Off the beaten path on Boracay

Boracay was great for our beach-needs, but we needed to try to find non-tourist oriented places in between our many swims in the ocean. This was particularly a problem when it comes to food, which is how Eugene and I most like to experience other cultures, delicious cultures.

We took a couple of expeditions out of the most touristy areas (though it was hard to leave completely). One of our small adventures brought us to some of the places the locals live on to the windward side of the island. Because the island is quite narrow, we only had to walk about 15 minutes to get to the other side. The “streets” we walked along were tiny and even the “main highway” can barely fit anything more than the tricycles, though that doesn’t stop them from trying.

The windward coast is less visited as the weather, surf, and sewage outlet makes it less pleasant. But there are some mangroves and a beach where tourists come to kite and windsurf. This side of the island also seems to be were the trash ends up partly due to the currents, and probably also because they spend less efforts cleaning this side. (White Beach is incredibly clean).

Another outing took us to the very northern tip of the island — to Puka Beach. To get there we had to take a tricycle, which was an adventure unto itself. Somehow locals can fit 6 or more in one, but it seemed crowded enough with just Eug and I. Puka Beach, is not really developed, which made it way more pleasant. The water was quite rough, but Eugene braved the waves, and only got a bit scraped while playing in the surf. Without all the vendors (nobody offered us a selfie stick the whole time!) and way fewer tourists, we had a relaxing afternoon here. Definitely one of the highlights of the island.

Finally, our eating adventures were sadly missing from this part of our journey. The most interesting thing we did was to visit the fish market D’Talipapa where you buy seafood from the dozens of stalls selling everything from colorful reef fish to all types of shrimps, squids, prawns, and lobsters. You buy the fish fresh from these guys and then take it to one of the many restaurants surrounding the market and have them cook it for you. We ate there a couple of times, and I had the largest prawns I’d ever eaten.

All in all Boracay gave us just what we were looking for – beaches and relaxation. I don’t really feel like I’ve seen what the Philippines is all about yet, but perhaps later in our trip. For now, it’s on to a few days of Singapore on our way to Thailand.