Rainy Season Vacay...

Day 1 - July 20, 2006

Paul and I, together with our HS barkada Leia, Genil & JR, set out on a not-so-bright-sun-shiny day but nevertheless with clear Metro Manila skies on our Day 1 for our "Bora sa tag-ulan" trip. We arrived at the Manila Domestic Airport at about past 12 pm...quite a bit early for our 3:30 PM flight but overestimating the travel time from QC to Pasay is way better than finding ourselves stuck in a traffic jam and messing up our check-in time, isn't it? The airport check-in lobby was not really crowded as it's a lean season for travelling but I just noticed that Cebu Pacific qeues are always filled up. Well, I bet, with the same reasons that we have, it must be their lean season Php 10 promo they launched beginning of this year. In spite of the long qeues of domestic travellers, we were able to check in without much hassle and then the, "long-waiting" begins.

We glued our asses on the Pre-departure area seats for two hours waiting for our flight 5J-343 bound to Kalibo which is scheduled to leave at 3:30 PM. The flight monitoring clock on TV has already ticked at 3:30 PM and yehey! we weren't called yet to board the plane. And I thought, PAL lang ang "Plane Always Late"? We boarded the plane around 4 PM na yata.

Anyway, the flight was smooth naman all throughout the trip. The skies were clear pero mostly thick clouds blocked the view below. We were given C2 drinks and Cream-O choco cookies minutes after take-off. The flight took us more or less 50 minutes but didn't notice or didn't bore us as the crew entertained us with a Bring Me Game. I could have won a Cebu Pacific bag if I was able to pull out agad my cellphone charger from my bag. Sayang. Buti pa si JR..he won a bag as he was able to swiftly put up the Safety Instruction Card tucked in front of him.


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We arrived at the Kalibo airport at about 5:10 in the afternoon. Aklan skies then were confusing. On one part, clouds weren't inviting, in fact, it looked like rains will pour any moment while on the other side, the sunny part seemed a bright welcome for us. We set out immediately and hopped in the van that would bring us to the Caticlan port. The 2-hour trip from Kalibo to Caticlan made me a bit nauseous as we drove on a mountainous-long-and-winding roads. Manong driver was driving fast and was accelerating madly kahit na zigzag ang daan. Grrr! Nakakaba talaga kasi the sun has set na, it was dark tapos the rains poured hard na rin. Oh well, siguro on manong driver's mind, he wants us to reach the port asap as delikado rin to sail out in the dark (pertaining to our banca transfer from caticlan to the bora island). Pero naman, I almost puked out talaga sa hilo. I didn't anticipate this as we flew via Seair (which directly lands at Caticlan airport, thus, with a shorter travel time) the first time Paul and I went to Bora last December.

It was already dark na talaga when we reached the port. We were about to board the bangka when a real bad luck struck the Boracay Virgin, Leia. She stepped on a rusting nail that pierced her heels twice. Blood drooled on her foot profusely as she was grimacing in pain. First pit stop we hanged out on the Boracay Island? the hospital! She opted to be shot with the anti-tetanus medicines. Siyempre naman, if you could've seen the rusting nail, katakot talaga. Medyo nagswell nga and as per the doctor, medyo deep daw ang laceration kaya ganun. And there goes our first adventure on the island.

We then checked in at Hey Jude Hotel at Station 2 located near D'Mall and D'Talipapa. It was already 9 am and we heard our tummies growling madly hehe! Di pa pala kami nagdidinner. We brought some canned goods for our meals (para makatipid) but then we were that hungry and we wanted to eat asap. We then hurriedly scouted for CHEAP eateries sprawled near Hey Jude but since it's pretty late and most were about to close, their leftovers weren't inviting and kahit na siguro cheap siya, sayang lang ang money. It's good that we spotted an Andok's resto around the corner. I feasted on a Php 37+ worth of their breaded porkchop with rice while Paul stuffed himself with two barbeque sticks at Php 15 each. Oh ha? Tipid di ba? What a catch! Sarap pa. Oh well, for those of you who have gone to Bora, you'll agree with me na such a pain on the pockets pag dining time di ba sa sobrang expensive ng foods dun. Siyempre kungbaga, tourist price: ice cream at Php 100? California Maki at Php 250? Solo full meals at Php 250-300? hay! ginto ang pagkain dun. Actually, we set out on this vacation with one clear agreement and goal: to enjoy in a super dooper tipid mode. :D

Day 2 - July 21, 2006

We find stuffing ourselves with our free Hey Jude breakfasts: Tapsilog, Tocilog, Longsilog, American breakfast, early morning of our Day 2. Afterwhich, we changed into our swimwears and approached the beach. Hmmm, the skies were a bit cloudy but nevertheless fine naman. Good enough for the skin..hindi iitim wheee! A bit windy thus, with the semi-gigantic waves. We strolled along the shoreline first and headed to station 1. At siyempre, the camwhores in us kicked in:


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We then braved the waves and swam. Kainis biglang uminit ng husto. The scorching heat burnt my skin in an instant waah! tan lines agad.

We headed back to our room and readied ourselves for lunch. Guess where we ate? Andok's ulit! Waaah! cholesterol warning. This time we feasted on a half chicken and liempo. Hala, cholesterol talaga. Tsk tsk bad!

Mid-afternoon, it started to rain. At siyempre pa, since takot kami sa sunburn, we grabbed the opportunity to swim minus the sun. Ang cool tignan kasi ang dami ding nagsilabasan para magswim sa tag-ulan. At dahil windy nga, lakas ng waves and much to our enjoyment as it overpowered us (kahit na sabayan namin). Lagi kaming "burado". Literally dragged sa shoreline kaya masakit ang katawan after. haha! We no longer captured our "burado" moments dahil one, mukha kaming tanga hehe! and second, umuulan nga so mababasa lang ang cam. :p

We got up and went back to our room just in time for our dinner. Since the aftertaste of liempo and chicken lingered still onto our tongues, we decided to search for a new one. With aching muscles, we didn't have the energy to wander far away pa kaya we landed on a resto near andok's. I tried their sisig rice topping turned out na super spicy pala. I have high tolerance on spicy foods pero niyay! I gulped so much water to pacify it and naumay ako agad. Paul wasn't satisfied either, he ordered asado rice toppings and he was given 4 pieces of meat na puro taba. Oh well, since we're all hungry, we just swallowed what we ordered and agreed di na mauulit dito.

We went back to our room and watched how Purefoods emerged as the PBA Champs against Red Bull. I am not a PBA fan pero I rooted for Purefoods..bakit? wala lang. Takot ako kay hubby eh. He hates Enrico Villanueva of Red Bull kasi. Quoting Leia, may "poot" (matinding galit) everytime Paul comments on Enrico's arrogance. Buti na nga lang at nagchampion ang Purefoods kundi, baka may nagwala sa room namin. :)

Day 3 - July 22, 2006

Paul and I woke up with rumbling and aching stomachs. Naah, hindi sa gutom. Paul got LBM and for him ewan ko ba kung bakit, this automatically means lalagnatin siya. After a few hours, may fever na nga siya. I, on the other hand, still could taste the sisig and it was not a good one. We were about to go boating and islandhopping sana this day pero Paul and I begged off. Later, I threw up what I ate for breakfast. As for our companions, ok naman sila. I figured it must have been the sisig we ate. I shared some of my sisig to Paul kaya pati siya nadamay. Hay! Food poisoned on day 3..tsk tsk tsk! We stayed at the hotel the whole afternoon while they went snorkling and island hopping. Oh well, oks lang, we have tried it naman na the first time we went kaya oks lang to pass muna. Sayang nga lang ang photo opportunities. haha! Here are some of the pics of their islandhopping adventure:

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I felt better in the evening pero si Paul still burning hot with fever. We stayed in the hotel and just killed time chit-chatting, reminiscing HS days, tuksuhan and chikahan and everything while we watched HBO's House of Wax. Genil and JR went to Pier 1 midnight to experience Bora gimik weekend nights while the three of us stayed and dozed off.

Day 4 - July 23, 2006:

After eating breakfast, we went to the beach for our last dip. Waves were bigger and stronger and we were easily wiped out again, much to our delight. Hours later we headed to the hotel and started packing. We toured briskly the souvenir shops and bought necklaces and bracelets for my mom-in-law and sis-in-law before eating our lunch. For the last time, still had it at Andok's hehe! We were fetched at 12:30 pm for our 4:55 flight at Kalibo. The banca, van and bus transfers from Caticlan to Kalibo were more comfy this time. And siyempre pa, we lounged for two hours at the airport as we waited for our plane.

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We were informed later that our flight will be delayed for a few minutes as the flights coming from Manila were all behind schedule due to the bad weather in Manila (typhoon Glenda about to hit Luzon). This was the day when non-stop rains poured and flooded some parts of Metro Manila. Hearing this, we braced ourselves with possible heart-pumping turbulences up there. Truly, there were some but notwithstanding the heavy rains here in the metro, we landed safely naman.

So there goes our "Boracay vacation sa tag-ulan". Enjoyed. Sunburnt. "Nailed". Food poisoned....FUN! FUN! FUN!

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So there goes my "utang" kwento and pics. Sorry if it took me the whole week to finish this entry. Well, aside from waiting for my friends to upload their bora pics, I wasn't in high spirits too, to blog lately. I have several thoughts in my mind to chronicle here but the more "conscious" side in me urged and opted me not to. Basta...basta..basta. :( :( :(