I started writing this story in the May 7, 2021 post if you want to start at the beginning.
I remember the taxi ride to Shenzhen airport. It was a route that was still new to me. We went around the city instead of through it. It was late and I looked at the lights go by. I probably shut my eyes a few times because it was well past my bed time. Jill was on edge as she usually is before we get on a plane. At midnight the airport was still crowded. This was the first night of a nationwide holiday and many people were rushing as fast as they could to get somewhere else to relax. We, of course, had joined this annual stampede out of the country. After two flights and a ferry ride we arrived in a travel magazine.
Boracay was a gem of the Philippines. It won some geographical lottery for sunrises and sunsets. It’s popularity grew for years unchecked. The low cost and high value of it as a vacation destination was undeniable. Backpackers descended on it from far and wide. The island was scraping by without proper sewers, garbage services, or healthcare. The government took drastic action in 2018 and closed the island for six months to clean up the place. New roads and sewers were built and the island was made a little more family friendly. I speculate this was driven by developers who wanted bigger returns for their investments with their eyes turned to Chinese tourists.
We got off our ferry, which looked like a cross between a speed boat and a bus, onto a busy wharf. We weren’t quite in paradise. This was the harbor. There were some restaurants and gift shops that all looked pretty ramshackle. Up the hill we huffed where we found the southern end of the island’s main road, and the motorcycle taxis.
On Boracay, Moto-taxis are dirt bikes with a two or three-person sized side car, hopefully welded on. They all looked like they should just fall apart. We picked one that knew our destination and set off north along the middle of the island. The road was pretty packed with motor-taxis, a few jeepnys (the filipino bus), and delivery trucks. We proceeded into a business lined street. Tourists in shorts and sandals wandered the narrow sidewalks.The economic center of the island surrounded a suspiciously murky rectangular pond. Our apartment for the week was a block away from the pond. It was 3 blocks from one beach and 2 blocks from the other. It was a nice modern apartment in a nice modern 4 story complex. The front looked onto a small pool and another apartment complex. Walking to the back of the apartment I found the bathroom where a frosted window, when opened, looked out on sheet metal huts, a vacant lot, some chickens and a cow. It was time to find some lunch.