Magandang Umaga, Kabayan – Part 5

Day 6

My first photos from this day are at sunset from our room’s balcony, so I think this was the day we lounged around the condo playing spades and rook.  Nursing our pains from the Ariel’s point jumps.  I think we also ordered another one of the delicious pizzas :)

View from our balcony

Alta Vista at sunset

Eventually we made it out of the hotel compound and headed back down to White Beach for dinner.  We opted for a mexican/spanish (Dos Mestizos) place we’d seen advertised.  The place was packed because there was some sort of company demonstration / presentation / retreat being held there.  We waited outside until a table opened up and enjoyed some house sangria.  Once seated inside, we ordered seafood paella and garlic beef tenderloin.  Wow!  The food was amazing and definitely worth the wait… the beef was some of the best I’ve had in a loooong time.

Eventually the company event was over and a live band came out.  There was a group of locals seated at a table next to us celebrating one of the ladies’ birthday.  Once the band got going, they were up dancing & singing karaoke.  While most of the restaurant cleared out, we decided to join in the fun :)

Singing with the birthday girl

What is that!?!?

Day 7

Based on the recommendation from our birthday party friends at the dinner the night before, we decided to try out a new beach for our last day on Boracay.  It’s called Ilig-Iligan Beach which wasn’t too far from our hotel, although it ended up being farther than we had originally thought when we opted to walk there :)

On the walk we got to see a lot of the housing areas where the locals lived.  I thought it was interesting to see so many kids out and about in the middle of the day on a weekday… thinking “shouldn’t they be in school?”  I didn’t know if it was a poverty thing where they were needed at home to help with chores or work or if school wasn’t widely available… but later talking with some of my Filipino friends, they told me that it was currently their summer break, so that makes sense.

My fellow photographer

After about a 30 minute walk (where we didn’t run across any other tourists), we could see the ocean.  It was a welcome site to those of us who get grumpy when we’re hot…

It got a bit too hot to have the bookbag on his bag... as well as too hot to even talk...

Aahh...  the sight of cool water and sea breeze

Paradise

While there was a road “leading” to the beach… it didn’t actually take you all the way there.  We instead we had to carefully climb down a pretty steep bank to get to the beach.

The beach was completely deserted.  It was like our own little private deserted island.  It was so deserted that Paul eve thought it was a little eerie, but I loved it and took advantage of the many photo opps :)

My man

Deserted beach restaurant

Still reading!!!  I was waiting on B to finish Hunger Games book 2, so I kept taking photos :)

After a few hours, A & B decided to head out so that they could make it back down to White Beach to get a few souvenirs before leaving the next day.  Paul and I decided to hang around the beach a little longer.

Just another day at the beach--blue water, coconuts nearby, shade from a palm tree, and a good book

Eventually, a boy came down a nearby path with his puppy…

Every time I see this photo I thin of a Coppertone Ad

After playing with the puppy we noticed the sun was starting to set, so we packed up and began the trek back to the hotel.

On our way back, we saw some kids playing with a basketball on the street and Paul joined in with them…

Always looking for ways to play! :)

Then we watched some of the older kids slide down a mossy covered storm drain….  looked like fun to me!

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That evening we went down to the hotel’s pool where they were serving dinner and putting a show of fire dances and other games to get the audience involved….  it was an interesting experience.

Then it was time to start packing up… :(

Day 8

A & B’s flight was an early one, so they left early in the morning and left Paul and I to sleep in a bit.  Eventually we made our way back to Caticlan via a trike, ferry boat, and trike and buying about 10 different tickets again… but at least this time it wasn’t as crazy since it was in the morning.

We took a domestic flight to Manila and met up with one of my previous coworkers who had moved back to Manila.  She took us to Resorts World which was basically a huge mall with restaurants, hotels, and a casino.  We grabbed lunch at a delicious Filipino restaurants and Paul got her recommendation which was fried tilapia—and it was good!  I had a nice beef dish with eggs (I think it might have been Beef Tapsilog?)

After lunch, Paul made his way to the casino while A & I spent some time catching up at a coffee shop for a few hours.  Then it was time to head back to the airport & head home.  What an amazing trip!!!!