Iloilo

This is Aunty Vicky's father, AKA Sean's grandfather. Do you see the resemblence?!?


"Please can we take one with us, pleeeease?!?!"

From left to right: Aunty Vicky, Sean, Kailani, Gloria, Uncle Esme and Kenneth (their driver)

Kailani eating cassava cake

06.01.08: Again I’m on an airplane, a Cathay Pacific 747-400 to Hong Kong to be exact. (Then, we transfer to a Bangkok-bound plane.) After pre-boarding at 11:40 am for a 1:30pm flight, we finally took off the ground about 1:15pm. We sat almost as long as it takes to get to there! I’m fairly impressed with the plane and service. It’s only roughly an hour and a half flight, and they ACTUALLY served us some sandwiches (with beer/wine!). Each seat has a TV screen, and the best part, each seat has an electrical plug outlet. Unfortunately, I found out later the outlet didn’t work, my battery halfway drained. Air New Zealand was also pretty nice. I used to like Lufthansa, but I notice the crew disappears quickly after take-off and doesn’t offer you anything anymore. Air Philippines is supposedly worse than Philippine Airlines. This was said as we saw Philippine Airline planes take off to Iloilo more than once as we sat there waiting for our Air Philippines plane, and the two are sister airlines. Asian Spirit had some really old planes. Kai’s seat cushion wouldn’t stay put. But, they did have a nice departure lounge in Caticlan. It had a beautiful lush garden and was like an oasis!

Anyway, we just got back from a couple days of visiting with Sean's Dad's sister, Aunty Vicky and her husband, Uncle Esmereldo Haro, who live in the town of Oton, 45 minutes from the provincial capital of Iloilo. Sean’s been kicking himself that he waited until our 2nd week in the Philippines to call her. We thought she lived further south in Mindinao, which has Muslim presence and can be a bit dangerous. Turns out she lives on the same island, Panay, that we landed on to get to Boracay. You land on the north part of the island to get to Boracay and Iloilo’s on the south side. So basically, we already flew there, went to Boracay, went back to Manila, then North to San Juan, and BACK down to Panay again. We’ve done a lot of backtracking here in the Philippines, to and from Manila, etc. I left the planning up to Sean, thought he had some big master plan, but I guess it didn’t happen that way.

Aunty Vicky and Uncle Esme moved here from WA state 3 years ago, and are STILL re-building their retirement house that’s Uncle’s family house. At least they are currently living in it though. Building a house in a 3rd world country is quite different than in the states. EVERYTHING has to be done by hand. There are no machines to do anything. But, I have to say that their house is coming along quite nice. They actually purchased the TREES for the rails for their stairways and then had the wood milled. There are some quite gorgeous touches to their house. We were definitely in Uncle’s home town. On Aunty and Uncle’s street is the Severino Haro bridge, named after one of Uncle’s relatives. On the next street is a small market named Haro. Uncle went to elementary school down the street from that. There’s a local town called Haro, the rich side of the family. There’s another town called Jaro, pronounced the same, the poor side of the family.

We were seriously treated like royalty and we only met Aunty and Uncle once for a few minutes, when they came down to see Sean's dad, after years of no communication with him. They fed us WAY too much, three very square meals, and there was much evidence on the scale in our Manila hotel room after our visit. Immediately upon our arrival, we were whisked away from the airport by their driver in their fairly new Nissan SUV to a seafood restaurant, complete with live entertainment. They also have two maids at the house that were more than willing to play with Kai and feed her when she wouldn’t eat for us. Having maids isn’t what you’d typically see in the states, but more common there. I suppose if I had 7 kids and retired, I wouldn’t mind having a couple maids to take care of a fairly large house either!

The next day, we took a drive a couple hours up the coast to the town of Conception. Before we left, I was reading our Rough Guide Philippines book about the area. It seems that either way you go up the coast, East or West, it said that there are very little or no services/accommodations for tourists. I believe it said about one area “be prepared to camp or sleep in the beach”. We drove through small towns, rice paddies and undeveloped landscaped. It was gorgeous, and we learned a lot about the way of life such as rice cultivation, etc. from Aunty. Outside of Conception, we had another big lunch. Kai again wouldn’t behave and eat, until I pointed out to her that we had cassava cake for dessert. The smile on her face in the picture that I took of her eating it is priceless! Then, we went into town. It was a very rural, remote town and there seems to be a lot of controversy over building coal burning electrical plants in the area. Sean and I were glad to see banners that pointed out the health hazards associated with them: asthma, lung cancer, etc. Aunty and Uncle planned for us to find somewhere to stay for the night. But, they had a hard time finding anywhere besides taking a ferry to a remote island resort. I was surprised that they even found a tourist office. I let them take the lead and Aunty Vicky came out with a place for us, but then asked Sean to go in and see about activities. It seemed like it took him long enough to plan an entire month of activities, so a warning light went off in my brain. By then, Kai was bouncing off the back seat walls, strung out from cassava cake. I went in there, and as I suspected, there was some elaborate plan for a full day of island hopping and snorkeling that they were trying to decide upon. Mind you, all we only planned for was a couple days of visiting with Aunty and Uncle, not some elaborate island holiday (which I was also afraid of who would pay for it). The clouds were also starting to loom over, so I bursted the “plan bubble” and we took off promptly back towards Aunty and Uncle’s house just before it started to rain.

The next day we were back at a mall. It really seems to be a social staple in a Filipino’s life. But, I needed another phone card and Sean wanted a shirt, so it worked out. Shopping was followed by lunch at a Chinese restaurant, where Sean and I goofed because we ordered a little something form the menu after Aunty already ordered enough for us. Later that afternoon, we went to Aunty and Uncle’s local resort/beach (just for day visitors, no accommodations) for a sunset swim in the pool. Later, we went back to the house for another feast for dinner. The maids don’t cook, but Uncle’s niece comes in to do it for them. The next day, we went to the Iloilo Museo for some more history about the town and local area. Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes galore, and Sean and I left the place feeling like we were feasted upon. We weren’t prepared with our trusty spray because it was daytime. I wonder how I’m going to fare with two more months in mosquito-land, seeing as my allergic reaction to bites leaves me itching like crazy. Just as I thought we just agreed that we all ate enough the past couple days, Aunty and Uncle took us out for one last lunch before our flight, at another niece’s seafood restaurant on the beach. It was called “our going away party”, a little something to bribe us to come back for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. I loved the beachside setting, the décor, they really took care of the fish tanks and loved what their sign said, “Better than fresh, live!” Just as I thought I couldn’t stuff anymore in my belly, we feasted on some grilled catfish (each one simply prepared on one skewer), lobster, crab, diniguan (blood pudding/chocolate meat, pork in pig’s blood), a traditional vegetable dish, lechon and whole young coconuts split open with a straw to sip it down. I’m sure I probably forgot some other dishes.

Overall, we've had a great 3 weeks here! The beaches in the Philippines have been gorgeous! I've also LOVED the landscape, especially the tropical foliage and rice paddies. As far as the rural towns and the city of Manila, it wouldn't exactly be for everyone. Not an easily accessible or picture-perfect vacation spot. There are definitely some dirty dusty areas. But if you have enough patience and courage for adventure, you can find some stunning scenery. Overall, it's been a good way to get used to undeveloped Asia, since there's more coming up for us. It's definitely a third world country, but they also embrace the American lifestyle. So in a way, it's foreign but familiar. Everyone speaks English. So at least it's easy to communicate. But, I can’t wait to be revisiting Bangkok and Thailand next!

San Juan, La Union

28 May 2008: I’m typing while on a plane from Manila to Iloilo to see Sean’s Aunty Vicky. We finally took off, after a 2 ½ hour delay. It’s about time! But, here’s a little bit about our previous trip.

Last Friday, we took off from Manila to San Juan, La Union which is in the Northern Luzon Province, considered the surfing capital of the Philippines. I asked our hotel concierge, Jun, how much it would cost to get a driver to take us there and he first gave us the “hotel” price. I asked him if there was any less expensive option and he hooked us up with Arvin. Unlike “drivers” in Europe, Arvin was not dressed up in a black suit, driving us in a slick, black Audi A6. Instead, he had an old white Toyota Corolla with peeling window tint and the strong scent of air freshener. But, it got us there! Apparently, there was confusion the evening that Sean called and arranged the ride. Arvin and his buddies already had a few beers. He picked us up expecting to take us to San Juan, Batangas, not La Union. That’s about halfway to where we wanted to go, so poor Arvin was in for a much longer day than he expected. He probably said goodbye to his family and told them he’d be back in the afternoon, but ended up getting home that night at 1:30am! Going down European freeways, 200-300 kilometers would have taken us 2-3 hours. In the Philippines, that same distance took us approximately 6 hours. Luckily, he didn’t charge us any more than the quoted price.

We left the bumper to bumper traffic of Manila down an expressway and I thought we were on our way. Shortly there after, we were on the MacArthur Freeway, a one lane road going through town, after town, after town. In between, there might be a large field with a caribou (water buffalo) or two and sometimes goats or chicken. Somewhere in the middle, we also saw quite a bit of damage from the typhoons that hit the Philippines the week before, the one’s that put a damper on the Boracay weather. This area was the hardest hit from the storms and we went through a couple towns that probably didn’t have electricity for a week. In this smoky area, they were still cleaning up the downed trees and power lines and burning branches. Some of the shacks were completely obliterated and corrugated metal roof tops were pulled up like an orange peel. Arvin was a good driver, but to drive in the Philippines is quite sketchy. I don’t think I’d attempt it, and I’ve driven in Central America. There’s this kind of organized chaos that takes some getting used to. Everyone goes wherever, however, to get to where they need to go. They honk every time they come up to someone, and they attempt to pass everyone they come up to. I still wonder if they need to replace their horns, which is unlikely in the US.

We stayed at the Sunset German Beach Resort where our stark room consisted of concrete floor, stucco walls and a bed platform made of brick. It reminded me of a large prison cell. I supposed it’s good for withstanding typhoons (although that area was not hit hard the week before) and rowdy surfers. It wasn’t smelly and there were no bugs. And at least, I didn’t have to worry about tracking sand in there or Kai breaking anything. The owners of the resort, Jan (German, pronounced “John”) and “Naynay” (Filipina wife, name literally meaning “second eldest daughter”) were very friendly, the rest of the grounds were very lovely with lush foliage and the food was excellent. Kailani instantly took a liking to all their very slim cats, including the smallest kitten she’s ever seen. It probably easily fit in Sean’s palm. Sean ate his share of homemade German sausage that was better than anything we had in Germany. And, their Filipino food was great too! The best part was that you just walked right out onto a beach, probably about a mile long, where you were lucky if you saw anyone. The sand wasn’t quite as white as Boracay, and the water wasn’t as blue as either. But, there wasn’t garbage all over the beach like in Boracay either. The water was warm and the weather steaming hot, so it was no effort to jump in and get wet. Unfortunately, the waves on this beach break were only ankle high. They only really pick up when there are typhoons. So yes, if we’d only flip-flopped the weeks we went to Boracay and San Juan, it would have been perfect.

We made the best with what we had and taught Kai how to ride waves on a boogie board for a couple days. Then, we graduated her to a long board. (The board was apparently left by Ken Kneeve (or Kim Kneefe?) from, of all places, San Jose. Apparently, he worked in management for BMW and would go there yearly. One year, he told Jan he was switching to Ford, the American car market took a dump and he never came back again. Thanks for use of the board!) Sean and I switched off on the board, sometimes with Kai laying on the front. She’s getting really brave in the water now. She kept jumping off the board or out of our arms and trying to swim. She’s able to hold her breath, kick her legs and paddle her arms. But, her head still doesn’t want to pop above water for her to breathe. Hopefully soon! Unfortunately, we all ended up a bit pinker than we should have that day, mostly my back and Sean’s. We enjoyed the longboarding a bit longer than expected and didn’t sunscreen our backs as we should have.

We started changing our minds about staying there a week. If we did, we’d only have a few more days left before flying to Bangkok. And, anywhere else we wanted to go to was a journey not worth just a couple days. So, the option was to stay in the “prison cell” for an extra half week, but that was getting old. Or we could say in Manila, but there was not much we wanted to do there. Also, guilt about flying halfway across the world and not seeing Sean’s aunt got the best of us. So, we called Arvin for a ride back to Manila. Of course, the waves picked up a little the morning that we left! The ride was almost as grueling as the ride there, but we managed. I took advantage of having Arvin there and asked all the questions I could think of about things in the Philippines, like “What the heck is up with all the ‘Pig Fattening Service’ signs on the side of the road?” and “What do they do with the goats?” and “You mean they only eat the goat meat and don’t milk the goats?!?!”

In Manila, I was finally able to get online and book flights to Iloilo, where Sean’s aunt lives. I tried to do in San Juan, but had trouble paying by credit card. I finally broke down and we went back to the mall to get a used cell phone (armed with some advice from Arvin), and Sean got Kai some movie downloads for his PSP (which we’ve had issues downloading ourselves). Oh yea, it’s actually MINE, given to me by Sean for Christmas! ;-) Going into the area of the mall where the cell phones and other techy stuff is sold is like an indoor flea market. All around you are the women at their counters trying to get your attention, with their singing voices, saying “Sir, Ma’am”, “Ma’am, sir, blah blah blah for sale for cheap!”. It’s hard to explain, but I don’t think I’ll forget what it sounds like. The other thing we hear a lot are the ladies that come up to Kai asking “Hi baby, what’s your name?” and “How old are you?” It’s hard to explain. You just have to hear it.

Boracay Part 2

Us on Puka Beach, Boracay Island

Sean's Sand Turtle (Kai and I made one too, but not quite the same quality as this one.)

The two very full, very heavy bags of trash we picked up, just from the little stretch of beach we were hanging out on.

The boat we took from Boracay Island to the Catlican airport. See Sean lugging our huge suitcases on that flimsy little plank?!?

17 May 2008: Apparently, we arrived to Boracay right in the middle of a big storm, with another one right behind it called Cosme. The day we arrived was also declared the official beginning of monsoon season. Good timing, huh? Sean’s been pretty nervous about the storms coming in and out of the area and keeping close tabs on the news, especially the one that just hit the Luzon province, our destination next week. We’re crossing our fingers that weather won’t an issue for the rest of our stay in this country.

The first five days in Boracay were less than stellar weather, lots of wind and fast gusts of rain, even some thunder and lightning. But we made the most of it, either staying inside, letting Kai nap well and watching TV including an American Idol marathon. We got to see an entire season, so we were prepared for the season finale. And when there were small breaks in the weather, we’d go out and play in the sand/water or go out to eat. Sean enjoyed body surfing and skim boarding. One night, he taught Kai how to play pool downstairs from our room at Mango Ray. Kai enjoyed making sand castles with some sand toys we bought her. Sean liked eating Filipino breakfast every morning, with rice, corned beef and fried eggs. Kai liked having juices made from fresh fruit as well as her daily yogurt from a European deli that we found in D’Mall. There, I also found some Tuscan mineral water, cheese and salami, and lemon for my daily morning drink, hot water with a squeeze of lemon wedge. I became addicted to one of the restaurants in D’Mall, Aria, where we ate at least once a day. They served Italian food. Although I’m still “over” pasta after Italy, they had salads made from organic lettuce and arugula and pizzas made in a wood fired brick oven. We also tried some other places there, such as a place that had great BBQ and a sushi place. Our last night there, we got a tip to take a short tricycle ride down to the other side of the beach, to this place, D’Talipapa. It was similar to D’Mall, with souvenirs stalls, etc. But, it also had a fresh fish, meat and produce market area. We picked up a Lapu Lapu fish, the local fish, as well as a couple huge prawns. From there, you take it to one of the stalls that offer cooking services, where they grilled it up for us and served it with vegetable rice. That was definitely a cool experience! Too bad Kai decided to nap the entire time!

On day two, we moved accommodations from Le Soleil de Boracay to Mango Ray, just a couple doors down. We pretty much moved from a bona fide hotel to a small 10 room operation. But, it’s fine with me. The place is quite sufficient, and they gave us a break so we’re saving a couple thousand pesos. The bummer is, after we went through all the trouble of checking out of the first place, moved our stuff into the second place and settled down, they tell us that they made a mistake and we can only have our room for 3 days instead of 5. The offered us other rooms, but I don’t like any as much as the one we’re in. Only one comes close, but it has two twin beds. I really didn’t want to move again! The other bummer is that the room smells like insect killer spray, which it didn’t when we first saw it. (I hope that’s not why Kailani and I can’t seem to do anything but sleep!) After the first night, these fast little baby ants started coming out of the woodwork. So, now I understand why. So for the last two days, we moved to The Tides, a “designer” hotel right in D’Mall. Although the price goes up even a tad higher than place #1, I don’t care to stay at Mango Ray out of principle. It’s quite a bummer! I guess we’ll be sampling a few places along this stretch of the beach. I might as well review them when we’re done. I’ve also come to the conclusion that my backpacker days are over. I’d rather stay in nicer places than I used to a decade or two ago. Good bye backpacker and welcome flashpacker status, with child in tow!

The last two days, the weather finally got better. It cleared up in the afternoon. So after dinner, we played in the sand by moonlight with live music from one of the bars in the background. The next day, we hired a driver to take us to see the rest of the island. He took us up to the highest peak with a great view. At the entrance, the owner of the land (you had a pay a few pesos) Kai saw her first live monkey, who decided to lunge at her. It scared the heck out of Sean and I, but we both grabbed him before he could do damage. Then, we went to another beach called Puka Beach. (ie puka shell necklaces) Puka beach was described to us as “just like White Beach back in the 80’s”. It had beautiful white sand as well, and the clearest, bluest water we’ve ever seen, but no resorts, shops, restaurants or people. We would have loved to stay there, but we weren’t prepared and didn’t want to make the driver wait for us. So, we went back to White Beach for more play time. Unfortunately, the recent storms must have pushed a lot of trash onto the beach, or trash was washed into the water from runoff. We’re not sure. But, it was pretty hard for me to play around without seeing it everywhere. While playing with Kai, I started with picking up what was floating next to me, and what I was walking over. Eventually, we had two HUGE bags full of trash, and that was only from the small stretch of beach where we sat. I’d say 95% of that was plastic, mostly bags. Unfortunately, what you see sold in stores are lots of small bags/packets rather than larger bottles of cosmetics, soaps, detergents, etc. We saw lots of these in the water, as well as plastic bags that held food snacks and candies, and shopping bags. Originally, I wanted to think that it was a culmination of currents picking up stuff from neighboring countries and all landing there. But, all you had to do was read the label on the bags to find that they were all manufactured in the Philippines. It was a sad reality. We carried the trash up to the foot path and couldn’t find any trash cans to deposit it into either. Finally, we were at the reception area of our resort, so I asked the staff they could take it for us. The gal said “your husband must be very environmental”. What’s up with that?!? “Your husband”? Anyway, Kai still had a great time making sand turtles and “swimming” in the water. She’s really getting brave getting out there, going underwater, and paddling her arms and kicking her feet.

On our flight back to Manila we were actually bumped to a flight a couple minutes earlier AND no delays/cancellations, yea! On the shuttle/ferry to the airport, we met couple, Eileen and Mark, who was also staying at the Tides. We had a nice time hanging out at the Asian Spirit pre-departure lounge that Mark pointed out, rather than the stuffy, overcrowded area that everyone else was at. Thanks Mark!

Back at the Mandarin in Manila, we’re making the most out of the two days here. The room came with a similar model MFC printer as what we own. So, we photocopied stuff we’ve needed to do, sent letters off, repacked, consolidated and found another stack of stuff to send home. We did laundry, which now consists of sink washing and hanging with the AC on, if we can stand it that cold (although I know, not the most energy efficient). Then, we finish drying with the hair dryer and iron as needed. We used their business center to print etickets. Then, we ventured to the mall, a huge Filipino past time. I tried to get a new SIM card from our Spanish Vodaphone cell phone. But, the phone’s software doesn’t seem to be compatible (or reprogrammable), despite what the guy that sold it to me said. So, we might just have to buy a whole new phone. Urgh! And one more thing, we watched the season finale of American Idol. Not that I’m a huge fan, but after that seeing the whole season…of course HAD to see the end! :-)

Manila to Boracay, Philippines

An "average" Jeepney (Some are way more tricked out than this)


Arrival at the airport and we get the max the ATM would allow, 4000 pesos, equivalent to USD $100. Looks like alot, huh?

Tricycle (Look at how they load them up on the right.)


12 May 2008: The overall impression that we had of Manila, from several people that have been there, is that it’s not the place you would want to visit, but the place you need to stop over at in order to get to some of the places you want to visit in the Philippines. With that said, we were expecting dirty, crowded and not so pleasant. We also heard that you can get screwed when taking taxis. So, with the exchange rate on our favor, we splurged and got a nice hotel that offered a driver to pick you up at the airport. We had our camera ready to take a picture of this guy holding up a sign that said “Riola”. ;-) But instead, we found that we needed to check-in at our hotel’s airport waiting lounge. On the way to the hotel, I saw two modes of transportation popular in the Philippines, jeepneys and tricycles. Jeepneys are these crazy Jeep-like vehicles that have an extended covered bed with two benches facing each other, to hold 18-20 passengers. They fully trick them out with Pinoy (Filipino) style graphics and lighting all over. Tricycles are motorcycles with side car attachments that hold up to five passengers, if the driver allows one or two passengers to sit on the back of his seat. It’s crazy to think that a motorcycle, designed to haul one or two passengers, can still haul that many people. It’s hard to describe, so I hope to take some pictures.

Sadly, just like in London, we spent an entire day and two nights at our hotel without leaving. At least this time, we did leave the building, to go swimming. We needed to make arrangements to get to other places in the Philippines (which are cheaper to make while you are there), and luckily our hotel had a travel agent. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to check one of Manila’s big pastimes, the mall. Because, I do need a new cell phone SIM card now that we’re in on a new continent. After the first night, I noticed that they upgraded us to a “Club Level” room, so decided to see if we were also allowed into the Club Lounge for free services. Unfortunately not, but for a mere 2000 pesos, we could. After paying for late night room service for dinner, we figured that the drinks, snacks and breakfast offered were worth it. We took full advantage of happy hour and hor’s oeuvres. The next morning, while going in there for breakfast, Sean noticed that some guy walking in at the same time as us looked familiar. He put his stuff down on a table and went to the buffet to get breakfast. We noticed that he had a script, Road Raiders. I tried to take a good look at him and but it was awkward when he looked back at me. Since I didn’t know who he was, I left it at that. The hotel, having such great service, asked us if we would like to sit in one of their open board rooms. We did have a two year old with us and I’m sure they didn’t want her to disrupt the calm atmosphere of their Club Lounge. While eating in the room, Sean finally figured out who the familiar fellow was, at least where he noticed the guy from. He said “It’s Mr. Brown!” referring to the movie Reservoir Dogs. He was the guy who had the cop tied up and was to cut his ears off. After breakfast, when the driver took us back to the airport for our next destination, he told us that “Mr. Brown’s” name was Michael Madson.

Our next destination was the island of Boracay, via flight to the city of Caticlan. Manila’s domestic terminal was pretty much as I expected it, not so modern and crowded full of Filippino’s. Sean described it as the DMV. I’d say it was that times a hundred. I didn’t see a Caucasian person anywhere, until I finally looked harder and saw a few hovering in the corners, trying not to stand out. It’s pretty strange being in the Philippines, because most are speaking Tagolog to me. Although a bit flattering, it’s starting to get a bit annoying to keep having to ask them to speak English to me. All have been surprised to find that I’m not Filipino and that Sean actually is (at least half). We actually arrived to the airport for our 12:30 flight early enough that they bumped us to the flight an hour earlier. It didn’t matter much though, because our flight was delayed due to bad weather at our destination. I do have to mention that this was the smallest plane that Sean’s ever been on, so he had butterflies in his stomach the entire wait. Finally, we were able to board the plane. But, our plane landed at the heavily raining Kalibo airport instead of Caticlan. From there, we were put on a shuttle bus that took nearly 2 hours. The bus was entertained with the movie The Transporter. I read the very expensive Lonely Planet Thailand book that I picked up on the way to the Hong Kong airport, and then a bit of the Rough Guide’s The Philippines. (I decided I like Lonely Planet books over Rough Guides.) After a while, I looked outside to see flooded rice patties with buffalos. It hit me that we were definitely out in the countryside of a third world country now! From the bus, we ended up at the Ferry Terminal that’s supposed to take you to the island of Boracay. But again, because of the weather, the ferry wasn’t operating. Our hotel shuttle was supposed to pick us up there. But instead, we ended up on another shuttle going back the other way. And then, we were put on this big outrigger boat with motor that finally took us to the island. From there, we were finally put into the hotel shuttle to our hotel. Still, we had to get out and walk down a path along the beach, with rain going sideways, to the hotel. Even at the hotel, because of the weather, our poor bell boy had to carry, or should I say lug (rather than roll on a cart) our luggage to our room, taking the long way around, because parts of the path to our room was all flooded out. We finally ended up at the hotel in time for dinner, instead of early afternoon. By then, we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We ate like pigs. The hotel had a buffet full of typical Filipino food: rice, grilled fish, BBQ beef kabobs, pork (would you like some fat with that?), etc. Sleeping that night, we woke up many times, hearing it dumping really hard. It wasn’t a great start to our “island paradise” visit. But, at least we have a week for the weather to hopefully die down.

Our next morning in Boracay, we woke and had breakfast buffet at our hotel. Again, it was typical Filipino food. Sean had rice, corned beef and a fried egg. I had rice congee. After, Kai and I played in the pool a bit. The shallow end of the pool had this gradual slope to it, which was great for Kai to run around in. Then, we headed down the path along our beach. It’s called The White Sand Beach and is beautiful with the softest sand we’ve ever felt. I’m sure will be even better when the weather clears. There are several rumors, but one is that it got its name from the local word for cotton, “borac”. It was still raining on and off. Along the path, there were other resorts (they call anything that you can sleep in a “resort”), restaurants and lots of people trying to sell you sunglasses, watches, jewelry, etc, much like Mexico or Thailand beach areas. We were staying right in the middle of the 7 km stretch of beach. To the south, it seemed to get more “Tijuana-esque”. To the north end of the beach, the beach broadened out and there seemed to be higher end resorts. Two sad sights were small children begging for money towards the southern end of the beach. Also scattered throughout, we saw a few Caucasian men with their young Filipina girlfriends. One couple we walked behind, the girl’s stature looked like she couldn’t be more than 15 years old. It’s a sad, ugly reality! I’m sure we’ll see more of this, especially as we get into Thailand. We explored Boracay’s “D’Mall”, basically an open air cluster of shops selling souvenirs and other things that tourists might want, also with a “food court” area. We snacked on some BBQ chicken at the place that was crowded with other Filipinos. We were to be in Boracay a week, but only booked our hotel for 2 nights. It was nice, but booked by the travel agent at the luxury hotel in Manila, and we weren’t sure if we want to spend that much if not necessary. So, part of our exploration was to find a less expensive place. The last half of our day, we played in the waves and built sandcastles. After dinner, again at the hotel, the wind really started howling and the power even started flickering on and off. Luckily, the hotel had back up power. But, it seems that we arrived for a pretty good storm.