Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Bora love.
My trip to Boracay was definitely one of the funnest trips I've ever had not just because it had the loveliest scenery and the multitude of food shops and shopping stalls but also I spent it with my family and the funnest group of families, Friends for Life. (Yes, that's what our group of families call ourselves--at least it was our parents' idea.) Imagine, there was actually 36 of us in that whole group!
Day One
During the 35-minute flight, I doodled on my Starbucks planner while Gabo watched me. The flight attendant would always pass by then finally she said, "You're very good, very artistic!" I blushed and shyly said, "Thanks!"
When we got to the pier, my dad realized he lost his phone. He and Ald had to go back to the airport to check if it was there. We were hoping he had dropped it inside the plane instead of the trike since it would be easier to retrieve the phone if that happened. But we were phoned in the afternoon that they'd found his phone in the plane. And so we were all relieved.
We didn't arrive all at the same time so we had to wait a bit for the other two batches. We were with Tito Darlo and the Yaps. This was the "second day of the month" so I didn't do real swimming--I just had the luxury of wading and taking pictures on the shore. Because there was too many of us, we didn't get beachfront accomodations so we had to do some walking--and a lot of walking going to D*Mall!
My family ate dinner at Boracay Pen. It was an eat-all-you-can of squid, blue marlin, pork and chicken barbecue, and others and must I say I was stuffed! After dinner, we joined the gang again to walk around until we settled at D*Mall. While our moms were shopping, most of us kids hung out at the Plaza. We rode the ferris wheel and the others got to wall-climb. I wasn't able to since I was wearing a dress that night. Boo. After that we all retired and readied ourselves for the next day.
Day Two
We got up really early for the boat ride--it was Island-Hopping Day! We got two boats for our groups. Since the waves were too big we didn't get to visit other islands. We snorkelled (I wanted to scuba dive so I could get a closer look at the unusual fish I spotted!) and went to this island with the finest, whitest sand. That was where we took a lot of pictures! (I still haven't gotten a copy of my "Happiness is Love" written on the sand photo from Ate Dot but I shall post soon!) Nami was okay but the corals almost bruised my feet and knees.
After having a sumptuous lunch at Ole and a relaxing afternoon nap, we did most of our pasalubong shopping--I got finally myself a Yabang bracelet!
We had dinner at Cocomangas, the coolest place in Bora! The inihaw wasn't really that good but their pizza was. I also fell in love with their Illusion Shakers but it was too strong I was actually feeling light-headed after just two shots!
What surprised me that night was when they called me onstage to sing. Apparently, our Titas requested for it. And not only that, they wanted me to sing I Will Survive! As I walked towards the stage, my knees were literally shaking. But when I started to sing and the Titas were dancing, I went on in performance level! And then the girls and I sang Wannabe later on!
After dinner, we went to Jonah's to get some shakes. I loved my Banana Choco Peanut shake! We walked home, and boy, was it tiring!
A few moments after convincing my parents to let me join the girls (plus our bodyguard-slash-only boy Vanz), we hung out at Aria and watched the fire dancers. I also bumped into someone from UP, but I couldn't remember the class were both in. My Deep Blue was quite strong, by the way! Later on we went to Juice for another drink--I didn't finish mine, I found it too strong too hehe. We also witnessed a lot of encounters between strangers in Bora--meeting up, hooking up, then later kissing when they're drunk! We sure were glad were having enough fun we didn't have to go through that! Ate Joan didn't get to dance since there were a lot of lonely pervs around but boy did she get wasted, and is she funny when wasted!
We later decided to call it a night. On our walk home, we had an encounter with two pervs but we just ignored them and walked straight home. Luckily they weren't able to bother us. Girl power!
Day Three
It was our last day so we made sure we maximized our time. My dad and I weren't able to parasail since we found it too expensive but he promised me we would next time! We went banana boating and it was just fun. It wasn't scary at all since we had our life vests on anyway.
But what was really scary was being on the jet ski taking pictures of those banana boating! I was asked to take pictures of the second batch and was I scared to death! First, I didn't have a life vest on. Also, I barely had anything to hold on to when the jet ski suddenly made sharp turns. And of course, I had three cameras in hand! I couldn't just drop those, could I? After the ride, my world was literally spinning, as if I'd gotten tipsy!
We had lunch after two hours of swimming--I got super dark!--and did rush-packing. When we got to the airport they needed to fill up a small plane with 19 people. There were 15 of us in our batch and so we decided to take that earlier flight instead. We ended up having the plane for ourselves! As the flight started we were all noisy but later on everyone dozed off.
There are a lot of things I learned and experienced in Bora:
01. Sometimes, you have to bend rules if you want to have fun. I did that when I insisted on swimming on my "third day". It does stop in water but I was dead as soon as we walked on the shore!
02. Family friends are not just friends but also family--period. We all looked after each other as if we were part of each other's family.
03. Take millions of pictures on a trip. They're the best souvenirs you can take back home. (Something I learned from Ate Joey!)
04. Always be game for anything! Another lesson learned from Ate Joey, of course, when she encouraged us to sing Wannabe: "Wala namang makakakilala sa atin dito e! Go lang!"
05. Don't just sit alone anywhere--someone will definitely approach you and throw you a pick-up line. (This wasn't really something I experienced but Ate Joey told off Ate Dot for doing so one time.)
Boracay was indeed a lovely island. It's somewhere I would definitely go back to again if I had the time and the money. But with Friends For Life, you really don't need a pretty little island or a party place to have the time of your life. With them, no matter where and when, you will have loads of fun knowing you belong.
