Boracay Island, Philippines

We were able to reserve a cabana on the beach every day in front of the hotel, complete with wait staff service and beach towels.This is Liz, Mayen and Jill in the picture.
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I am happy to report that after an extended time of no entries to the blog, I have a fun adventure to tell you all about. I spent the past 5 days on Boracay Island in the Philippines. We had a break from school in honor of the Mid-Autumn (moon) Festival and Monday was National Day. The break was much needed! The trip was organize by another new teacher, Mayen, who is Filipina. She was great, took care of all the flights and hotel arrangements. We left Tuesday night, flew from Hong Kong to Manilla (2 hour flight) and stayed at Mayen's brother's house. We were up by 6:00 to get the next short flight to another island, Catyclan. That flight was about 40 minutes. Then a short bus ride to a small ferry for the quick 5 minute boat ride to Boracay. Yes, it was "planes, trains, and automobiles..."

These three wheeler "tricycles" were used as a taxi service by everyone to get from one place to another. They crammed people on, once we saw 8 people on one tricycle!
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The hotel resort, Waling Waling, was amazing. It was right on the beach, we just stepped out onto the white powder sand beach. The water was beautiful and we were lucky with the weather, for the most part. Considering that they are still at the end of their typhoon season, we were happy we really only had one rainy day. We had a totally relaxing vacation complete with pedicures, manicures, foot scrubs and massages on the cabana in front of the beach. The cabanas on the beach could be signed out for the day by the hotel and the mango shakes they served while sitting on the hammocks were delicious. Everything is inexpensive, so I must admit that I indulged myself in not one, but 3 massages during the time on the island. They were about $10 US dollars per massage, how could I resist?! There were lots of cute shops and good restaurants. Ironically, my favorite on Boracay was a Greek restaurant, Cyma.

Massages in a cabana on the beach..........

This beach was right in front of our hotel, just beautiful! White powder sand and crystal clear water.
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One day we took a three hour boat tour for some island hopping. The stopped and got off on one to explore some caves and swim. It was all so beautiful. The island people are very poor, but also very warm and friendly. Everyone was very helpful and always gracious. It was a bit of a shock to go back to school today, but I must admit that I was rested when the children arrived. (At least that is how I felt this morning, don't ask me how rested I feel now!). Stay tuned for the next entry!