Oh, Boracay!

It's been a while! This is mostly because my camera died on my latest adventure and it took some doing to get my photos uploaded. Luckily, I am now armed with a multi memory card reader AND Sony called today to tell me that they fixed my camera for $35! Good news when I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I'd have to buy a new one. So fear not, friends, this shutterbug/documentarian will rise again!


Here is the previously promised picture of my flowering jasmine tea (er... herbal infusion). Cool, idinit? You put a little bud in the cup and it opens as the tea steeps. Now that that's settled, on to the tale of my trip to the Philippines.

I took off for Manila early on the morning of February 3rd and arrived around noon. I decided on the jet way, while waiting to board the plane, that I already loved the Philippines (I think this was mostly due to the kindness and patience of my fellow passengers). I arrived in Manila where the weather was nice and hot and headed for the domestic airport. A man there told me that all of the flights to Caticlan (the town one flies to on Panay island to catch a boat over to Boracay) were booked, but said he could help me. He took me to a travel agency, and while they were able to find me a flight to Caticlan, I opted to fly into Kalibo (another town on Panay, from whence I could take a bus to Caticlan) as this option was much cheaper. This ended up being a very good decision. The van-ride cost about as much as a can of Pringles that I bought at the airport and the drive was beautiful.


Here's a view from my seat in the van. We drove down a winding road and had to honk so that cows, chickens and dogs would get out of our way. The preferred mode of transport on the islands seems to be the tricycle. Basically it's a little carriage with a motorbike attached to the side. One tricycle probable comfortably fits about 3 people plus one on the bike. I saw trikes with three people on the bike and maybe 6 inside the carriage, though.

The drive took about 1.5 hours, due to the curvy nature of the road. Once we made it to Caticlan, I boarded a boat to Boracay...


just in time to watch the sunset from it. The ride was short and sweet, and then I hopped on a trike and headed to the hotel where five of my friends were already staying. The trike driver dropped me off next to what looked like a scary, dark alleyway and told me that the hotel was "down there." I was a little wary, but I didn't really have any other options, so I headed into the darkness. I walked next to a swamp that looked like a toxic waste dump (eerily glowing green "water") and wandered into what turned out to be some people's backyard. Luckily a nice man was willing to point me toward the hotel.

I received an enthusiastic and warm welcome from my friends and we immediately got down to what was important...

Drinking enormous cocktails.

We had some dinner and visited a few bars along White Beach and even ran into some German fellows whom the girls had met the previous night. As it turns out there were Germans all over the island. I ended up being the group interpreter, and it felt really, really great to be speaking German again (and to still get complements on the supreme power of my German skills--you know I still got it!)


Later in the evening we even smoked some tasty rose-flavored tobacco out of the hookah pictured above. Ah luxury. That night I had a long, intense conversation with an Australian stranger, and went to bed just as the sun was starting to come up.



Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a gratuitous sunset that somehow got loaded out of order (I believe it is from my third day on the island)


When I woke up the next day (well, that day, if you're a stickler for such things) around noon, I walked out of our bungalow and down a weird little alley to find this. Paradise. I had breakfast (western breakfast food! It barely exists in Korea), took a dip in the ocean, rested in the sun a bit, and then got a manicure and pedicure on the beach with two of the girls. My manicurist was awesome and she had an adorable daughter named Princess, who kept asking me questions and trying to talk to me. Too bad the only words I know in Tagalog are "mother," "father," "grandfather," "pee" and "poop."

After getting my nails did, I took a walk down the beach where I ran into my friend Carrie


And a table full of her newfound friends. She had actually been playing Frisbee with them in the water and then decided it was time for some lunch. I joined the group for some tasty Mexican food.

The kids even got some ice cream,


Which Carrie showed them how to eat with their fingers, once they'd done all they could with their spoons.

Carrie and I then decided it was time for a parasailing adventure. We'd been shopping around for the best price all day and having found it, we headed off in a boat with some Australian ladies and a crew of muscular Filipino men.


Here we are, locked and loaded and ready for take-off. Carrie was really scared, but I (having been told that it was not really scary) was pretty calm.


Here we are up in the air. It was beautiful and very relaxing. It's so quiet up their in the sky. The view was great, and for some reason I had the strange feeling I could dip my toes into the water if I just reached a little further, even though I was so far away from it. We kicked our legs and swung in our harnesses, and the boat people dipped us into the water on our way down. I was so glad that I went, though I don't know that I'll need to ever do it again.


That night I had Mongolian barbecue ON THE BEACH with Andrea, Nadia and Colleen.


In spite of a crazy, yet short-lived downpour, which ruffled Colleen's feathers a bit, the meal was delicious and the atmosphere relaxed and lovely.


Later that night, we headed to Summerplace, a popular beach bar, where we played pool and made new friends and drank many a drink.


The following day, after breakfast at a Greek restaurant (which is where I broke my fast every day for the rest of the trip, because it was lovely and delicious), we decided to head out on a boat (with the same folks who took Carrie and me parasailing) for some snorkeling, to check out a different beach and just for the sake of general boatiness. We loaded up the cooler with San Miguels and set sail. This may have actually been the only time that all six of us were together in the same place at once.


When we stopped at a reef to get our snorkel on, this man was conveniently available to sell us coconuts. My friend Mary bought one.


Here I am snorkeling about. It was truly awe-inspiring. I had been once before in Mexico, but the water was murky and there wasn't much to see. On this trip, however, it was like stepping onto a different planet. There were hundreds of fish and other creatures swimming everywhere. Sometimes the guys from the boat would throw crackers into the water, because it made all of the fish swarm near us. I kept trying to touch the fish, but sadly they wouldn't let me. I definitely found Nemo, and I saw a big stripy fish and decided to follow him around, because he looked like he had connections. I really wished, more than anything, that I had had an underwater camera.


We parked the boat on what I believe was the northern end of the Island, where there was a more secluded beach...


And a nice little place to get some shade and food. Note the sand on my arms (I managed to fall up a three-foot hill).


There was an adorable little boy at the restaurant, but unfortunately he was camera-shy.

It was at this point, that my dear little camera ceased to turn on and thus the pictures stop here. This is probably okay, since the rest of the trip mostly involved more beach and water, delicious food and imbibing of spirits.

On the boat-ride back, we saw an enormous sea turtle. We then decided that it was probably just a Filipino child in a costume trying to make a buck. I then decided that "sea turtle-impersonator in Boracay" might well be a fruitful and enjoyable next gig for me.

The rest of the trip was just as wonderful as the first half. I met some really cool people who live in Taiwan, a guy who lives in Kuwait, and an Australian guy with the exact same sense of humor as me and I fell in love with a gay Puerto Rican. I had two mango daiquiris and took some long walks down the beach. I think the happiest part of the trip for me was when my friend Nadia brought a bag full of stinky aged cheeses (Bree, Gorgonzola, Cheddar) into the ocean and we ate them. We ate aged cheese IN THE OCEAN. Throughout the trip I kept wondering what I did right in my life to get to such a wonderful place.

Because my flight to Korea was at noon on February 8th and the first flight out of Boracay on that day was booked, I had to spend a night in Manila. I was really sad to have to leave my friends and the beautiful, beautiful island, and unfortunately I didn't care for Manila. I was properly sketched out by it. I went into a weird, seedy bar-type place trying to find food. When I entered, everyone stared at me. My hotel room was awful. It was the wrong way to end my vacation. Still, in some ways I am still amazed that I came back from this trip. I could easily have stayed forever (though I think my liver might have a different opinion about that). If I disappear come September, I think you'll know where to find me. Just head to Boracay, get on a boat and look for a sea turtle.