Let me write on the spot clairealgarme.multiply.com

Boracay never fails to amaze tourists.  I’ve been trying to avoid writing about Bora but a friend just sent a link to his blog and lo and behold the first article I read was about the beautiful paradise island in the Visayas.  Oh, well, paradise could mean a lot of things to a lot of people.

Don’t get me wrong here.  As an Ilongga, I’m proud of Bora and the status it has achieved.  I’m still hoping whenever I watch “Beach Breaks” at the Discovery Travel and Living Channel that I would see Boracay among the lists of world’s best beaches.  It is…with its pristine beach, white sand, clear waters, and all its natural beauty and glory.  I was pretty excited to get to Boracay on my first time to visit this island.

So when I first stepped on the island, I was amazed by the soft touch of fine sand that tickled my feet.  D’Mall and the bars around it were impressive and they could make you forget about boredom and being stranded in an island.  You can shop till you drop and eat a feast till you grow full.  The rustic life of the province and the dynamic social swirl of the city joined forces in this small dot in the map.

Going there just a year after I visited it, Boracay has lost its mystique to me.  The flirtatious aura of the paradise has gone amok and showed its libertine self.  A party one night and getting drunk till the wee hours of the morning got me satisfied yet not wanting more.  Sadly, it was more of the shopping, the body watching and the partying that took most of my time.  And for three days, I got to dip for just 30 minutes in the water.  In fact, you can see so few people swimming.  They were all out having fun in the sand or in the bars.  I couldn’t seem to reconcile the idea of a relaxing, undisturbed day by the beach with the noisy, crowded parties with neon lights.

On my last day there during my second visit, I had to take the boat from the very end of station one.  All I saw was a beautiful cliff, families swimming, cool breeze of air, the beauty of seclusion… the endless beauty of a shy maiden not wanting to be discovered.  That’s the other side of Bora, the other side that I have come to admire.  I got a free accommodation in one of the resorts there.  I’m contemplating of coming back.  If ever I do, I’ll definitely wander at the rocks off the edge of the cove and get intoxicated by the hidden beauty of Boracay.  Burp!