Skim boarding with some locals

This morning it was raining again. It basically rains every night but then stops during the day. After eating breakfast, we weren't sure what to do. We had planned to go to Ariel's Point to do cliff-diving but we had heard that it wasn't a good place to go when the weather was bad because it was way too choppy. So unfortunately, we nixed that plan. Instead, Will, my brother David, Angie, and I decided to hang out the beach. We wanted to try kite boarding which is really popular here and apparently is the location for the International Kiteboarding Championship but it look way too hard and apparently you spend the whole first day just trying to control the kite without the board. The waves here were pretty big and strong but we couldn't find boogie boards so instead we rented some skim boards. They tried to sell us a lesson but we figured we could just try it out and figure it out on our own. It is way harder than it looks though! Luckily, three local boys who owned the boards we were renting taught us the basics. They were really nice and really good at skimboarding! We weren't quite so good but I think we did okay for our first time. We moved a few feet which illicited some positive reinforcement from our teachers.

After skim boarding, Angie went to hang out with her mom and then Will, David, and I went to eat lunch at some Filipino buffet. I love Filipino food and the food was really good and so cheap!! In the afternoon, my brother went exploring on his own and Will and I hung out on the beach some more. We laid out, played in the water, and basically did nothing. I finally found this Filipino dessert I had been searching for called turon. It's basically a banana egg roll that is crispy and covered in this sugary glaze. It is delicious and one of the foods I had been hoping to run into in the Philippines. I found some on the boardwalk type thing and got some from a lady selling it on the actual beach.



After spending the day on the beach, the whole family (minus Winnie & Andrew who were at the spa) went to have dinner at a different buffet on the beach. Again, sooooooo delicious and such a good deal. It included all my Filipino favorites like adobo, sinigang, pancit, and BBQ grilled seafood. Even though we have been here for a while, I still have not ODed on Filipino food. I have always loved Filipino but I seriously never get a chance to eat it since my mom never cooks it and there are so few Filipino restaurants around. After dinner, Will, my brother and I went to find Jonas fruit stand because I had read online that they have the best fruit shakes on the island. At this point Will has had like 2 mango shakes every day so we love fruit shakes! He also had an avocado shake (sounds gross but is actually really good; my mom made them for us as kids) and some of the best watermelon juice ever!! Anyhow, we found them as they were a little off the beaten path and Will got a mango shake while I got a mango-pineapple shake. They were both really good but not the best we have had on the island. Our favorites were at D'Talipapa. We walked along the shops and stands along the beach some more before heading back to the hotel to get packed up for the next morning.

Jonas' fruit stand to go bottles.  awesome!

Random highlights about Boracay:
1. The island was really beautiful, way nicer than I had actually expected and at this point is probably the nicest beach I have been to and I thought Thailand was going to be hard to beat. Definitely would want to return during the peak season though. I have loved the laid back vibe and how you can walk barefoot all over the place if you want because all of the restaurants on the stations (white beach is divided into three stations) are built on the sand and you can eat dinner with sand between your toes.
2. We really like Filipino food, even Will did! We loved the fresh seafood and all the fresh fruit available. I am now inspired to start cooking more Filipino food at home.
3. Filipino people are really really nice. It was cool being around so many of them, and not just Filipinos, but just being around so many Asians in general. There were tons of Chinese and Korean tourists and very few white people. And of those white people, I don't think any of them were American but random Europeans. It just feels very different than typical tourist destinations.
4.  I really like riding around in these little trikes they have as the main transportation of the island.  It's like being in a little sidecar.

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