the death of boracay

the first and last time i've been to boracay was the summer of 1999, when boracay was just becoming famous. i remember going there without even anyone beside us. i stayed in pearl of the pacific and as far as i remember, it was towards the end of march and there were only around 3 other couples who stayed in the same resort. i remember savoring the beach alone, along with a dog. then, the few leisure that one can enjoy there were only the island hopping and the massages. banana boats, wakeboarding, and the others were novel.

5 years later, there are all-terrain vehicles, bar-hopping, golf, wall-climbing, para-sailing, and God knows what. pier-one now has a branch there. discovery suites and shangri-la will open resorts there soon. ever after has now become boracay's anthem. soon enough, with the flocks of people in bora, you might have to "reserve" your space along the shore when you want to go sun bathing. alcohol, Es, sex, prostitution are now the main attractions of bora. it's not even the beach anymore. from how i see it, it has lost its title of paradise.

two weeks ago, i was invited by my friend go with his family to boracay. since i'm saving up for singapore, i declined. they stayed there for a week, and so did the other ateneans who are mostly com majors. most of them have made boracay their home, staying there for more than two weeks. he told me that he really got turned off with boracay, but not with the place. he was disgusted with the crowd there.

he told me that a group of atenean girls, our common acquaintances, were flirting with fellow ateneans as well. dancing flirtatiously while getting themselves drunk. some of these girls are even in a relationship. the question now, has boracay become sin city?

it seems like when people get to boracay, they transform and become someone else. trying to be cool, fitting in, to the point of losing their real identities. for a lot of people, when they get to bora, they become single (and act like one), they drink as if alcohol is water, and they take drugs like there's no tomorrow. my friend told me that when he got there, a girl was flirting with him in the bar. she was dancing like beyonce. she wore a see-through short skirt and just panty inside. since my friend was attracted to her, he bought her a cocktail drink. their conversation went like this:

my friend: so, what year are you in?

girl: second year.

my friend: what's your course?

girl: uhm, i'm still in high school.

of course, my friend had to get out of the table and leave the girl with a guilt of letting her (a minor) drink. shocking isn't it? when i was 14, i had to beg my parents to allow me to go to megamall. apparently, boracay has now been invaded by teenagers, and even tweens.

what also turned my friend off from boracay is that almost every night, all the bars empty because of fights. and the fights can be as big as frat fights. worse, boracay has become a cellphone snatcher's paradise. i guess it's safer to be in manila now than to be in boracay.

when i watched f for the past two sundays, i was tempted to go to bora again. but knowing what it has become, i'd rather go to an unspoiled beach and have a quiet moment, because really, that's what a vacation is supposed to give you.