Coming To Manila, Day 9: Onwards to Boracay

So TJC and I woke up really early the next day as we were heading off to Boracay. Mayoc, one of Tatay's most trusted men whom I have known since I was a kid as well, and a couple of other guys were going to accompany us on the 4 hour or so car ride from Iloilo to Katiklan, Aklan (where all the boats to and from Boracay Island are). We grabbed breakfast before leaving, and said goodbye to Uncs and everyone else there. I had forgot to mention Yayay Elda was there as well - Yayay Elda took care of Nonoy when he was a kid, and since Nonoy and I were inseparable whenever I was in Iloilo, she ended up having to make sure I was okay too by default. It was really great to see her as well.

So off we went to Katiklan, and I must admit I was asleep for all but 30 minutes of the car ride I think. I was OUT, folks.

We got to the Waiting Station where the boat the hotel we were staying at was docked. Thanks to Jason and Jon Gonzales, we got hooked up at Sea Wind, one of the nicer hotels on the island. We said our goodbyes to Mayoc and we boarded the boat that would bring us to Boracay. It was only a 10 minute boat ride at most, followed by another 10 minute van ride to the hotel so it was not that bad at all.

Even though it was overcast, the sight of the white sand and the pristine, crystal clear blue water was enough to lift my spirits. The last time I was here was back in 1988, with Tatay, Nanay, and the rest of the family, and the island has completely changed. It's a lot more toursity now than it was back then, which has its plus and minuses, but I wasn't complaining, considering 2 weeks ago I was in cold, wintry New York City weather.

After we checked in and settled in and what not, TJC and I decided to not hit the beach just yet as it was about 2-3 pm already, and instead just walk on the beach and explore a little bit. And so began our daily tradition of hitting Jonah's Milkshake while we were there. Jonah's is this restaurant whose specialty is (guess what) milkshakes. They have all sorts of flavors - some tropical (mango, banana, pineapple) and some non-tropical (chocolate, mocha), and you can mix and match the flavors to your heart's content to come up with your own flair. Nonoy had recommended we go to this place and he was not wrong about it. Here's a pic of me and a mango-banana shake:



Stuffed after a sandwhich and a shake, we kept on walking, and found a supermarket where we bought some water and some munchies. As we were walking back towards our hotel, we noticed this very pretty young lady walking not too far from us. We then noticed everyone along the way either gawking at her, or asking for a picture with her. Someone then called her "Anne"; figuring that she was a local celebrity, that's when I texted my Ate Michelle and gave a description of the actress along with the first name. Ate then texted back saying it was probably Anne Curtis, a half Aussie-half Filipina actress. She was mighty fine looking, I must say. TJC was in lurve with her I think. We ended up running into her pretty much everywhere we went the rest of our stay there.

Went back to our room, rested up a bit, then grabbed dinner around 9 at Aria, an Italian restaurant on the beach. We then went to Hey Jude, a bar two doors down from Aria, and drank a few, where we ran into Anne Curtis yet again. We then went back to our hotel, walking on the well lit beach around 1 a.m., looking forward to our first full day on the island.