TRIP TO BORACAY ISLAND AND FRIDAYS RESORT, PAGE TWO.

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A small shrine built on a rock outcropping at the water's edge.  There are many of these small shrines or grottos dotting the Philippines.  The Catholic church is strong here.  The other end of this outcropping appears elsewhere.
And here is elsewhere!  Liz, feeling quite a bit better today.  And Mark, trying to be artsy with the camera.  Or was that one too many daiquiris.  Anyway, this is the water end of the shrine outcropping.  The water was so wonderful, clear, warm, and only six feet deep a 100 feet from shore. There were guys hunting for shellfish under the ledges here earlier in the day.
Liz in the same spot, trying to steal a baby.  She promised some of her Denver friends they could have one for Christmas.

Actually, a couple nearby were playing with their baby and taking pictures.  For some reason they wanted a picture of the baby without either parent holding him.  And so of course I had to get a shot too. What will probably happen is Liz will be detained by Customs or some other agency while we're leaving Manila, because a certain little bundle of joy will have turned up missing, and this photo will become the last time the child was seen alive.  However, I think the customary bribes are listed on a rate sheet, Liz should keep some pesos handy!
The family from above. Liz is taking their picture with their camera.  This rock outcropping spot should be on a postcard.  And another arsty item of interest.  Notice how bright theLiz baby-stealing picture is compared to the other two.  I was holding my sunglasses over the camera lens as a quicky filter in the darker two.  A nice effect, and cut the glare.  We tried some with Liz's glasses also.  Door prizes for those who can pick out the different pictures.  Real door prizes for those who can convince me, since I didn't mark or bother to remember which ones were which.
De Babes, De Babes!!  Pamela and Liz doing what there is to do, which is replenishing important bodily electrolytes and minerals lost via skin evaporative transmission as a result of intense physical exertion during water-based sporting and exercise events.

Pass me another container of electrolytic replenishment, don't forget the umbrella and pineapple!
Our namesake, this place also has a website, Fridays at Boracay or something like that if you want some marketing pictures. These letters are about 7 seven feet tall, made of logs.  Notice the great framing of this shot. The rear is the guy's female friend. He was thinking about friday night!
Stupid shot, but I promised to be the picture taking tourist on this trip. While digital cameras greatly reduce film processing costs they also reduce picture taking selectivity and judgment.  However, the fish sandwich was very good.  The drinks and food come to you, a dangerous habit to get used to.
This is what it's all about.  Guys, we need to be here.
A sunset shot of Liz taking a sunset shot.  She definitely took the better sunset shots.  Check her blog site, I think she uploaded a really spectacular version of this golden sunset with three boats.   Truly poster quality arrangement taken a few minutes from this one.
While walking along before the sunset, we spotted this rather large sand castle in the making.  On the way back, the kids had festooned it with candles.  It was about 3 feet tall.  I later learned that this was common, and the normal procedure was for the kids to ask for some pesos in exchange for you taking the picture.  There were no kids around for this shot, maybe it was dinner time.  A very nice feeling to it.
The outside of where we stayed the second night.  BIG difference.  Actually the difference was that the place was incredibly small.  But very nice Japanese design theme outside and in the common area.  Many of the resorts in the Philippines were created with wealthy Japanese and Chinese tourists as the main market targets and it shows in the designs and architecture. 
The common area, nice teak and narra wood furniture.  Anybody up for a 20ft container of nice Philippine furniture?  We can sell it on commission in the SC county area.  Beautiful stuff, but it takes a lot of it to cover the shipping costs.  But 5000.00 dollar tables here would sell for 15,000 at home.
I had to take this picture.  Woke up early one morning and took a beach stroll. Got to see the beach area waking up and preparing for a new day.  Several of the larger more ritzy places employ someone to rake the sand.  Raking the sand.  It reminded me of a commercialized version of the small Japanese sand gardens.  But these guys have big rakes they drag across the sand, creating nice wide smooth lanes of untrammeled white powder. 

So I had to trammel it, then record the trammel for posterity.
"You want somma dis?  You lookin at me?"

I later tried the camera's digital zoom on the woman seated in the distance.  It doesn't work too well.  If you're getting a digital camera and considering zoom options, make sure it has an optical zoom.
We walked around the shops and restaurants behind the beach area.  The restaurant sign caught my eye, an obvious thumb to the nose towards the authorities.  Pam and Liz are to the right. Of course it deserved a shot! Boracay is far to the north of Mindanao, the region of greatest (or worst) unrest.  We're headed to a resort on Palawan next week that has arrangements with the Philippine navy to protect the offshore area from pirates and kidnapping attempts.  There were some resort workers, natives, kidnapped last week from a different resort further south, and then turned over to the Abu Sayeff.  Kidnapping on commission.  There are also pirates in waters to the south, between Philippines and Indonesia.  Makes it surreal when you consider how much of the country is english speaking. 
Leaving, this is the airport waiting area.  An open air gift shop, snack area, bar.  With a wonderful garden to stroll around, encircled by a small chain link fence.  The runway is 10 feet to the other side of that fence. Wonderful security, I hope to get Liz's picture of a plane taking off.
Another shot of the waiting area. We are on the way back to Manila!

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