Iloilo – Altavas - 120 km
Getting underway earlier than usual made great riding as I had the benefit of a
slight cloud cover. Feeling good, the kilometres ticked by without me noticing. The
path ran across large rivers and past small hamlets, basketball-playing kids, rice
paddies and grazing water buffalo.
Altavas only sported one guesthouse but the owner was, regrettably, out of town.
Usually, people think cycling to the next town was too far to reach by bicycle but,
on this day, they believed the next village (forty kilometres away) could be
reached within an hour. The man was entirely convinced cyclists travel at 45km/h.
Eventually, basic rooms above a hardware store had to do. Even though
inexpensive, the room had a fan, referred to as an electric fan, and I wondered if
one could get any other fan type.
To the villagers’ delight, the foreigner went on a walkabout. With nearly the entire
village in tow, I felt like the Pied Piper.
Altavas – Caticlan – 107 km – Ferry to Boracay
The ride to Boracay Island started early, making it a pleasant cycle in the early
morning coolness. As expected, riding to Kalibo took considerably longer than an
hour. For the last part of the day, the route ran next to the coast and, albeit hilly,
was scenic. Nevertheless, I felt good and sped up and down the hills, past more
villages and roadside vendors, until reaching the small town of Caticlan.
Caticlan gave me a taste of what was to come. Bangka boats lay ready to cart the
many tourists to and from idyllic Boracay Island. It all felt a bit like a madhouse
compared to the last few days in the countryside; like cattle being led to a
slaughterhouse, we were hustled on a boat for the short ride to Boracay Island.
The island was an over-commercialised madhouse, jam-packed with tourists.
Holidaymakers ate, drank, swam and shopped. Bali was nothing compared to this
island.