Boracay – Balut, Obama & Names in the Sand

We made it to Boracay Island, Province of Malay Aklan; we are out of the city and in paradise.

I didn’t end up sleeping Thursday evening/Friday morning after my last post – pulled an all-nighty - I just finished packing and we went off to the airport to catch our 6am flight. I slept on the 1-hour flight; I actually don’t remember taking off.  
 

6am flight - sleep is for the weak, gangsta.

Our baby plane

After the flight, we had an hour or so bus ride. 

 

A quick look outside our bus window.

 

 We then jumped on a boat that was made for me to get to the island

 

 

We finally got settled in our hotel at around 10:30am, where we napped and freshened up.  We’re staying at the Alta Vista and it is beautiful.  There’s a pool with a crazy view – Lara and I will be doing our Holy Hours here!  After we got settled, we hopped on the shuttle and went into town (think bumpy dirt roads, chickens crossing it and a whole ton of locals), walked around and saw the little shops and stayed at the beach.  Then it was meal time!

 These water bottles can't be for real - but they are.
We were dying when we say these.

 Lunch at the Red Coconut

 

After lunch, we hung out on the beach.  Locals come up to you and try to sell you souvenirs and whatnot…I ended up buying pink pearl earrings (always wanted a pair!) and Tita Pilar bought me a pink pearl necklace - thank you!

We stayed on the beach, I did some CMA work and then napped.  Twas nice.  We stayed and watched the sunset which was beautiful.  

 

 

While chillin on the beach under the stars, we bought some balut, a fertilized duck embryo in an eggshell; a Filipino delicacy.  Lara really wanted me to try it but I wasn’t too keen.  I was scared – like  almost bungee jump scared – because it’s eating a baby duck… Here’s what happened:

Step 1. Crack the bottom of the egg
Step 2. Peel the shell off  

Step 3: Drink the broth (aka hot fetus juices) – it’s actually tasty.

Step 4 (Scary part): Put your big girl panties on, close your eyes and eat it. Chew baby, chew!  It actually tasted good, I added salt to help it…think really dense egg yolk, with the added bonus of cartilage. It actually wasn’t so bad after all. Did I want seconds? Hah, no. I can cross this one off the bucket list.

We had dinner at the same restaurant (the restaurants on the beaches have “beach & lounge chair property”, which means if you eat/drink at their restaurant they grant you access to their beach chairs).  I had half a slice of veggie pizza (no more whole30), which was delicious.  It was pretty healthy , not greasy and damn good!  I didn’t stay for the rest of dinner though (this was 8pm) because I was so tired; I ended up taking the shuttle home and went to bed early.  I popped a melatonin and slept through the night! This body is getting used to Asia.  Holla!

 

~ Sunday, Feb 3 ~

Woke up this morning feeling like P. Diddy; woke up feeling amazing.  I think the jet lag has finally died down.  Both Lara and I actually felt like normally functioning human beings today.  No more zoning out.  Yay!

Lara and I did our 10-minute Neural Wake Up Call in our living room and then did hill sprints up this road in our resort.  I haven’t done hill spirits in probably two months – and I forgot how awesome (and painful) and addicting they are! 

We did 5x 20 sec sprints. After those 5 I wanted more (addicting, I tell you!), but we figured we should take it easy and stretch. 

 

We stretched and read (I’m reading Deepak Chopra’s Seven Laws of Spiritual Success today) by the pool.

 

It then started to rain, so we went into the restaurant and did our writing for the day and ate a yummy Paleo brekkie at 10:30am.

 

Lara and I had a relaxing breakfast and then enjoyed espresso.  We talked about life, fitness, intermittent fasting and other wonderful things.  This morning was perfect and soul fulfilling <3

We then walked back up to our room, chilled for a bit and then I took a nap! Haha, eating makes me tired. 

 

After my nap, we rode on a “tricycle” into town – a side cart is attached to a guy riding on a motorcycle. It’s way more fun and exhilarating than a normal bus ride.   

 

We went shopping in the market. 

 

We had dinner at the Obama Grill restaurant.
 

Yes, we can!

 

 It was recommended by one of Tita Pilar’s sorority sisters, so we trekked across the beach to get it to it. We got stopped a lot by locals wanting to sell our adventure packages, massage packages, etc.  So many distractions. I was hungry!  The trek was worth it because the food and service were fantastic.

 

 Veggies, ribs, shrimp, sour mango, fish. 

Missing: crispy Pata (fried pork leg – so delicious!)

 

Obama Flan – I never order dessert, but lecheflan I always have room for.  This yummy custard was not as good as my Lola’s, but it was a close second.  And this was definitely the smallest portion I have ever eaten.  Lola makes me one 3x the size, and I eat that as my single serving. As my uncle says, “It was so good that I forgot my name.”

After dinner, we lounged by the beach and talked to some other tourists and then these 4 cute little boys came around wanting to make sand creations for us.  I couldn’t resist and they were so energetic and charming.  So this little guy started to work away – he told me to put it on Facebook and to add him, haha.

Finished product

Lara and I then went on a 50-minute walk on the beach, passing by the lit up outdoor restaurants and live bands/music.  When we got back, we talked to my aunt and uncle about tomorrow’s plans – they’re gonna be dope fresh: parasailing, possibly riding banana boat in the ocean and this underwater helmet excursion…and then shopping on the market strip.  It’s going to be eventful and most exhausting day yet.  Bring it!