The sands of time…

My trip to Boracay is the last leg (yes, I skipped my Macau-HK trip blog entry, will do it soon) of my heck-I’m-unemployed-and-I-need-to-destress vacation, and it surely was the best way to conclude this burgeoning need to relax and put all problems in the backburner.

Granted, it’s a too good to be true trip for the three of us. My two friends were both experiencing hellish weeks at work prior to the trip and I already lack sleep from squeezing in all the deliverables in my freelance job so that I’ll have less things to worry about in the trip (still brought a laptop though, but I won’t rant about that). Again it was too good to be true – the relocation of our flight from Caticlan to Kalibo gave us the opportunity to rebook the tickets for free so that it’ll fit the long weekend, my friend managed to hook us up with AWESOME (and I mean AWESOME) lodgings for free (Station 1 no less!), arrangements were made for us as if we’re billionaires, and lo and behold, there was no rain at all (given the devastation that Ondoy brought merely 4 days later, that was a freaking close call!).

Nothing prepared me when we got out of our resort and see the Boracay shoreline—now I realize why my two friends were adamant that it must not rain for me to fully enjoy it. Out of the three of us, I was the newbie in the place and frankly Boracay was not in my top to-go list in the country because it’s mostly known as a party beach (I prefer my water-related trips to be full of water sports and nature jaunts). Though I love to party, I won’t spend that much to go to a congested beach only to do that. But since it’s non-peak, there are only a few people walking along the shore, heck I was sorely tempted roll around the sand right then and there (possibly in a dress with a Temptation Island bent on it…must decide which beauty queen contestant I’ll portray though). Some highlights of our trip:

· Getting the secluded pool all to ourselves. My friend and I reminisced the time we went to Corregidor and swam in the pool despite the fact that there are frogs in the area (only screamed and got out of the pool when we saw one frog wading towards us then). We were hearing croaks near the cascade pool, thankfully no frog came wading in this time around.

· Getting to eat chori burger (mom chastised me when she saw the pics, I might get hepatitis LOL). Also getting a kick out of singing “Sorry Sorry” by Super Junior (this was our “theme song” during Macau) but making it “Chori Chori” since we’re acclimating.

· Meeting my grade school busmate in Boracay! The heck! He and I counted the years and it’s around 13 years since we last met. To think that his place and my grandmother’s place (where we used to live before, hence the busmate deal) is just less than 30 steps away in Makati, it’s kind of ironic that we met there of all places. Got to catch up and try to remember the people that we should commonly know about. Thank God for facebook!

· Our non-drunk state. Though we accepted the possibility of getting drunk, fortunately (or not) we didn’t. I blame the fact that we ate too much in the buffet (hence full stomach and scared of vomiting) and the locals (can’t believe I called them natives, LOL) and foreigners were a sight to behold in the dance floor so I spent most of the time watching them and smiling while shaking my head. We left before 1am when we conceded that Single Ladies might not play that night after all.

· Water activities – got to sail (feeling mayaman talaga) and also parasail! Can’t forget the sight when all the men got up to assist us into the parasailing dock, we’re like, what the---? (customer services at its finest?)Parasailing is not that scary after all if you do not look right beneath you, or if the boat guy does not yank the parasailing rope when you’re high up in the air (in fairness, highlight din yun).

And the best part is, we got to rest and relax, with no sense of time (and itinerary—my trip buddies know how manic I am on itineraries) and we got to spend 4 days thinking about…well, nothing at all. I’ve been suffering from Bora withdrawal since then and because this trip was so enjoyable, we are now hesitant to plan any Bora trip that won’t meet up to it (there goes our money, guys). Here’s what I know: I’ll never go to Bora (unless for free?) if it’s peak season. I can’t stand seeing that shoreline being cluttered with people.

On our way home, my friend told me suddenly that the only way we see each other for the past few months is in the airport, which is amusing to say the least.

Links!!!

More photos here. Check out my friend’s travel blog since she’s one of my friends who went on the trip and she has better pictures and better insights to our trips than I do. We stayed at Seawind Resort where we had a fabulous time.