A Mis-Match Made In Paradise

DSC09618wowview.JPG


DAY 446: Up until this trip around the world, I never really saw the Philippines as a vacation destination in the “getaway” sense; it had always been the place of my heritage, the place where you go and see a lot of relatives that overfeed you.  But to the non-Filipino, the Philippines is a great travelers’ destination, which Let’s Go called “a budget traveler’s paradise.”

I was determined this time around in the Philippines to not only see relatives, but see the Philippines, and that began when I finally got off the family trail and head for Boracay, the Philippines’ hedonistic beach resort mecca that Moe (Hong Kong) raved about.  Boracay is to Manila what Phuket is to Bangkok, before the Asian Tsunami of 2004, that is.

I wasn’t completely off the family trail though.  Escorting me was my Tito Mike, who is technically not my tito (uncle), but my mother’s cousin on her mother’s side.  Meeting us there would be my Tita Josie, who is technically not my tita (aunt), but my father’s cousin on his mother’s side.  As I mentioned in the previous entry, some would argue that they are very un-Filipino; both are older than 25 and unmarried.  My Tita Vicky (a real aunt on my mother’s side) told me that when the two meet, I should try and play matchmaker.

THE TRIP TO BORACAY STARTED BRIGHT AND EARLY, as always to beat metro Manila traffic, as a driver took Tito Mike and me to the domestic airport.  Surprisingly there wasn’t much traffic and we got there way ahead of schedule and waited in the waiting area amidst the signs posted warning against making jokes about bombs on airplanes. 

One hour-long plane ride, a motorized tricycle ride, and a short ride on a spider boat later, Tito Mike and I finally arrived on the western shores of Boracay Island, on White Beach, named after the plethora of white sands.  Perfect and warm turquoise waters graced the surrounding edges of the island, while the intense greens of palm trees and other tropical vegetation swayed in the gentle ocean breeze.  The sun blazed down from above, making the air warm, but not too hot or humid.  It was every bit the paradise that people had raved about and I hadn’t even really done anything yet. 

Wow, this is the Philippines? I thought.  The roots of my heritage are actually in paradise?

A porter took our bags from the boat, down the beach promenade to Club Ten, the bungalow resort Tito Mike had made an advanced reservation at.  We checked into our lovely loft suite, with AC, TV, minibar, and complimentary fresh mango juice when we arrived.  It was perfect, except for the fact that it was not on the beachfront, at least not anymore.  As one of Boracay’s original resorts, it had fallen victim to that game developers play in the waterfront real estate game:  buying and developing land in between establishments and the shore, making places no longer oceanfront property but behind-oceanfront property.  Club Ten knew they had fallen victim to this and apologized accordingly.

BORACAY’S MAIN TOURIST DRAG is a right on the shore of White Beach, in between the shore and former oceanfront resorts.  It is a laid back sandy promenade of bars, cafes, shops and jewelry vendors, which sounds a bit too commercialized, but was actually not too bad; none of the vendors were really that aggressive and pretty much left you alone to decide on purchases yourself.  North and south of the main promenade were more secluded resorts and beyond that, nothing but sand. 

To get an overview of western Boracay, I walked up and down the shore, wading through the crystal clear waters, passed the sailboats and the wild rock formation known as Willy’s Rock, up to the northern cove and the cliffside resort beyond that where I was awarded with a spectacular view (picture above).  As one boat’s Smart-sponsored sail perfectly put it, it was ”Simply Amazing!“

Since it was the week after the busy Christmas week, the place wasn’t crowded at all.  Along the way, I noticed there were many foreign-looking tourists; something like 70% of Boracay’s clientele is comprised of foreigners, mostly Germans, French and Italians from what I was hearing.  Just like I had seen in Thailand, I noticed a lot of old white-haired or balding men were with young local women that I assume were escorts, feigning laughter for the old men’s jokes.  That’s not to say there weren’t families around, both foreign and Filipino.  As the self-proclaimed “No. 1 tropical beach in the world,” Boracay’s White Beach attracted everyone, and from what I had seen so far, lived up to its claim.

And speaking of family, my Tita Josie showed up around four at the suite at Club Ten, and I was back on “the family trail” again—except this time it was a bit different.  Josie and Mike were not related to each other at all, other than by the distant link of which my brother and I are.  Immediately I saw that there would be no sort of matchmaking, as the two were polar opposites:  Tito Mike, at 52, was a gentle, humble religious man who read prayer books; Tita Josie was single, forty-something and fabulous—definitely the savviest of my dad’s cousins—a half-Filipino, half-Chinese party girl and manager of a shoe factory that had contracts with Fila and Nike, who had a lot of rich contacts and friends.  To bring parallels from American pop culture, matchmaking them was as impossible as trying to hook up Samantha Jones (Kim Catrall) from Sex and the City with Mr. Rogers.

Tita Josie, who was quite the beach resort person, had been to Boracay six times before and led me on a stroll down to the southern area of White Beach until the sun went down and the magnificent sand castles that people had built were being lit up.  We made it back to meet Tito Mike back at Club Ten, and we went out for seafood at one of the many places serving up fresh shrimps, crabs, oysters, and wild lobsters.  There was an uncomfortable silence at the dinner table as I ate with my two distant sides of family; it felt like, from what I’m told, being an only child having dinner with two alienated divorced parents.

Later that night I vegged in the room trying to catch up on Blog duties, only to fall asleep on the sofa.  I was happy to be awaken up by the voices of my two relatives, finally having conversations over cigarettes—if there was anything they had in common, they were both big smokers.  I knew that there would no match in paradise, but in a laid-back place like Boracay, that thing was the last thing on my mind.

SAVE THE DATE; DAY 503 IS COMING.  MARCH 5, 2005, NYC.
DETAILS AND TRAILER COMING SOON...


Next entry: Advanced Novice

Previous entry: Filipino-American, American-Filipino



Comments for "A Mis-Match Made In Paradise"

back to top of page

Next entry:
Advanced Novice

Previous entry:
Filipino-American, American-Filipino


This blog entry about the events of Friday, January 07, 2005 was originally posted on January 11, 2005 on the blog, "The Global Trip 2004: Sixteen Months Around The World (Or Until Money Runs Out, Whichever Comes First)," hosted by BootsnAll.com. It is one of over 500 entries that chronicled a trip around the world from October 2003 to March 2005, encompassing travel through thirty-seven countries in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. It was this blog that "started it all," where Erik evolved and honed his style of travel blogging. (It starts to come into focus around the time he arrives in Africa.)

Praised and recommended by USA Today, RickSteves.com, and readers of BootsnAll and Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree, The Global Trip blog was selected by the editors of PC Magazine for the "Top 100 Sites You Didn't Know You Couldn't Live Without" (in the travel category) in 2005.





SBRs? WHMMR? 1981ers? Confused at some of the jargon that’s developed with this blog and its readers?  Try looking them up on The Global Trip Wiki.

Spelling or grammar error? A picture not loading properly? Help keep this blog as good as it can be by reporting bugs.




SUBSCRIBE TO THE RSS FEED HERE






THE GLOBAL TRIP PLEDGE DRIVE

Show support and pledge a donation to Erik by buying official Global Trip gear and apparel! CLICK HERE!

All written and photographic content is copyright 2002-2008 by Erik R. Trinidad (unless otherwise noted).
"The Global Trip" and "swirl ball" logos are service marks of Erik R. Trinidad.
TheGlobalTrip.com v.3 is powered by Expression Engine