in the background.

Boracay sunset
One of many.

Willy's Rock
Random rock formation on White beach