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Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have chosen to spend my last days of unemployment at Boracay. It’s just like how I swore that I would never set a foot inside Embassy; I’m too fucking cool and non-conformist to go to where the rich and famous party. But from the moment I emerged from my final final exams, I knew that this wouldn’t be a normal summer and I’m glad that this was how I chose to end it.

A few weeks ago, I received a Friendster message from Jen, a classmate I haven’t seen nor spoken to since third grade. She moved to Canada after grade three and although we wrote each other letters for a few months, we eventually lost touch. Thank God for Friendster! She messaged me to say that she’d be in the Philippines for a few weeks and would I like to hang out with her and maybe go to the beach with her and her cousins? I replied immediately with a “Yes!” and this is how I ended up in Boracay with awesome new friends during election weekend.

The Nightlife

What with its reputation as a place to party and hook up with strangers, I imagined that Boracay to be something like an Eastwood with a tropical beach. I was surprised to discover that flights don’t take you directly from Manila to the island. From the Kalibo airport, you need to travel an hour and a half on land, then take a fifteen-minute boat ride before reaching Boracay. I was even more surprised when I saw that the streets of Boracay looked like a sleepy provincial town. If it were not for the restaurants and bars along the beach, I could’ve sworn we were in a normal rural village. I laughed at the thought of all those conyitos and conyitas walking on the narrow plank that leads to the boat, and then riding a tricycle to reach their hotels. It just doesn’t seem like something rich people do.

We reached the island early Saturday evening, which was a little disappointing because I was so ready to jump into the water. It was a perfect time, however, to grab dinner by the seaside and experience the night life. Upon checking in at Hotel Hannah (a quaint little place at Station 1, about a minute’s walk from the beach), we had dinner at Cocomangas and hung out in our rooms for a few hours before heading out to go dancing at the same place. I am by no means a party person. I love to dance (even though I suck) but I don’t listen to hip hop, and the thought of going to clubs and rubbing bodies against random strangers makes me feel a little uneasy. For that reason, I thought I would hate the Boracay night life but the exact opposite happened. No sleazy guys tried to pick me up and I was dancing with friends, which made the body contact part not as awkward as I imagined it would be.

The Beach

Despite our late night, we forced ourselves to wake up and hit the sand at 8 am. I hate waking up any time before noon but when I looked out the window and saw that the sky was a perfect cloudless blue, I perked up immediately. The weather’s been unpredictable lately and I was worried that our days in Boracay would be gloomy and dark. I guess the world is making up for the beach appetite that was left unsatisfied during my Ilocos trip.

Jen and I spent the whole morning lying on beach towels, getting a tan. Normally when I go to the beach, I just jump into the water and randomly get dark. This was the first time I’ve ever laid on the sand for hours with the intention of soaking up UV rays and I suppose it’s something you need to try at least once in your life. It’s not particularly exciting but I’m never energetic in the morning anyway, and the sun was too good to spend those hours sleeping in the hotel room.

One thing I discovered is that if you’re a rich tourist from a first world country, you can go to Boracay island with nothing but the clothes on your back and a fat wallet. Anything beach-related can be bought there–bikinis, towels, flipflops, sunscreen, even normal clothes. If you really want to get the beach look pat-down, you can even pay a local to braid your hair or give you dreadlocks. I passed by several tattoo parlors and was tempted to inquire about their rates, but I restrained myself from doing so. I could have blown the rest of my money on a tattoo but my parents would eat me alive the moment I get back and that’s never a good thing.

Another thing I learned during this trip is that it’s not always a good thing to travel with someone you have a crush on. I tend to get really neurotic, which makes me tune out the scenery because there are times when the only thing that’s on my mind is, “Notice me! Notice meeee!” In my desperation to get noticed I paid a local kid to teach me how to skimboard after lunch, thinking that I could impress him by looking cool and doing handstands and stuff. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that a) people are good at making difficult things look easy, b) I have no sense of balance, c) I can’t stand on a moving object to save my life. Technically, I already know how to skimboard but my body couldn’t do what my mind was telling it to. I kept falling on my ass and embarrassing myself the whole time.

And people wonder why I’m single.

The rest of the afternoon was spent frolicking in the water, failing to skimboard, and playing frisbee with random people who asked me to join their game. After everyone took a power nap at sunset, we hit the clubs again and discovered to our disappointment that the places were pretty dead. Then again, it was a Sunday evening. So instead of partying like Paris Hilton we played pool and found ourselves a karaoke bar, where we sang off-key to our favorite songs. And when the karaoke bar got too expensive, we walked along the beach and found a spot to lie on the sand under a canopy of stars, singing the entire time.

Leaving Boracay

Because I’m a loser and told my boss I could start on Tuesday when I could have easily said Wednesday, I had to leave Boracay at 6 this morning. Luckily I did the smart thing and barely got sleep the night before, which made me too exhausted to get properly depressed about heading back to Manila alone. I was still pretty sad anyway. No matter who I’m with and no matter how shitty it gets, I’m always at my happiest when I’m traveling. Now the fun part’s over and I need to face the fact I’m still at a complete loss as to what to do with my life despite being employed. That and all the other neurotic thoughts that plague my head every now and then.

I would definitely go to Boracay again, but not necessarily for the night life. It’s one of the best beaches I’ve ever been to–the white sand was heaven on my toes and despite the heat of the sun, the water stays ice cold. I love that I can walk around town in a bikini top and a skirt without looking out of place; it’s just too hot in this country to be fully clothed. The company, however, was what made the whole trip an indescribably wonderful experience. I’m extremely glad I got the chance to rediscover an old friend and find out that we get along very well even though we haven’t seen each other in over a decade. Things like that don’t happen to people on a normal basis.

Tomorrow’s my first day at work and the thought is semi-depressing. The only thing that’s keeping me going is that this is an opportunity for me to earn more money. More money equals more travel. Or maybe I could just save that money and act on my new Life Plan: learn and master a water sport, quit my day job, then live on a shack in the beach and make a living extorting tourists out of their money to teach them the said water sport. I know that’s probably not going to happen but hey, a girl can dream about happier days.