The Ultimate BEACH CD

Boracay, 1988:

Paradise Found.

No electricity.
No cable TV or ferris wheels.
No D'Mall, Andok's, or Hobbit House.

No empty mineral H20 bottles littering the pure white,
just kids literally buried up to their necks with glee.



75% of the tourists were European backpackers.
Most of the causcasian females, young or old, hot or not,
were topless.

15% of the visitors were from nearby Iloilo,
so much so that after spending a week there,
I'd come home with a slight Ilonggo accent, di bala?



The remaining 10% were the first brave Manila beach bums
who had to endure an hour of extremely dusty unpaved roads
in the final stretch leading up to Caticlan,
and end up looking like "Espasol" as they boarded the bancas.

Only one kind of beer was available:
PALE PILSEN.
More often than not, served barely cold,
as ice was the island's most precious commodity,
and had to be shipped in daily from Aklan;

Avenja's (Avendia's?) was the only Fruit Shake source,
with branches in each of the 3 Stations~~
(the shakes served in those large thick glasses
that Blend 45 used to come packaged in)

but no one really cared,
most of us were high on The Beach,
and its music...




It seemed that all through that 1st trip to Boracay,
(there was none of that "BORA" pa-sozy nonsense then)

there were only two tapes that were played
all throughout the island:
(1988 was 2 years before CDs became the main media for music)


Bob Marley's Greatest Hits compilation, LEGEND
and
Enya's Debut Album, WATERMARK.



San Miguel Beer & Choco-Peanut-Banana Shakes,
Unobstructed Sunsets & Unsullied Sands,
Topless White Chicks & Malambing Southern Belles,

all merged together with
NO WOMAN, NO CRY & ORINOCO FLOW

to create an indelible impression of Boracay THEN,
when the bars were incidental,
and the beaches were integral.



That's why I love the CD pictured at the very top;

you can't get any more aurally sundrenched
than when you're listening to native Brazilians
doing that Ipanema thing they do.

And when you have the musical descendants of Jobim
with their sensuous breathy vocals,
sexier Enyas singing the legendary Marley songs,
then you have the perfect musical union~~

that ought to make any true beach lover wistful
for the long-gone wonders of what used to be
the best beach in the world.


Bora, 2006:
Paradise Lost.