The morning made Boracay a little better, but not our rooms. First thing, Chris found a taho man (this guy who carries two buckets hanging off a stick over his back). He had really been wanting taho, which I came to learn was soft tofu that they mixed with a type of carmel and little sago pearls (like tapioca). He bought one, and I tried a bit - not my favorite, but he loved it. We took pictures with the guy, since Chris was so excited over this - it was a childhood memory of something he loved.
We walked to find Talipapa next - a place we were told we would be able to have breakfast. We walked a bit, asked for some directions, went down a puddle ridden dirt walkway and found it. There were several little restaurants, most open air. A market in the back had all kinds of very fresh seafood. We took it all in, and ended up at an enclosed place called AquaFresh in hopes to avoid the flies. I ordered beef tapa, hoping it would be as good as it was in Davao, but it was terrible in comparison. The meat was dry and tough, not too flavorful, and the garlic rice seemed more like buttered yellow rice. My coffee was instant, which is not quite so good, but it will do when in need of coffee. The others, that ordered fresh seafood had a better experience than I did. I did watch as a worker took out the fly swatter, swatted flies on the tables and then scraped the swatter along the table to put the fly on the floor. All this without ever wiping the table down afterward. That grossed me out more than just a fly landing on my food for a moment.
We went to a bakery and bought ensaymada, a soft bread similar to a cinnamon roll shape with cheese and sugar. It was quite tasty, as were a few other bread products we bought for only 5 pesos a piece (so like ten cents...). We also ordered buko (coconut) shakes, freshly made while standing there. We walked slowly through the crowded stalls that lines the pathways back to the beach. There were so many nice pasalubong like wooden or shell bracelets, leather wallets in all shapes and colors (fish shape particularly) woven bags, beach attire, and much much more. This location is definitely all about tourism and blasting the name of Boracay on everything and selling trinkets everywhere you look. We also ended up walking a food stand one that was selling banana ques. I had never seen or heard of these, but instantly knew I would like it because it is a banana on a stick that has been dipped in some kind of caramelized sugar. I bit into the sweet sugary delight and immediately the caramelized sugar stuck to my teeth. Mmm...it was good.
One of my first concerns was my laundry. We had been able to get three pieces laundered for us at Legaspi Suites, but I needed more. There was a laundry place attached to the nasty Andoks we had eaten at the night before. Having your laundry done for you here is very very inexpensive. The problem was that it took them a day to do, and they were closed on New Years, and we left way too early on the 2nd to be able to pick it up. We asked around, obtained a few leads on the name of what we thought was a DIY laundromat and walked into town. The actual town looked much like the other towns, not nearly as nice and touristy as the beachfront. We found the place, but it was another service and we had the same problem. We tried another place we were told about, and nope, they did it for you and would be closed. We were out of luck. That meant I was doing my own laundry out of a bucket in the shower back at the room.
We walked to the nearby convenience store and bought some Tide packets and I dumped a good chunk of clothes into water and let it set for awhile. We decided to go out and swim some, but the air wasn't so warm (clouds were moving in) and the water wasn't so warm either. The sand was so soft, unlike the corral and starfish at Pearl Farm beach, and the water was a pretty aqua blue, clear with little bumps of waves. We could walk a ways out and enjoy the sight of mountainous shoreline in the distance, coconut trees on the beachfront along with shops everywhere, and boats of all sorts in the water behind us. We didn't stay in long though, just enough to say we had enjoyed the waters of famed Boracay. I'm not a huge swimmer myself and not enjoying tepid water, I don't go in beach water often anyway
Time to finish the clothes, so I plunged and agitated and plunged some more, then repeated with fresh water over and over to get them clean. I hung them up all around the bathroom with limited hangers and places to hand. I was very concerned about how long it might take to dry. Also, since all six of us shared the room, I felt bad taking up so much space. But it had to be done.
We decided to walk up the beachfront, up to Station One, supposedly they get nicer as you move up (we were between 2 and 3). So many people were out selling pearl jewelry, sunglasses, waterproof pouches, services like hair braiding, henna tattoos, and massages, and activities. There was all kinds of food stands, so we stopped and bought mangos and pineapple. I am not a big mango fan, but the rest of the family is practically addicted along with the spicy and salty topping you can add. I ate the pineapple. A little farther ahead we found a waffle stand that is basically a hollow waffle wand with some kind of filling. I went sweet and ordered a bavarian cream, while Chris bought the mango. I really enjoyed mine - him not so much. We looked at all the restaurants and resorts, some incredibly fancy, others not so much. We found quite a ways up a sandbar just that we waded out to and walked along giving us some refreshment on our feet in the water and a different angle of the shoreline as well as a rest from the constant barrage of people wanted to sell you something.
I love sailboat and how graceful they look on the water. Boracay had them everywhere with either blue or white sails. Far off in the distance you could see parasailing and not so far off speed boats taking people on "banana boats" behind them. At one point, a restaurant I saw from the shoreline was the Obama Grill, the name written just like it was for his campaign signs. Unfortunately they did not get so creative with the names of the dishes.
We walked back, to our place back on shore and I decided that I would like to get a henna tattoo (I love getting henna - you get to decorate yourself, but it's not permanent, so you can change it up, not have it when you don't want it...etc, plus I love the Indian detail in the artwork of a traditional design).
Our hotel did have a fairly decent restaurant/bar out front with a fresh fish stand and a man who would prepare and cook it right there for you. Not being a big fish eater, I didn't have the appreciation for this that my in-laws do. None the less, I was tempted after tasting a stuffed tilapia to get one myself, but afraid it was too much food and of the amount of time it took to make it. Eventually Chris joined me and we walked down a ways and found a restaurant that sold burgers (I was craving a burger or pizza) called Nigi Nigi. It was built like a bahay kubo (traditional hut), and it already had fun music playing. We had to sit in the back, because all the restaurants and hotels were starting their big buffet and festivities for NYE, so the seats on the beachfront were reserved already. No matter, we ordered drinks and I ended up going full circle and getting fish and chips. I tried the blue marlin fish fried, which was good. Certainly not what you would picture in the states, but it was tasty and filling. It ended up being nice that the family had been indecisive and on different schedules for food, because it gave Chris and I a chance to have a little dinner date out on New Years Eve all on our own.
We walked back up the beachfront and enjoyed looking at the festivities that were starting. Some of the people living there had made sand carvings saying Boracay with the date and then put candles in them to make quite a lovely little scene. I took a picture of it, and then of course, they wanted a tip for having taken a picture. Their work was good though, so I don't mind. Back at the hotel, we sat outside for a while with the family until it was really humid and began to rain. A super loud band was playing, but they enjoyable enough. We did move back into the room an hour or so before midnight to relax and get out of the craziness. At one point the rain was coming down so hard and thick, I wondered if there would still be fireworks.
About ten minutes until midnight, we heard our answer - fireworks started to shoot off, so I grabbed my raincoat and went outside and stood under the eaves for a few minutes crowded in with everyone else peering through the archways of the bar and the coconut trees lining the sand. Chris went out in just his swim trunks and stood on the beach, since he had wanted to be outside in the warm rain (although it wasn't that warm anymore). A couple minutes later I joined him on the sand by the miniature waves, and watched as boats all up and down the coast shot off fireworks. The one closest to us was kind of lame, it would shoot off a string of the same type, then stop but start up again a few minutes later. It really didn't matter though, there were so many up and down, that it was just fun to see all the fireworks everywhere.
I was drenched, save my top half under the raincoat. People were out in bathing suits, fancy dresses holding umbrellas, regular attire...whatever they had worn to their chosen festivities. Many even had on plastic ponchos. Chris was so excited he just enjoyed being in the Philippines, wild and half naked in the rain with fireworks surrounding us. He threw his arms up in the air several times (which later I discovered he was acting as if he was conducting the pyrotechnics). I was so happy that he was enjoying being back in his homeland and could enjoy this moment. New Years came and went, and the fireworks must have continued for another twenty minutes. Finally I went inside to try to hang up yet another wet article and then go to sleep.
We readied for bed and lay there listening to the incredibly loud band just a few walls separated from us and laughed as we joked about it. I was tired though, so sleep came fairly quickly.
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