Boracay, Philippines

Today we went to breakfast, then walked about 40 min down the beach to Holy Rosary Church, looking for Sister Victoria hoping to volunteer within the Ati Community. The Ati's are the people who inhabited the island long before it had become a tourist attraction. They have been displaced and driven away when tourists and investors started to come to the island.  All the Ati's live on a small piece of property by the beach, which resort owners are trying to take away from them as well.   

Unfortunately, Sister Victoria was no longer with the church so we kinda got the run around before hiring our own motorbike to take us to the Ati Community in Lugutan. When we got there, we weren't sure how we could be of help, so we spoke with one of the ladies who understood a bit of English. We started playing with the kids on the beach, played games, tried to teach them some counting and spelling ,before we realized, all these kids really wanted to do was play with us. So we began building sand turtles and castles, and before we knew it we were in the ocean with 8 kids on our backs wanting to be held, thrown, pulled around and chased.

The Ati's were very friendly and motioned for me to come play a game of volleyball, causing more people in the community to come around and enjoy the game and our company. They may not speak English, but playing, smiling, laughing and slapping high fives are universal. After about 5 hours of being in the water with the kids and playing non stop, we decided to head back, grab some dinner on the beach and watch the sunset, then headed out for the night.

As we were heading out, we saw some children begging on the beach and we ended up starting a conversation we them.  We sat down in the sand and talked with them for over an hour, they were so friendly and sweet.  We were playing math games, which they were awesome at, and naming capitals with countries.  It was such a good time and they really enjoyed themselves.  

If anyone would like more detailed information on volunteering with the Ati's, please feel free to email me at Trunswim1@aol.com, it was very tedious trying to figure out ways to get to help community, but so worth it!

Day of Travel... Arriving in the Philippines

We have been traveling for over 24 hours. Ugh. We left Kuta, Lombok yesterday at 9am. Took a car about an hour to the water, took a 3 hour ferry to Padangbai, then took an hour and a half shuttle to the Denpasar, Bali airport. We then took a 2 hour flight to Singapore, with a layover, then a 3 hour flight to Manila, Philippines. We were supposed to leave the Manila airport for Kalibo at 7:45am, giving us a 3 hour layover, but it got changed to 9:10, which then got changed to 10:10am, giving us an over 5 hour layover. The locals are so laid back no one really seemed to mind the delay but us... New Yorkers, go figure.

We finally arrived in Kalibo and took the ferry to Boracay. Boracay is known for its powdery white sand beaches, and crystal clear turquoise water. It has been voted one of the best beaches in the world and is only about 3.5 miles long

Our 30 hour travel day, with many unexpected layovers and delays, we had made it to Boracay, Philippines!!

Drive to ferry 1 hour

Ferry to Padanbai 3 hours

Shuttle to airport 1 hour 40 min

Flight to Singapore 2 hour 15 min

Flight to Manila 3 hour 20 min

Taxi to terminal 15 min

Flight to Kalibo 40 min

Shuttle to ferry 1 hour 30 min

Ferry to Boracay 9 min

Today we woke up and went to breakfast on the beach at this cute restaurant. They had omelets and you could choose how many eggs you wanted in your omelet(all for the same price), as long as you could finish it. The most egg omelet anyone has gotten and finished was a 35 egg omelet, we were a little less daring, and each got a 3 egg omelet, which we just barely could finish.

The rest of the day we spent exploring the island, White Beach side, making stops to get in the water and to lay down to relax. After, we got hour long full body massages right on the beach, as the sun was going down. You could hear the waves coming in with the tide, it was just perfect.

For dinner we went to an all you can eat buffet on the beach, watching the sunset. They served fish, clams, mussels, pasta, rice, BBQ chicken, salad, spring rolls, meatballs and dessert all for just $7.50. After, dinner we got drinks and walked along the beach, saw fire twirlers and drummers performing with the children from the Ati community. We headed to a few bars after that.

Surf N Turf

Another day, another motorbike rented, with me as the now “semi-pro driver!"  You have to ride a motorbike or rent a car if you want to get around this island. All the beaches are very far apart and it is too hot to walk.

Today we set off early so I could get the good waves to surf. We went to a beach where I had to hire a private boat to take me out, and since Adrienne doesn't surf, I went out with a girl from Sweden to a reef break about 15 min. from land. There were a few other surfers there, it was a pretty different experience surfing out in the middle of the water instead of surfing a beach break.  

After about 2 hours surfing I headed back to land and Adrienne and I took off to another beautiful beach, secluded beach, where we just chilled out for the rest of the day. We were there for my favorite part of the day when the sun is going down, and the temperature is beginning to cool of, when the beach is so peaceful. We began talking to some locals, who were there with their babies, which we of course adored. Within a few minutes we were holding and playing with them in the sand. Then we headed back to Kuta Beach to grab some dinner. Flight to the Philippines tomorrow!

Renting a motor bike for the day... $5

Renting a surf board for 2 hours... $5

Renting a private boat for 2 hours... $5

Banana Milkshake... $1

Mahi Mahi w/fries... $2.60

Traveling the world... PRICELESS

Kuta, Lombok

In the morning we took a private car about an hour and a half to Kuta Beach, Lombok.

The next morning we had breakfast then rented a motorcar... I drove obviously. We road all around the country side, through jungles, little towns, dirt roads, up and down huge hills and turns, through cattle and monkeys, and we stopped at 3 beaches along the way. We hung out at Mawun for most of the day. The beach was beautiful, it reminded me of Maya Beach in Thailand, but a lot less crowded.

It was really nice riding around seeing the peoples way of living around here. Most of them live in small little huts with many family members. We got to see them tending to their cattle, rice fields, gardens and taking care of their children. It was interesting seeing how happy the children were playing with the simplest things like rocks, sand and kites.

Hanging with the locals

For breakfast we headed to a cute little bakery/restaurant down the main road that we were staying. We got the most delicious sandwiches ever, with hard boiled eggs, grilled chicken, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, with a special sauce on their own freshly made bread.

After, we headed to Senggigi Reef for a bit to watch the local surfers. Later we headed to a different part of the beach, so I could go for a dip without all the surfers. We talked to these local guys, who let us use their snorkeling masks. We got to see some of the fish and coral closer to the shore.

Before we knew it the sun was beginning to set, so we hung around and watched the sunset. For dinner we grabbed some Bintang beers and headed to a local food stand where we got ayamtaliwang, which is a very popular miniature chicken dish (head and all). They didn't have silverware, so we ate the chicken, salad, rice and all with our hands which was different, but it kinda made you appreciate your meal a bit more. For dessert we got marta bak, which was almost like a sweet thicker pancake filled with cheese.

We went out to Happy Bar, and then ended the night at Marina Bar down the street.

Senggigi, Lombok

Today after 3 hours of sleep from a late night out, we woke up bright and early to catch the boat to Lombok. We arrived in Senggigi after a few hours found a recommended place to stay and walked around the cute town for a bit.

our servers

We got persuaded to eat at this restaurant on the beach by two servers standing out front, and we were so glad that we did. The food was delicious, it was happy hour, the view was beautiful, and our servers were adorable! There was one head server and the other two were training. Their dreams are to one day come to America, and they asked us if it was ok to hang around with us to listen to our English and if it would be a bother to us if they asked us questions about learning English. They asked us many questions about English slang, pronunciation, grammer etc. They were awesome. We taught them the saying “one step at a time,” and “always follow your dreams,” which I wrote down for them and they loved it!