New Year's in Boracay

Happy New Year Everybody ! I hope this year turns out even better than the last one !



After staying a night back in Cebu, I met up with Kitchie, Kate, and JR to head to Boracay for New Year's celebrations. Kim, Tala, and Abok from Davao met us there. It's one of the busiest times for Boracay and all the flights were booked so we had to take an overnight boat to Iloilo and then a van from Iloilo to Caticlan. To get to Boracay island, you have to take a bangca ferry from Caticlan to the Boracay terminal and then a tricycle to your destination. It took a long time to get there, needless to say. I think the van ride was the worst of it...tiny and uncomfortable with some really bumpy roads. I found it hard to get some sleep.

Boracay is a really cool place. The sand is white and really fine. There's a lot of variety in terms of accomodation and eating. You can stay there for a few days on a budget, or you can splurge and go big and some really fancy places. There are a lot of cool beach clubs/bars to hang out in and the beach really long so there's lots of room to park and hangout at the beach.

Unfortunately, the weather was overcast for most of the time we were there. We only saw a couple of hours or so of clear sun and it actually rained pretty hard when we left on the second.



We still had a good time, though. New year's eve was pretty crazy...lots of partying until the early morning hours. The fireworks were awesome...both sides of the beach and they lasted for a good 30-45 minutes. Here are a few pics from the night:









The way home was the opposite of the way there. This time we hired a van exclusively for us rather than wait around waiting for the commuter van to fill up. There was the option of taking the local bus back to Iloilo, but the cost was around the same for a hired van. We got lots of seating room and a non-stop ride to the pier.

At the pier back in Cebu, some of the local people from the slums come out in their little boats and beg for money from the passengers. People toss the coins and bills and they try to catch the money with their hands, catching baskets, and pieces of cloth. They even dive into the water after money that wasn't caught before it sinks too deep. It started with one boat, then a whole bunch of them followed with old women and children. I felt pretty bad for them, they seemed like a desperate lot. One of them was powered by a small diesel motor...something you'd find on a lawnmower or something. I couldn't help wondering if they ever got enough money to cover their fuel costs. They must...they wouldn't be doing it otherwise. I watched them for a while and then tought I may as well take some pictures: