The past weekend was a stormy one for Manila, but I wasn’t around to witness yet another typhoon tear up Luzon. Instead, I was away on a holiday that had been booked since February of this year. (Talk about God’s perfect planning and timing.) Just like last year’s All Saints’ Weekend, we had planned our trip to fall sometime around the 31st of October so we could run around the island dressed as people other than ourselves.

No, this was not my costume.

Due to the rehabilitation of Caticlan airport, our original fights were rerouted to and from Kalibo. That meant tacking on an additional two hours’ travel time each way. Since we’d booked for October 30 to November 1, it meant we had considerably less time to spend on the island. What followed from the time we landed at Boracay’s jetty port until we left can only be described as cramming. If we weren’t sunning ourselves on the beach, we were stuffing our faces with food from our favorite places, or dancing it up wherever the music and drinks were good.

We pretty much had Boracay to ourselves on Friday — because tourists were still at work — up until Saturday afternoon. The habagat (southwest monsoon wind) had blown in a strong rain shower and chopped up the waters on Saturday morning, prompting the coast guard to suspend all incoming and outgoing boat trips. Come Saturday evening, however, parties on the island were in full swing, and we were able to feast our eyes on some pretty lavish costumes.

Ah, Lara Croft. A costume so simple, yet so recognizable.

The best part about dancing all night in Boracay is you can sleep out on the beach the next day. I didn’t have all day, but I did get some color on my skin. The habagat had also died out overnight, so I was also able to swim in beautiful, crystal-clear, warm water before I left.

stolen shot

We will definitely be back next year. We’ll probably book our flights on Seair, which is the only commercial airline to be allowed to fly into Caticlan airport. It might cost a bit more, but it just means we’ll have to plan and save up for our trips to the island better.