About five seconds after we disembarked the boat at the port of Boracay, we got a "guide". These are people hanging around the harbour waiting for incoming tourists to take them to hotels where they have some kind of kickback. We tried to shake ours off, but in the end she tagged along on the fully loaded tricycle, under my protests. Also, we hooked up with a fellow traveller/kiter/diver to share the room which turned out really good, so now we're three people. I really like this about travelling, it is not so pretentious and difficult. You need a place to stay? We too, let's find one together then.
Of course, our guide told the trike-driver to take us to a place she knew, not much to do, so we went there and had a look, then we spent the best of an hour to try to shake her off. Everywhere we went prices instantly got inflated as soon as the hostel staff saw we had company. In the end, we divided up, and that did the trick. Finally on our own.
It was raining, and it was in the middle of the night and dark, so in the end we settled for a hostel as good as any other. There was some kind of smell in the room, and we just stayed there that very night.
The first impression of Boracay was not very good at all, I really did expect something better, more real, and if not real, more nice. This changed though with the daylight. We took a stroll down the beach in the morning, and I have to say, it is simply fantastic! Powder like sand stretching for miles, white, palmtrees, and crystal clear water.
We spent the next morning running around looking for a more decent place to stay, and in the end we found a nice room in a hotel just in the middle of the island, conveniently located 200m from the kite beach and 200m from the party beach.
The first few days we had really bad wind over here, and the deal here is that the earlier, the better. This has proven pretty tough :-) Virtually every night we have been out at the bars, sometimes coming home as late as 5-6 in the morning, then going up at 7 to be at the kite-beach around 8 to catch the strongest wind. I can say this much, with 2 hours sleep, pulling off any kind of new trick is.... not easy :-)
We met some guys from Madrid aswell that are here for kiteing, they were really desperate the poor guys. They had been here for one week already when we arrived and had almost no wind at all. It has been really great to have a big group of Spanish people to hang out with, I still really like the Spanish way of socializing, the jokes, the big groups, the spontanoety and not always having to plan everything in detail and split the bills to the last cents.
A really good group of people, great fun, and of course, this is also a cause of why the nights tended to be so long... I almost felt like I was back in the good old days in Spain, the fluency in Spanish is also still there, although it has been slumbering for the last couple of years :-)
So in short, life here on the island is about waking up at 8, going to the kite-beach and surf for a couple of hours, try to avoid hitting the palmtrees with the kite when taking off, hang out with the other surfers and have a few mango shakes in between the sessions, if you're lucky you can keep going until about 4 O'clock. Then pack down the gear, go home, have a shower and a rest and meet up some friends for something to eat, have a few beers, sometimes more than a few, which usually means the night ends in one of the discos.
I knew I wasn't going to be the only one here from my home spot "Habo Ljung", the first day I met up with Ida and Laura who I knew were going to be here during the same time. But, that was it, I thought. The other day a guy came up to me in a bar "Hey man! Don't you surf in Habo Ljung??", yet another local. And while I was out on the reef, looking for some nice waves, someone very familiar looking passed by. I turned around and raced toward him to take a closer look. And yes, it was Gustav, another friend from Habo Ljung. I had no idea he was here! Really cool to have so much people here from your home spot. Sometimes I feel like I'm on some kind of reunion. Let's see who else here I already know... :-)
Speaking about the people here, it's probably the most mixed crowd I have seen so far. There's really no dominant nationality here among the tourists. I've met people from Kuwait, Papua new guinea, Australia, Europe, North America, Japan, Russia.. Virtually every single country seems represented. The age group here is really different from the rest of the countries I've been to too, it seems like the 20-somethings stay in Thailand, some might venture further east to Vienam, but here in the Philippines most people seem to be around 30, 30+. Which is totally fine by me, sometimes, especially in Thailand I felt a bit old when there was so much focus on drinking cheap buckets of alcohol and everyone seemed to have their first time abroad. Having the conversation "Wow, you know what, I met someone from another continent today!" is not as excillirating anymore, though I try to still share the excitement :-)
Sunsets. The sunset here at Boracay is also something worth mentioning. It is simply magical to sit down on the beach, have a nice coctail in your hand and some good company with some nice music in the background. And there's several locations where you can enjoy the sunset. I think the best so far was in a bar, far away from the maddening crowd, that was like climbing up on to the edge of a cliff, with the crystal clear water below accessible by a bamboo ladder. That was great!
So this has been it on Boracay so far. On Sunday, I said good bye to Juan Carlos who took the plane home to Valencia, and wasn't too happy about it. I kind of understand why :-) It has been really excellent to travel together and I had a really great time. This has been especially fun as we seldom get a chance to meet up as we live so far away from eachother.
Of course, our guide told the trike-driver to take us to a place she knew, not much to do, so we went there and had a look, then we spent the best of an hour to try to shake her off. Everywhere we went prices instantly got inflated as soon as the hostel staff saw we had company. In the end, we divided up, and that did the trick. Finally on our own.
It was raining, and it was in the middle of the night and dark, so in the end we settled for a hostel as good as any other. There was some kind of smell in the room, and we just stayed there that very night.
The first impression of Boracay was not very good at all, I really did expect something better, more real, and if not real, more nice. This changed though with the daylight. We took a stroll down the beach in the morning, and I have to say, it is simply fantastic! Powder like sand stretching for miles, white, palmtrees, and crystal clear water.
We spent the next morning running around looking for a more decent place to stay, and in the end we found a nice room in a hotel just in the middle of the island, conveniently located 200m from the kite beach and 200m from the party beach.
The first few days we had really bad wind over here, and the deal here is that the earlier, the better. This has proven pretty tough :-) Virtually every night we have been out at the bars, sometimes coming home as late as 5-6 in the morning, then going up at 7 to be at the kite-beach around 8 to catch the strongest wind. I can say this much, with 2 hours sleep, pulling off any kind of new trick is.... not easy :-)
We met some guys from Madrid aswell that are here for kiteing, they were really desperate the poor guys. They had been here for one week already when we arrived and had almost no wind at all. It has been really great to have a big group of Spanish people to hang out with, I still really like the Spanish way of socializing, the jokes, the big groups, the spontanoety and not always having to plan everything in detail and split the bills to the last cents.
A really good group of people, great fun, and of course, this is also a cause of why the nights tended to be so long... I almost felt like I was back in the good old days in Spain, the fluency in Spanish is also still there, although it has been slumbering for the last couple of years :-)
So in short, life here on the island is about waking up at 8, going to the kite-beach and surf for a couple of hours, try to avoid hitting the palmtrees with the kite when taking off, hang out with the other surfers and have a few mango shakes in between the sessions, if you're lucky you can keep going until about 4 O'clock. Then pack down the gear, go home, have a shower and a rest and meet up some friends for something to eat, have a few beers, sometimes more than a few, which usually means the night ends in one of the discos.
I knew I wasn't going to be the only one here from my home spot "Habo Ljung", the first day I met up with Ida and Laura who I knew were going to be here during the same time. But, that was it, I thought. The other day a guy came up to me in a bar "Hey man! Don't you surf in Habo Ljung??", yet another local. And while I was out on the reef, looking for some nice waves, someone very familiar looking passed by. I turned around and raced toward him to take a closer look. And yes, it was Gustav, another friend from Habo Ljung. I had no idea he was here! Really cool to have so much people here from your home spot. Sometimes I feel like I'm on some kind of reunion. Let's see who else here I already know... :-)
Speaking about the people here, it's probably the most mixed crowd I have seen so far. There's really no dominant nationality here among the tourists. I've met people from Kuwait, Papua new guinea, Australia, Europe, North America, Japan, Russia.. Virtually every single country seems represented. The age group here is really different from the rest of the countries I've been to too, it seems like the 20-somethings stay in Thailand, some might venture further east to Vienam, but here in the Philippines most people seem to be around 30, 30+. Which is totally fine by me, sometimes, especially in Thailand I felt a bit old when there was so much focus on drinking cheap buckets of alcohol and everyone seemed to have their first time abroad. Having the conversation "Wow, you know what, I met someone from another continent today!" is not as excillirating anymore, though I try to still share the excitement :-)
Sunsets. The sunset here at Boracay is also something worth mentioning. It is simply magical to sit down on the beach, have a nice coctail in your hand and some good company with some nice music in the background. And there's several locations where you can enjoy the sunset. I think the best so far was in a bar, far away from the maddening crowd, that was like climbing up on to the edge of a cliff, with the crystal clear water below accessible by a bamboo ladder. That was great!
So this has been it on Boracay so far. On Sunday, I said good bye to Juan Carlos who took the plane home to Valencia, and wasn't too happy about it. I kind of understand why :-) It has been really excellent to travel together and I had a really great time. This has been especially fun as we seldom get a chance to meet up as we live so far away from eachother.
“Is this the place? Well, ok. I guess we can survive here for a few days.”
Cramming ourselves and the baggage together in the tricycle, going to the hotel we found.
A beer at the beach in February. Life can be worse than this.
Juan Carlos surviving, avoiding dehydration...
A drink at the boom boom bar. Yes, it’s actually named that way.
Sunset at Café del Mar
And this is what it looked like..
One of the most well-dressed dogs I met so far.
Taking it easy at the Freestyle Academy. This is where you spend your time in between the surf sessions. Tough, eh?
I bought a pair of shorts in Bali that got too large. This nice lady fixed it for 50 pesos.
The cable guy’s here! How the !#¤%@ does he know which cable to cut and not?!?
Eating at the munchies. An extremely energy dense meal, or what do you think?
I can confess that I consumed a little bit more than one of these by now. If I only had a dollar for every marketing cliché you can find on the back… Is there any brewery around anymore that just brew “a good beer”?
A tricycle on one of the smaller roads
One of the less crowded beaches on the island. A real gem. Ideal for watching the sunset and chill with a drink.
The spider house, you can see it on the previous picture, up on the mountain to the left. Great drinks, great views.
Climbing down the bamboo ladder to dip my feet in the sea. This is how clear the water is here.
Once again, the sunsets here aren’t bad at all…
Some other crazy kitesurfers from Spain we got to know and hung out with. Never a boring moment!
This is what a backyard shirt-factory looks like.
Just a regular street
The parties on the island just go on and on and on. It’s tough to get up at 7 to surf after a night like this.
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