Bora… Years after…

By Louise Anne Librando

 

One of the nicest things that God ever created is Boracay. My idea of the island however, brings back fun filled memories of my college years. My friends and I were in Pandan, Antique to attend their fiesta. We decided to go to boracay one afternoon through a short cut road to Malay, Aklan. The next municipality after Malay is Caticlan. This is where we took the pump boat to the famous island. That was the first time I set foot in Boracay.

 

So this is Boracay, I thought. Before us was a long stretch of white sand. It’s like powder to the touch. The clear sea-blue water was so inviting that my friends and I dipped in. I saw boracay in its natural beauty, I was wondering what it would be like ten-fifteen years later.

 

This year, I got my answer. In March 2006, I went to Boracay with my fiance´. It was the day before my birthday. We were to set up a stall in the island. After the long bus ride, we arrived at Caticlan before lunch. We ate and then we headed for the 15 minute boat ride from Caticlan to the island.

 

Here I am again at the island I once called my retirement paradise. The long stretch of powdery white sand greeted my sore feet, the breeze smelled of what’s in store for us in the island, and instead of silence that once greeted me over ten years ago, there’s music, activities, and PEOPLE in the island! Ah, this is what tourism does to a priceless natural resource - development.

 

After looking for a place to stay, we met with a friend who has been in Boracay since the time when there was no electricity in the island. He helped us with the arrangements for our small stall. As Ronald and I were walking and were waiting for our friend, I realized how different Boracay is. There’s a certain kind of rush in the air! Colors filled my eyes, different kinds of food are sold along the path walk, pearls of different shades and sizes fill the beach front, bracelets made of shells and beads invite local and foreign tourists affordable prices, mangoes even looked yummy inside a plastic wrapper. One thing more, henna tattoos are everywhere! I interviewed one henna artist and he said that Pinoys like henna tattoos but Koreans like it even more. I wanted to have a henna experience that day but I was afraid that I’d have allergy. Finally our friend arrived and we get on with our appointments.

 

Before the Holy week, the whole team arrived and set up Skin Canvass Body Art & Accessories stall. Ronald being an artist himself wanted to introduce airbrushed temporary tattoos to Pinoys and even to foreign visitors. This is first time it happened in the Philippines. It’s fun and colorful, it’s applied in no time, dries up in seconds, it uses hypoallergenic inks that last more than 7 days and what more, some inks glow under UV lights (lights used in discos)! As somebody who loves body art but can’t have real tattoos because I’m afraid of needles and I’ve very sensitive skin, I thought this is a perfect alternative!

 

Skin Canvass Body Art opened at Station 3. Boracay is used to henna tattoos and I gathered from the tumandoks in the island that this is the first time that airbrushed temporary tattoos with colors came to Boracay. This is good because now bakasyonistas young and old can enjoy the colors, the different designs and the experience of having temporary colored tattoos for days while enjoying their stay in Boracay! I remembered a family who had their arms airbrushed. The youngest member who was with them was a five year old boy who was really excited to have his arm airbrushed! Since the airbrushing only took a minute or two, all of them were airbrushed in no time. The little boy with a colored airbrushed tattoo on his arm happily smiled going out of the booth. I never miss that smile from a customer young and old. This never ceases to amaze me. I guess there’s always that child in us who likes colors and shapes! This is the bonus that Skin Canvass gets from the visitors who tries one of their services. No amount of money can ever repay that smile on the child’s face. For that, Skin Canvass has found its purpose in the island of Boracay. 

 

I’ve seen how Boracay transformed into a holiday paradise, into a tourism gem. I’ve also seen how it made an impact on the many lives of the tumandoks, the natives of the island, the visitors who come and go, the land owners, the government people who secure the place and to the simple mango vendor earning an honest keep for his family. Ten or twenty years from now, with proper care Boracay will still evolve and change, it will still impact lives. When that time comes, I know I’m retired, happy, and enjoying the different sunsets from my own private place with my grand children and my loving husband in an island with a blanket of white powdery sand, and clear sea-blue waters.