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| The ferry to Boracay from the mainland |
I am writing you today from an island called
Boracay. It is south of Manila. To get there we took a short plane ride, a bus
ride, a boat ride across the water from the mainland to the island and finally
a sort of jeepney ride to the beach.
We are taking a long weekend (Sunday-Tuesday) staying at a resort on the beach. I am not totally clear on who owns this resort, but it is the only private resort on the island. It feels like real luxury to stay in such a quiet and secluded space right next to the beach. We are here with friends of our friends Maricel, Father Vic and Elsa. They are taking amazing care of us. Every meal has been cooked for us and activities planned.
On the trip I experienced some very interesting things at the airport and along the way.
We arrived early enough to stop and have breakfast and so I had a chance to visit the "McDonald's of the Philippines" which is called JolliBee. They serve fast food, but with a Philippine flavor. On the menu were many meals with rice. The one burger that they had was an Adobo Burger (Adobo is a way of cooking meat that has a certain Philippine flavor). Steve and I had something like egg mcmuffins, but they had pancakes instead of bisquits as a bun for the egg, bacon and cheese. This picture shows the egg, sausage and rice meal along with the Jollibee logo-a happy bee.
Then we went to the waiting area for the flight we were taking and there was another surprise.... a massage from a blind person! The government gives space at the airport for blind people to set up a massage location. Cel, Elsa and I had back massages!
Cel told us that massages in the Philippines are very affordable and so she had a really hard time living in Belgium where they were expensive.
I also enjoyed taking a picture of Steve dressed up as a traditional Filipino warrier.
On the island we have enjoyed relaxing on the porch while it rains around us. Getting in the water and walking in the fine white sand out quite far and it is still under 3 feet of warm water.
We also took a ride in a Paraw and went snorkeling. There was not a lot of wind while we were on the Paraw, so the sailor was rowing to get us out to where we could snorkel and back to shore.
We arrived early enough to stop and have breakfast and so I had a chance to visit the "McDonald's of the Philippines" which is called JolliBee. They serve fast food, but with a Philippine flavor. On the menu were many meals with rice. The one burger that they had was an Adobo Burger (Adobo is a way of cooking meat that has a certain Philippine flavor). Steve and I had something like egg mcmuffins, but they had pancakes instead of bisquits as a bun for the egg, bacon and cheese. This picture shows the egg, sausage and rice meal along with the Jollibee logo-a happy bee.Then we went to the waiting area for the flight we were taking and there was another surprise.... a massage from a blind person! The government gives space at the airport for blind people to set up a massage location. Cel, Elsa and I had back massages!
Cel told us that massages in the Philippines are very affordable and so she had a really hard time living in Belgium where they were expensive.
I also enjoyed taking a picture of Steve dressed up as a traditional Filipino warrier.
On the island we have enjoyed relaxing on the porch while it rains around us. Getting in the water and walking in the fine white sand out quite far and it is still under 3 feet of warm water.
We also took a ride in a Paraw and went snorkeling. There was not a lot of wind while we were on the Paraw, so the sailor was rowing to get us out to where we could snorkel and back to shore.
We have also eaten quite a bit and I will tell you about that in the next post.
Looks like nice clean water - is it warm, cool, cold? What did you see while snorkeling. - SS
ReplyDeleteThe water was very warm, like bathwater. I don't see much while snorkeling, because I cannot wear my glasses... but I guess there were lots of colorful fish and coral!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun, Janice--despite the single beds! Is it just you and Steve traveling from the US? (Or a group of you?)
ReplyDeleteAnd what is the connection with the nuns? Is your friend Maricel a friend from the US?
Thanks for posting your questions on the comments section. I actually wrote and answered them in the comments section on the post What does Crossing the International Dateline feel like? http://notageektravels.blogspot.kr/2016/06/what-does-crossing-international.html
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