Visit Boracay! Why? We have the most beautiful beach in the Philippines! Sometimes you can even see it for all the people. Enjoy good food from all over the world – at prices that are guaranteed to upset your stomach. Boracay, with its 14,000 inhabitants, had a turnover of around 14 billion US dollars in 2010 – that’s three billion more than Manila with its 12 million inhabitants.
We need you to safeguard this standard! Forgive us for the significant downward correction of the official visitor numbers – if the figures were correct, we would have to purchase a much larger sewage treatment plant and the poo would not rot in the streets. We don’t want to waste the hefty ecotourism tax on the purchase of superfluous rubbish bins.
On the day I return to Boracay, I have days of work to do on my shoulders. I loosen them up with a round of kitesurfing. The wind is blowing at a weak 14 knots – there will be no wind for the next six days. On the beach I meet Max, a good new fellow traveller from Ulm. While we’re still shaking hands, another gifted kiter slams his crossbow into the palm tree.
We go out together for a while. After a while we are ready for bed and meet Jens, a kiter I already know from Venezuela. I sink my camera in the sand, it won’t open. Fourth broken/disappeared camera in three months. Starting to get a bit expensive. Afterwards, the night sinks into blood, although the bars are now closing much earlier after the escapades around New Year’s Eve.
There are significantly fewer guests now. It’s just fine at night, difficult during the day. The number of pushers has remained the same. On the 700 metre walk from the market to Villa Romero, we are approached 29 times: Boatride, jet ski, food, sunglasses, hats, massage. It makes you very tired.
The Kite Tour Asia makes a stop on Boracay. Asia’s best kiters put in a few tired race laps, and in the evening the prizes are awarded at White Beach. We are far too exhausted for the midnight party in the Jungle Bar – it takes place without us.
There are five channels on television that are constantly broadcasting church services. The crudest is “Songs of Worship”. A Filipino Elvis sings good gospel, a horde of groupies in white behind him waving their hands in the air. The audience cries with happiness.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.
