The sight was almost a Corona commercial

I am slacking, yet again, on my journal. Sorry about that! I still need to tell you of the trip to Boracay. Hopefully you looked at the pictures and saw my future husband. (AHHAHA KIDDING!) It was a nice relaxing couple of days down on the island. My brother commented on one pic asking where my Corona was. I wish! Needed that with a couple of limes. It was so hot that I would have even had a few Coronas!!! And ya'll know I don't like beer.

The trip was certainly an adventure. That airline..... o h m y .... is all I can say. Honestly we were both a bit nervous. There is justification behind the joke "Leave Asia and come back a Spirit". The domestic airport is very small and fairly unorganized. Not much for air conditioning, but there are massive fans all around. One man sitting next to us had just returned from Boracay and said it was a rough flight... greeaaaattt... Another small group of four came and sat in front of the fan which would be blowing on us. We decided to move. Two of the men were huge, both height and width, and so sweaty that they looked like they had been standing in the rain. Honestly, I wanted to get a picture (imagine that huh?) So, we scooted to another seating area cause we did not want to be downwind. Finally... Melissa was able to hear through the accent and say hey, we're boarding. I kept looking at her saying how did you understand that!! Oh well, she could have been speaking Tagalog for all I know! But the plane... was little. It was a Dash 7. And as we walked up to our little 4 prop plane we notice the left tire is low in air. Enough that it is flat along the ground - almost the entire diameter! So, terrified/paranoid me said something to the flight attendant. "Ummm the tire is flat!" She peeks out the window (which is all scratched up and not real clear - as you can see by my pictures) and says "No, it's fine". And she watched me like a hawk the whole flight. That was one loud & very bumpy flight. I guess when your flight is $107 it's likely to be interesting. But one person told me the dash planes were retired from most of the US fleets a while ago and when they are retired, they are sold to other countries. Apparently they don't do anything aside from duct tape them up and put them in the air. I wonder if they have some FAA safety regulations... hmmmm (joking - they have to have something)
Thankfully Mel had already arranged our ground transport before we left. That could have been a bit chaotic! Had to take a van (many others took those fun trike mopeds or piled in a jeepney) to the boat which would take us to Boracay Island. We landed on Caticlan. OH, I forgot to tell you about the Caticlan airport - hahhahaa yeah, it was a single runway, that is not designed to have lights, and an airport that is smaller than Key West, if that is possible!! But there is a picture of the landing strip/runway from the air. hehehee So the boat across and look for another man in yellow who knows we are coming. Granted, he spots us before we see him. (We kinda stand out from the rest of the crowd) Now we have a jeepney type transportation that will take us to the "resort". No one else is in the back of the truck with us. So that is as close to riding in a jeepney as I will come. The ride there took us again through rather poor areas. And to think this was an undiscovered island until the 70's!! I think much of it is still in the 1950's.
Our resort is nice, nothing overboard. Simple and quiet. We were in the beach front room. So we dropped our stuff, put the flip flops away for the weekend, grabbed the cameras and went wandering.

The sand lived up to everyone's description - white and powdery. When wet it felt like you were standing on soft wet blankets. The water was warm, crystal clear, and had very little wave action. There are more waves in the Gulf of Mexico on a calm day than here. The shore is scattered with palm trees and unfortunately, peddlers wanting to sell you everything from sailing excursions, sunglasses, seafood, and pearls to carvings on wood. Even the kids are selling cut fruit in plastic bags! Or they just walk up to you and say "Donation ma'am". Cute kid, but really... On our walk we were joined by two guys who invited us to a party with them that evening. I have no idea what their names were but they were from Israel. One of them was sporting a serious uni-brow and the other was quite hairy. We’ll see! Hehehehee

We went to Discovery Sands and had lunch – and this is where we would eat several of our meals. And we met Greg, our waiter, who Mel thought would be a cute match up for me. HAHA She already had the phone conversation planned back to my mom and dad. "Hi Mrs. & Mr. Rotundo. Denise has met a local Boracay guy who lives with his brother, has a nice smile, a great tan and a job. Granted he doesn't make very much money and we're not sure how he will support Denise, but I'm sure she can sell things too."

After our wandering around, we decided to head back to the chairs at our “resort” and soak up some of the rays. But first.. when looking at crystal blue water and sitting on a beach, it is a requirement to have a frozen fruity umbrella drink in hand! So, we hit the outside bar about 100 feet from the chairs… and ask for him to make up a frozen fruity concoction that will allow us to say “Alak pa!” (more booze) Well, it was frozen and fruity.. but… missing the alak pa part. Oh well. The sun was hot, the drink was refreshing, and the salty water was calling my name.

The sunset Saturday evening was beautiful. While watching the sun sinking into the water there were kids poking into the sand and digging holes all over the beach pulling worms out. We aren’t sure why or what kind they were, but they were gross! We called an early night and didn’t go to the party.

Sunday was spent on the beach pretty much all day. Mel did break the base of the beach umbrella when trying to change the angle as the sun moved. She is the Princess of Power. HAHA OOPS! Greg came down to our resort that afternoon just as I was headed into the water. I hope he didn’t think I was rude in not standing around and chatting. Later that evening we decided to try something else for dinner and headed out. As the rain started to fall, we found Aria which was recommended to us by one of the managers at the call center. It was a little Italian type place – we saw pizza and realized that we could do this place!! The rains started harder and we were glad to be under the tarps and umbrellas for dinner. However, the little coffee shop across the way lost power and we watched them try to figure out what happened and how to resolve it. Yeah, I don’t think everyone has seen the warning “Do not use electrical cords in the rain” because they were going to use this solution had it actually worked. THANK GOODNESS it didn’t!!! The rain stopped enough for us to see a sunset that topped Saturday night. All shades of purples, pinks, and oranges danced across the sky getting deeper as the sun dropped lower in the sky. The rain couldn’t decide what it wanted to do and was off and on through the evening. It stopped for a little bit and we wandered around through more shops bargaining for things and even running into Greg again. This time he asked if we had boyfriends. Melissa is married, so that was a quick answer for her. I told him yes I was dating someone too. Hahaha well…

Monday was our last day on the island. We had to leave for the airport around 3. So we were sure to soak up the sun before having to put our shoes on. A local school came to the resort next to ours for a small field day. They were so cute to watch. We’re not sure if the lady who was in charge was Australian or from New Zealand but they were fun to watch. Wheelbarrow, spoon and golf ball, potato sac races were all part of the games on Day 1. As they left she told us they would be back the next afternoon for more games. We thanked her for allowing us to watch and snap pictures but that we were leaving that afternoon. The trip home was uneventful. Well, the plane rattled a little more on the way back to Manila. And when the air was pumped into the plane, you could see it coming out of the vent as a white smoke. That was “The Spirit” and we were telling it today isn’t our day. It was a LONG night at work Monday night/Tuesday morning. Everyone was saying as we came in “Ohhh you’re.. ummm.. tan!” Yeah, how about sun burned! But it was worth it.

If you haven't seen the pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/dnole2/BoracayTrip

Don't forget your sunscreen and drink koozie!