Hi!!!

I'm Glenda Ledesma, 27, marketing department, 7th floor (hello officemates, I know you're reading this at your desks, hide the window when the boss walks by). I'm Ilongga, from Iloilo City, where my whole family still is, and now I rent a room in a boarding house in Mandaluyong and ride to work in Ortigas every day like everybody else.

This page is about the BEST HOLY WEEK EVER. Five of us from the office, four days on Boracay, three disposable cameras, one of them underwater. The barkada has been asking me since April "Glenda, where are the pictures?! Ano na?!" Here na! Sorry it took so long. Do you know how long it takes to scan pictures on the office scanner during lunch break only?

And if you're planning your first Boracay trip, scroll down to my tips for first-timers. We learned everything the hard way so you don't have to.

THE PICTURES! Click the small ones to see them big!

MEET THE BARKADA

• TINA (Cristina Dimalanta, 25). The planner. She booked EVERYTHING: the plane, the van, the cottage. She had one brown envelope with all our tickets and a list inside, and she would not let any of us touch it. If you go to Boracay without a Tina, good luck to you.
• NEIL (Neil Garcia, 28). Complained about everything. The plane was too early. The van was too hot. The sand was too white (?!). And then he had the most fun out of all of us. Typical Neil.
• MARVIN (Marvin Tecson, 27). Sunburned by noon of the first day. We told him. WE TOLD HIM.
• KATH (Kathleen Ignacio, 23). Our bunso, the youngest, on her first trip ever without her parents! Shy for exactly one day, and then she was the first one in the water every morning. Never without her big straw hat.
• ME (Glenda). Official photographer, so I'm hardly in any of the pictures. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

BYAHE! We took the first morning flight from Manila to Kalibo, so we met at the airport while it was still dark. Neil's first words: "Bakit ang aga?!" (Why so early?!) Tina's first words: "Do you all have your IDs?" That tells you everything about those two.

From Kalibo it's a van to Caticlan, about two hours. Siksikan, five of us plus our bags plus other people's bags. Neil complained about the aircon for the first half hour and then slept with his mouth open for the rest, and no, I'm not posting that picture, Neil, you're welcome.

At Caticlan you get on a banca, and in about fifteen minutes you're on the island. And the banca lands right on White Beach: it stops in the shallow water, you jump in, and you wade to the beach with your bags on your head. Nobody told us this beforehand! Pack light, everybody.

WE'RE HERE!!! I jumped off first so I could turn around and take this one. That's Tina, Neil and Kath, bags over their heads, laughing because Neil almost dropped his bag in the sea. Kuya boatman is handing down Marvin's bag, because Marvin was still in the banca taking off his shirt. Big mistake. (See Barkada Awards.) That shadow at the bottom is a palm tree, not my finger, I promise.

Our cottage was near Station 3: nipa roof, bamboo walls, two rooms and a little porch, and we split it five ways. The girls got the beds. The boys got the floor and the reklamo. It was perfect.

Then the first swim!!! Grabe. The water is so clear you can see your toes, and the sand is white like powder, like actual baby powder, and so soft. I stood in the water up to my waist and I almost cried. Kath DID cry, a little. She said it was the salt.

By lunch, Marvin was red. By merienda, Marvin was redder. By the sunset, Marvin was sitting under a palm tree in a T-shirt, looking at us like we did it to him.

And then: the sunset. All five of us on the sand, and for maybe ten minutes nobody said anything. For this barkada that is a world record. Ang ganda talaga.

On Good Friday, Boracay is a different island. Everything went quiet. No music anywhere, walang music kahit saan, and the bars were closed. Neil went around saying "There's nothing to do!" for about an hour. Then he lay down on the sand under a palm tree and slept for three hours. Nothing to do, he said.

The rest of us read on the beach. Tina brought three paperbacks (of course she did, she's Tina) and lent me one. Marvin read in the shade with a towel on his shoulders like a lola.

THE BARKADA!!! Friday afternoon. A nice Tita from the next cottage took this for us. In front, kneeling in the sand: Tina with her peace sign (always), me in the middle in red, grinning like an idiot, and Kath with her hat. Standing at the back: Neil, sticking out his belly on purpose, and Marvin, who at this point was the color of a tomato. Look at his face. Look at his chest. Kawawa naman. (But we told him.)

In the late afternoon we walked the whole length of White Beach, about four kilometers of that powdery white sand, all the way to Willy's Rock, in front of Station 1. It's a rock standing in the water a little way off the sand, with steps going up, and on top there's a little statue of the Virgin Mary. On a Good Friday it felt right to go and see her.

Willy's Rock, Friday, late afternoon. The steps go right up to her. When we were there the water around it was only knee-deep, so people waded out and stood at the bottom and looked up. Those aren't us down there; we were busy staring.

Kath and I also went to the Good Friday service at the island's chapel. It was so full we stood at the back with a lot of other people in shorts and slippers, fanning ourselves. No one minded. I've gone to Good Friday service every year of my life with my family in Iloilo, and this was the first time without them. I missed my Mama. But Kath held my arm the whole time.

That night the five of us walked home to the cottage along the dark beach, with no music anywhere, just the waves. Even Neil was quiet. It was one of the most peaceful nights I can remember.

ISLAND HOPPING!!! We hired a banca for the day and went to Puka Beach and then to a snorkeling spot. Tina brought her underwater disposable camera, and we all took turns. Result: a whole roll of BLUE. Puro blue. Blue with a bit of foot. Blue with somebody's hand. And this one:

THE ONE GOOD ONE!!! Real fish! Striped yellow and black, a whole little group of them going by over the coral. I took it, so I'm taking the credit. The legs and yellow flippers at the top are Marvin's, the only part of Marvin that didn't get sunburned. Tina says the camera was hers so the picture is half hers. We are still negotiating.

Then, at sunset, the best part of the whole trip: a ride on a paraw, the old outrigger sailboat. It has no engine at all, just a big sail, and you sit on the netting stretched between the boat and the bamboo outrigger, with the sea going by right under you. It's so quiet. Just the wind and the water and Neil saying "Okay, okay, this is nice," which coming from Neil is like a love letter.

ON THE PARAW!!! Black Saturday, sunset. Kuya from the paraw took this one for us. From left: me (red, of course), Tina leaning back with her shades on like she owns the boat, Marvin with both arms up (the sun was finally going down, so he was happy), Kath holding on to her hat, and Neil sitting out on the bamboo with his feet over the water. If I could live inside one picture, it would be this one.

Dinner was at a beach grill, at a wooden table right on the sand: grilled fish, grilled squid, pork barbecue, mountains of rice on banana leaves, and mango shakes, the thick yellow kind. The others kept saying masarap, masarap. I said nami!, which is what we say in Ilonggo, and then I had to explain it to everybody, and then for the rest of the night Neil said "nami" about everything, including the napkins.

CHEERS!!! Saturday night. The man at the grill took this with our last few shots. Glasses up: me, Tina, Neil, Marvin and Kath. Yes, Kath is still wearing her hat at night. She says it's for the moon. And look at Marvin in the flash. He was glowing. You could have read a book by Marvin. Busog na busog kami!

And then, after dinner, the music came back on, up and down the beach. Neil stood up and yelled "FINALLY!!!" and danced on the sand by himself, and then we all did, and we didn't go to sleep until very, very late. Sorry, Tita from the next cottage.

Uwian na. Happy Easter! The banca, the van, the plane, in reverse, and this time nobody talked in the van because everybody was asleep, even Tina. Everything we owned was full of sand. I'm still finding it in my bag.

Monday at the office: all five of us, peeling. Our whole department looked like it was shedding. Marvin peeled at his desk for a week and a half. People from other floors came down just to look at him. Our boss asked if we went to the beach or to war. Both, Sir.

TIPS FOR FIRST-TIMERS! Added because three people from the 5th floor asked me the same questions in one week. BRING CASH. Enough for the whole trip. There is nowhere to change money at night, and you don't want to find that out on a Thursday night like SOME people (Neil). REEF SHOES. Get them. The beach is soft, but island hopping and snorkeling are not, and the rocks and coral are sharp. THE SUN AT NOON WILL KILL YOU. I am not joking. Look at Marvin. Swim in the morning and late afternoon, stay in the shade at lunch, and put on sunblock like your Mama is watching. Again after every swim. BOOK THE COTTAGE BEFORE LENT. Don't wait until Holy Week is next week. Tina booked ours in January, and that's why we had a roof. PACK LIGHT. You'll carry it on your head through the water. One bag only. Put your camera and your wallet in a plastic bag inside it. BRING AN UNDERWATER CAMERA if you can. Even if all you get is blue. Maybe you'll get one fish. GOOD FRIDAY IS QUIET. Bring a book. Or two. Or bring a Tina. BRING A HAT. Ask Kath.

WHAT IT COST US

Everything was split five ways: the cottage, the banca for island hopping, the paraw, the dinners. We started saving in January, a little from every payday, in an envelope in Tina's drawer. Tina kept every single receipt and did all the math on the plane home, down to the last centavo. I'm not putting the total here because my Mama reads this page. Let's just say we all brought baon to the office until the next payday, and it was worth every peso.

What it cost us, not in pesos:

• 3 disposable cameras
• 2 bottles of sunblock (not enough)
• 1 pair of Marvin's shoulders
• 0 hours of sleep on Saturday night
• 1 whole week of peeling at the office
• Kath's mother's nerves, but only a little, and she has forgiven us

THE BARKADA AWARDS!!!