Perpie in Pinas 2009: Boracay Trip with Friends

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Photos taken by Dylan Yap-Gozum, Janet Borja, and yours truly. A long overdue blog task, I’ve posted everything at last. It’s my New Year’s gift for myself and for Dylan, Janet and Steph. A remembrance for the year 2009, folks! Good times.

Five days before the trip, a tropical storm named Feria started lashing southern part of Luzon. We were really praying hard to the heavens above. Neither we could reschedule our Boracay vacation nor ask for refunds.

By the time we heard that Feria had already gone out of our territory, we were jumping for joy until we heard another breaking news: a Zest Air plane overshot the runway of Caticlan airport. Luckily no one was seriously injured but a lot of passengers, including us, got their flight schedules jumbled. It was a relief that we were able to get through the busy hotlines of Cebu Pacific and got rescheduled to an early afternoon flight.

Come hell or high water, we still persisted to go to Boracay.

Day 1

Friends met up at the newly opened NAIA Terminal 3.

We were bound to Caticlan, heading to Boracay island after.

Dylan’s popular line on this trip, “How could you do this to us?!” Freaky eh?

We waited for two more hours as our flight got delayed.

Seriously, you cannot stop these people taking pictures at the tarmac. It’s a classic habit.

As we were all up in the air, this island awed us with its very unusual shape.

The other half of Boracay island as seen from the window, it already looks like a city to me.

This is the pump boat that took us to Boracay. You must pay P125 at the terminal.

Pump boats used to drop off visitors in every station of the island. Now, we got off at station 3 and took a trike. Trike fares range from P25 to P50. You can haggle, if you’re good.

The sun didn’t welcome us on our first day. We got late so we deserved it *cries a river*.

We had our first dinner at Kasbah, a Mediterranean restaurant in Station 1.

With this much-hassled trip, we were compensated with this delicious lamb tagine, basmati, and couscous rice.

And one of my favorite appetizers all throughout the trip, pita bread with these dip varieties.

On June 26, 2009, Dylan, Janet, Steph and I made it to Boracay.

After dinner, off we went to the famous d*mall.

Yes, we called it a night after having coffee and dessert at Cafe del Sol.

Day 2

Janet was modeling for Residencia Boracay (formerly Residencia de Tirol), free of charge!

This pathway leads from Station 1 to the faaaar side, Nami Resort.

It started with Janet's sand angel... — It started with Janet’s sand angel…

and a sand massage on Dylan's back.... — and a sand massage on Dylan’s back….

and then we started digging to bury him alive?

1910498_1196620236065_2564922_n — So Dylan became a celebrity to kids in an instant, whoah.

Stephen and I enjoyed milkshakes while Janet enjoyed her pistachio ice cream.

In the afternoon, Steph and I joined fellow bakasyonistas and played the sport we both missed.

After awhile we noticed our official photographer, Janet having her dose of head-to-toe massage and braiding from her yayas in Boracay.

Our second dinner was at Zuzuni, a Greek term which means "dragonfly." — Our second dinner was at Zuzuni, a Greek term which means “dragonfly.”

The interiors, the food, and…the survey form?!? Yes, rank their food, services and all their jazz from Terrible! to Fabulous! It is not so gay, obviously not! We love our stay, Zuzuni. It was indeed a fab stay.

It just started with a nice mojito for each at the very spacious, Tides Boracay. Tragic because we were the only people up there. In fairness though, we obviously enjoyed the quirky arts in it.

We stood corrected by this couple when we’re close to calling it a night; quite an early nighttime to say, party’s over. When we saw Boy Abunda’s poster we thought it as a sign to turn our backs and go home (we had enough of him that afternoon, long story). We passed by this videoke bar and perhaps because we didn’t want to give up the night life too early, out of whim, we took ourselves in. This is where we met Jim and Michelle.

We were a bit adamant at first, but who couldn’t resist the charm of those teeny-weeny shots all lined up as liquor delights? Jim and Michelle were total strangers at first but whatever thing we had done, we got this couple amused they gave us free drinks! One shot…two…three…and then we began ordering beers as we sang along the videoke hitting the wrong notes. We now got into the kind of merrymaking we were looking for that night.

We moved to Juice Bar and the dance floor is flooded with different folks. It’s officially a paarty!

I’m definitely the least survivor in this kind of moment when Dylan ordered another mojitos for us. Apparently more lethal (no, it’s Bacardi overdose!), I suddenly got into my moment to express my love for all. Yeah, the perkiest ever. How extremely generous and grateful I was that night when I told Dylan, Janet and Steph what I feel for Andok’s, “This is the best meal everrrr…”.

The next day, I got a verbal spanking from Dylan telling me, “Of all the fancy restaurants we visited, it’s only Andok’s that made you say it so.” When you felt you were in a “drunk” situation, I believe then, beggars can’t be choosers.

Moving on now.

Day 3

After the partying, we all agreed to lazy around the beach the entire day. We snored in our best ways possible. Hello, Bora?

Late Sunday afternoon, we attended the mass at the Holy Rosary Parish in Boracay.

A Boracay trip won't be complete without experiencing paluto at d*market. — A Boracay trip won’t be complete without experiencing paluto at d*market.

The boys took in charge of the buying.

Before our night ended, we bumped into this group of Poi dancers. These three bunches were pretty better than the usual poi talents we had seen on the past two days of our stay. We later found out that their group was practicing as they’d represent our country for an international poi dancing competition.

Stay hot and bring home the flaming glory, folks!

Day 4

Janet's feeling the boredom. — Janet’s feeling the boredom.

And so, she started doodling on the sand, yay!

To beat this usual Monday sickness (even on this vacation it happened), we forced ourselves to go out. We felt it’s just our feet taking in charge of this street trip. We were out to nowhere (but we know we’re still in Boracay, ayt?).

We got hungry and we ended up eating at Bolero. As you can see, we were having difficult time in choosing what to eat. Sadly the meal I had here was the most boring, punishing one in Boracay. Too expensive. Overrated. So we just continued monkeying around with a too-friendly bartender to receive the least of what we deserve from this place.

After the gruesome lunch, we felt salvaged by FIC in Boracay. What a fanciful store it is.

We also enjoyed our afternoon stay at Lemoni Cafe that we decided to go back for dinner. On our way back from the resort to d*mall at night, we found a chance to take a shot of a fashion crime committed in Boracay.

No offense to these foreign ladies but we couldn’t help not to bring this up. I love this kind of shoes but please, oh please, leave the stilettos in the city where they belong. I understand it’s channeling our femme fatale but walking in heels at the beach is not only considerably a fashion faux pas, it is not comfortable at all.

Don’t even dare to start this as a trend in Boracay. I rest my case.

Day 5

The sand at Puka is not as fine as compared to White Beach.

Residents make a living out of puka shells as they turn them into accessories. They also sell beautiful shells like this one that Dylan dubbed as a “mathematically-perfect thing.” It’s a nautilus shell.

We went into this cave after Puka. After having my quick bat cave experiences in Hundred Islands and Guimaras, I already knew what’s in store for this one. Nothing spectacular. Actually Guimaras cave experience was better than this one since we were on a boat when we’re going in. This one, we had to go down through those edgy, slippery rocks and smell the bat’s odor to boot. Not friendly for physically challenged, right Janet?

After, off we went to Mt Luho.

Dylan and I thought Janet was just kidding us but it was real. Apparently Janet is afraid of heights. She was even more afraid when Dylan made it to the viewing deck.

So they said I cannot do it. They underestimated me when I told them that I can figure which coconuts have more juice. Even the store owner got amazed. I proved them all wrong. This princess knows, and it’s just one of her hidden talents. Now she’s known as a buko-katok queen.

Our last afternoon to cozy around Boracay was finally up. Did we go teary-eyed eh?

Our last night in Boracay started with beautiful fireworks, and ended with a hearty dinner at Kasbah and a friendly chat with Evelyn, the resto’s manager.