17th - 19th March 2012
We had the whole afternoon to ourselves, so after a pork lunch at a local fast food joint in the mini concrete jungle a little further back from the beach, we went our separate ways; Kate and Djalma went snorkelling while I did the washing and worked out. In the evening we walked down the beach to find a cheap place on beach where every hour is happy hour, we sat back into plastic chairs facing out to the sea, palm trees behind us and the sand between our toes while we drank cold beers and pina coladas. Kate seems to have turned into something of a pina colada fanatic since I saw her last and she was determined to find the best version of the cocktail, selflessly dedicating herself to this task sparing no expense, whenever it was on the menu, it was ordered.
Having arrived in Boracay and finally seeing it for ourselves I think we all felt a little short changed in quite a big way. It was a very expensive place to stay/eat/do anything. Djalma decided against learning to kite-surf, something that he's been really wanting to do since Vietnam (and three consecutive days free of wind) which was a big shame, consequently Kate didn't do any of the water sports she wanted to try out either, what happened was that we got rather drunk both nights and ate very well. I think that it's important to be clear about what you expect from a place before you arrive, that or go with a completely open mind. I must say that I didn't find it all that bad, it would have been a great place to buys souvenirs and clothes except that being on baggage lock down, I didn't. The town/tourist centre near White beach was very concrete, there wasn't anything cute or tropical bamboo about it, it did have electricity all the time though. You win some, you lose some.
We awoke the next day feeling slightly hungover, the huge sandwich specials that we'd had just before hadn't done much to soak up the two beers that we'd drunk, I know – only two beers (not big ones either) and we woke up feeling a bit grotty. Katie did a wonderful sister thing and took me out to breakfast at the Pancake House, I over ordered and three truly wonderful blueberry pancakes – two would have been plenty and a Viennese coffee, Kate got down and dirty with a huge waffle. It was a great start to the day and we had a really nice chat while we chowed down too. I love sister time.
We took the last pancake and some noodles back to Djalma who didn't want to get out of bed and made plans for the rest of the day. It's a wonderful thing when the man you love and your sister have lots of things in common. While Katie was out with us Djalma had someone to talk to about free-diving, climbing and other things which I really struggle to stay awake to listen to let alone participate in a conversation. The two of them checked out the wall in D*Mall while I took myself off for coffee and some blog writing at a swanky restaurant we'd passed several times. There is something about a good coffee in nice surroundings with lovely people to wait on you that I just adore, I also find it the best kind of place to write, it's usually quiet and being somewhere else focusses the mind. That said the second coffee of the morning wasn't sitting too well in my delicate stomach and I decided to have some tomato soup to help things calm down, it arrived with some toasted home-made bread and the most gorgeous fresh pesto I've had in years. I got a little writing done and then went back to the hotel to use the wifi and upload what I'd written. I also used the time to look on Ebay and order some fabric, naughty naughty. I was obsessed with (and still am) making my own clothes when I get to Brazil. They arrived back just as I was working out what I would need for some harem pants and a top and a dress, after a minor reprimand from Djalma (he can be such a tight wad about some things) I decided to order it, the peacock pattern and the bright pink butterflies were just too fabulous to pass me by, I kept my eye on some newspaper print style linen (I will be getting that very soon).
We decided to open up the bottle of coconut flavoured Boracay rum that we'd bought back in Caticlan, actually Djalma had to practically force it down my throat, I was glad he did though, we all got very pleasantly tipsy and sat and chatted and ended up drinking the whole bottle, I think the rum cost less than 2 USD for 700ml, excellent value for drunkenness in my opinion. Leaving it late again we decided to try and find somewhere to eat, by then it was about 10pm and there weren't many restaurants still serving. While we were passing one café the heavens opened and so we sat in that and had some pasta and sandwiches to soak up the alcohol before heading back to bed, all of us very nicely buzzed.
We made the most of our last day and went back to the Pancake House, another treat from my very generous little sis. Kate stuck with her waffle, I went for a farmers breakfast with lots of crispy bacon and Djalma had a stuffed pork thing with mango chutney, it was delicious and seriously fattening. We left cholesterol heaven behind and went in search of a tricycle to take us to the local bat cave. Our tricycle managed to get us most of the way there but failed halfway up the last hill so we got out and walked the last bit.
The route involved a fair bit of guesswork, we made our way down to a near deserted beach and then back up a different track where we saw signs for tickets but no-one to point us in the right direction. It started to drizzle around the same time we found the track to the cave, we followed it getting quite damp and came to the mouth of the cave. We met some guys coming up when we were on our way down and were told by the guide that we would die without a guide, charming. We didn't die but did get covered in poo, I was quite happy telling myself that I was just dirt but Kate was quite clear when we got back up just what it was all over my hands and the back of my trousers. We didn't go all the way down to see the bats something which I was very grateful for, the stink was nasty, it smelt strongly of burnt coffee poo and was rather unpleasant. We went a little way stopped, saw a few bats flying around the top of the cave and then clambered back up and out. We washed our hands on leaves wet from the rain and walked back to the road a different way. We haggled with a good natured tricycle driver who liked to drive fast and got dropped off near station 1 and walked out to see Willie's rock.
I expected something much more but it was just a small set of rocks with a statue of Mary near the front, the water was clear and shallow so Kate and Djalma waded out while I stayed put, still thinking of my burnt leg. We walked back to our hotel along the beach which was lined with coconut palms and sun loungers to one side and mounds of seaweed on the other.
We got back to our hotel, showered packed and checked out. We decided to go back to Christina's, the same place I'd had my coffee and soup and after a little umming and ahhing we decided that it would be the perfect place to have a lunch on my wonderful Nan. Djalma went to change money so Kate and I got stuck into some cocktails, I tried something with a funny name and Kate had her usual. We sat and chatted while we waited for Djalma, we waited for so long that we ended up ordering our starters, of course he walked through the door two minutes after we'd placed our orders. I had a Caesar salad, Kate had Salami bruschetta and Djalma went for a salad, it was all delicious, then the mains came. Djalma and I had surf and turf, a delicious steak wrapped in bacon with a couple of large shrimp and mashed potato while Kate had grilled shrimp with risotto, I washed my meal down with a glass of truly appreciated Shiraz, thank you Nan! We were stuffed afterwards, well us girls were but Djalma still had room for more (he's a walking gut that one), it was Kate and I who went out for Italian ice-cream though.
After a few more photos of the beach we got our bags, said goodbye and went in search of a tricycle to take us back to the port. We got on the next boat to Caticlan where we found that the next ferry to Roxas was cancelled and we had a 5 hour wait until the next one.
No comments:
Post a Comment