Have You Been to Boracay?

"Have you been to Boracay?" seems to be the question almost everyone asks you here.  Not "Have you been to the Banaue rice terraces?" or "Have you been to the lake on Mt. Pinatubo?, it's nearly always about Boracay.

As it was the Holy Week holiday here, which meant the Thursday and Friday was a non working day, I made a plan to finally go to Boracay for a long weekend.  Boracay is a small island just over 4 miles long and a mile wide at it's widest point and located off the north-west point of the island of Panay where I'm working.  As I'm stationed in the south-east corner it's diagrammatically opposite and couldn't be any further away so it's a 4 hour drive to get there.

To be honest, I'm past being excited by beaches.  Both my sister and I agree that beaches are like fireworks:  you've seen them once, you've seen them all.  And having lived and worked in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean I'm pretty sure there isn't a better beach in the (commercial) world.  But there was the point of just being able to say I'd been to Boracay and as it's on my doorstep, so to speak, it would silly not to go.

Boracay Beach Loungers

Initially I was going to go on my own but the place I'd decided I wanted to stay at only had a duplex room available so I asked a colleague of mine if he wanted to go along as well, which he agreed to.

We set off at lunchtime on the Wednesday and the drive took us through the heart of Panay.  Right now it is the dry season and probably fair to say there's a drought, so the normally lush and fertile countryside was rather brown and drab with the usually flooded rice paddies taking on that cracked, crazy-paved earth look.  I wondered, with so much not being grown and local agriculture being so important in feeding and providing income for the communities that how much longer the dry weather needed to continue for before it became a crisis.  As an example, in Mindanao there is an energy crisis as they depend heavily on hydroelectricity generation and the shortage of rainfalls means the reservoirs are too low to generate power.

Arriving at the ferry terminal I was expecting it to be chaos and hassle as I had experienced when going to Bantayan Island (see Island Overdose) but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was all very well organised, with no touts.  Amazing really.  On the ferry trip to Boracay we had to wear life jackets, which is an unheard of safety imposition for this part of the world.   It's only a short trip and the terminal at the other side was equally well organised.  As usual, I had too much stuff.  Apart from the cameras, I'd brought my bike along too as I thought it would be a good way to explore the island.  My colleague went off ahead of me in a tricycle with my cameras whilst I was cycled to the resort with my overfilled backpack.

Rather more hillier than I'd imagined I soon worked up a massive sweat and missed a couple of not-so-apparent turnings and so had to double back.  Once on the side of the island where I needed to be, I cycled up a long hill but couldn't see the resort.  I stopped and asked a security guard stood outside a construction site where the resort was and he waved me on up the hill.  Having been in the Philippines for going on a year now I have an instinct of knowing when a Filipino knows what you're talking about, or rather when they don't, and I knew this guard didn't have clue.  They never seem to want to disappoint and say they don't know.  By the time I got to the top of the hill, by now dripping in sweat, I was pretty sure I didn't want to go back down the other side only to find out that the resort wasn't there and have to, like the soldiers of the Grand Old Duke of York, march back up to the top and down again.  So I fumbled for my mobile phone and called my colleague who seemed equally confused as to where I was and where he was.  I reckoned I'd passed him and he was at the start of the hill so I whizzed back down and spotted the driver.  The sign for the resort was tiny and mounted on a pole set back off the road so it was no wonder I'd missed it.

The place I'd booked sounded appealing enough: quiet, high on a hill overlooking the beach with fresh breezes to keep it cool.  From previous experience I didn't want to stay where there would be the boom, boom, boom all night of music until 5:00am from open air bands (yes, I'm old. I know).  The owner had told me that there were 90 or so steps to climb to get to the resort but to me that was no problem, I just climbed Mt. Kanlaon, so what were a few steps.  However, when I did eventually arrive at the place it was a bit of let down.  Essentially it was a bamboo, rattan and atap shack with a bed upstairs and downstairs that essentially constituted sleeping outside under a mossie net.  And there was no breeze.  Personally, I would probably have toughed it out but my colleague was having none of it as it the time he's been waiting for me he'd almost gone into hypovolaemic shock from the number mosquito bites he'd had.

Sand Castles

So we decided to walk into town to see if there was anything else available, deciding to forfeit the deposit I'd paid.  I'm not saying the owner of the resort had lied about the place but he'd certainly been economical with the truth and the details of what the place was actually like.  The owner wasn't around so we spoke to his wife, who looked like Magda from There's Something About Mary (around 80 years old, in a bikini and all wrinkled like a walnut from spending a lifetime in the sun).

One of our local employees who was also spending the weekend in Boracay found us a place just off White Beach, which is the centre for all that is happening in Boracay.  The hotel was cheap and cheerful and mossie free so it seemed to be okay and not very noisy either.

The driver stayed in the mossie hell that night so the deposit didn't go completely to waste - and the mossies didn't starve to death.  I saw the owner when I want back to collect my bag and bike and told him it wasn't really what we'd been expecting.  He was pretty laid back about it so my guess we weren't the first to complain or be disappointed and besides, he still had the deposit.

The Sign Says It All

The rest of the weekend was spend cycling, being far too hot and eating and drinking more than usual.  I get accused (not unwarranted I know) of being somewhat negative and Victor Meldrew-ish but I have to say that Boracay was comparatively and surprisingly good.   For a change the food seemed to be universally good with no Filipino Food Frights.  And it's still surprisingly cheap and only slightly more expensive than the norm, which is only to be expected.  Similarly, it was clean.  Very clean.  The beaches were kept spotless by child labour and whilst there was a fair amount of green slimy seaweed on the shoreline that had to be waded through, the sea was clear and warm.  If you want a lively beach it's all there but if you want un-crowded and quiet beaches these can also be found by taking a short trike ride to other parts of the island.

The Green Slime Was Off-Putting

We went on a boat trip and did some snorkelling and this too was well organised.  Having been ripped off in Bantayan I was explicit in spelling out the price we were paying, where we were going and what we were getting for our money.  But my concerns were unfounded as all boat trips were controlled and centrally organised.  There were just enough touts selling some things you want and some things you don't to make it interesting but they weren't over pushy or persistent.  There was a huge range of events happening on the beach over the weekend and this was set up and done with the minimum of fuss and well organised - and largely free thanks to sponsorship.

All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Sunset