Across the entrance to the Mandarin Spa in Boracay is a stall of native artworks. Okay, not exactly a stall but a large table.
We stopped by that table two or three times because I kept admiring the hand carved wooden ornaments and the pendants. I chatted with one of the stall owners and he said that his group did the artwork in Mandarin Spa, inside and on the facade. I was actually thinking of interviewing him for a Lifestyle article in Manila Standard Today but decided against it. We were on vacation after all and I wasn’t going to spoil it by working.
The wooden ornaments were not the only things that drew Speedy and me to the stall. The girls have a thing for dreamcatchers and there was one there that stood out.
This dreamcatcher had a monkey’s skull at the center. The price tag was P4,000.00 so we had to content ourselves with gaping at the thing. I should mention at this point that when we passed the stall and the girls were with us, I pointed out the dreamcatcher to Sam. You know, for someone interested in dreamcatchers, I thought it was a good idea to show it to her. Huge mistake. She bugged me endlessly to buy it. Even if the price was more reasonable, I just couldn’t see how we could possibly squeeze a huge dreamcatcher into our bags without getting it squished and deformed.
Anyway, I was talking about the things on sale at the stall, er, table… there were the crocodile (alligator?) skulls.
Behind the skulls were the framed bugs. Not just any bugs but really weird looking ones. I actually liked the blue ones.
We didn’t buy anything but on our third and last day in Boracay, while Sam and I were shopping for shorts and shirts, Speedy brought Alex to this artists’ lair so she could have what she had been pining for — a dragon. If there was one thing that excited Alex about Boracay, it was the thought of having a dragon. The doting father took her to get her dragon and documented the whole thing in photos.
Henna. Body painting. But you already guessed that, right? 
Like I said, Speedy took photos of the entire procedure. If you want to see them, click on the link to page 2 below. There are 14 photos in all, including the one I took after they joined us at the flea market, so the page may take some time to load.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
dhayL 03.26.08 at 3:27 am
pretty neat huh!
Jean 03.26.08 at 5:34 am
That’s a great tattoo, no allergic reaction ? I’m always wary of henna tattoos because I hear that some places use some other chemicals in place of henna and those alternatives trigger allergic reactions.
rhodora 03.26.08 at 7:54 am
Nice dragon. It’s also on summer breaks when I allow my daughter to have henna body paint on her arm or sometimes, ankle.
I’m sure you and your family had a great time, Connie. I was able to visit Boracay in the summer of 2003 and stayed in a hotel atop a hill, overlooking the ocean. Hay, kelan kaya mauulit yun.
Lette 03.26.08 at 9:37 am
Really great pics. Please keep them coming!
Connie Veneracion 03.26.08 at 11:00 am
Yep, dhayL, great design. I was surprised actually because the samples I often see are rather common.
None, Jean, fortunately.
Rhodora, you know, I would have been happier if the hotels and restos were farther away from the beach, like towards the hills. The beach would be less suffocating that way.
Lette, ah yes, gosh, I can have a new blog entry everyday for weeks just to post all the pics hehehehe
faye 03.26.08 at 11:39 am
Wow! the father approved and took your daughter to get those tats? Cool Dad! B-)
Em Dy 03.26.08 at 1:25 pm
Connie, what exactly is a dreamcatcher?
By the way, love your new header and the colors of your page.
florskie 03.26.08 at 1:39 pm
good day sassy and great pics, i do wish i can visit boracay in the near future.
dream catcher is more like a charm (american indian charm), they are placed above the doorway near the bedroom, it filters bad dreams (did I got it right sassy?), em dy there is a book by stephen king titled ‘the dreamcatcher’, was made into a movie years ago.
Connie Veneracion 03.26.08 at 1:57 pm
faye, the dad wanted one too hehehe
Em, click the dreamcatcher link. Wikipedia article.
Florskie, yep, that’s it. The kids have a few small ones but nothing as large as the one in the photo.
iskolar111 03.26.08 at 2:44 pm
We need to recharge our batteries once in a while. Someday I’ll visit Boracay but in 3 days time I’m off to Israel and Egypt for 15 days vacation. Our group of 100 Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parishioners will visit the holy sites including Mt. Sinai where Moses received the 10 commandments and of course the pyramids of Giza. My wife for sure will shop in Cairo.
Connie Veneracion 03.26.08 at 3:38 pm
iskolar111, Egypt is one of my target destinations too.
BlogusVox 03.26.08 at 3:51 pm
Dreamcatcher? In Boracay? I thought this is a Native American culture. What are they going to think of next? Camel rides around the island perhaps.
I remember when we were small, my father brought us there. That was the time before the “poca shell” craze. Where the locals invites you to have lunch with them and drink buko juice without paying for it. Before the hotels, the nightspots and the rides. When Boracay was still pristine. That kind of experience makes a lasting impression in your mind.
Now a days, I just go there to accompany friends and relatives who haven’t seen it yet.
Connie Veneracion 03.26.08 at 4:50 pm
“Dreamcatcher? In Boracay?”
LOL even in Baguio.
BlogusVox 03.26.08 at 5:51 pm
Ms.Sassy, there are a lot of places in Aklan that are not known to tourists yet. One is a garden inside a forest. Besides the lush greenery, the open-air restaurant is serving ice-cold beverages. The main attraction is a spring. Water coming out of an underground river is so cold; they chill cases of beer in it. Another is a seven-tier waterfall in one town and a white-water rafting in another. And of course the mangrove eco-system park in Kalibo.
Do I sound like a travel agent?
Connie Veneracion 03.26.08 at 6:25 pm
BlogusVox, okay, you now have my undivided attention. Where is that? I wanna go there.
BlogusVox 03.26.08 at 6:45 pm
The garden is in Lezo, the waterfalls is in Tangalan and the white-water rafting is in Libacao. The eco-system park is along the seashore of Buswang, a barrio of Kalibo.
If my schedule for vacation next year won’t have any hitch, I’ll be in the Philippines around March. I’ll be glad to show you all these places.
auee 03.27.08 at 5:25 am
Ohh tattoo, kahit henna lang I want one
But growing up Tatay scared me sh*tless about them so my brain keeps going haywire when I attempt it.
I like those bugs, are those for real? Even those skulls? Now I want one. Tamang-tama my sister is going to Boracay next week & she’s my Ate so…hehe
Jet 03.27.08 at 10:17 am
ok… ang di ko maintindihan e kung bakit, with everything that you’re narrating and showing here, what’s standing out for me is how beautiful Alex’s hand/arm is… hahaha!
just humor me ok? take it from a nearly-arthritic old woman na may built-in dragon sa braso. I believe it’s also called uhmm… ‘ugat’
tell alex to take care of her hands unless you’re worried she might interpret that as never having to wash dishes while living with you… harharhar!!
Connie Veneracion 03.27.08 at 2:45 pm
BlogusVox, wow, that really makes me want to go back to Aklan.
Auee, sabi 2 weeks daw nagla-last yung henna. One week and Alex’s dragon is fading fast. The bugs and skulls are REAL. Ang mamahal lang.
LOL Jet, do you know that my mother’s cousins used to tell me never to wash dishes because that would ruin my hands? Washing baby bottles made things worse. LOL But at least I can brag that Alex inherited her hands from me and not from Speedy.
Kotsengkuba 03.29.08 at 2:03 pm
wala akong makita trace ng ballpen before the henna? kung wala nga, magaling yung artist kase usually the artists would sketch the pattern first before applying the henna itself. at ang haba nun dragon, magkanong inabot nyan?
auee 04.07.08 at 3:54 am
I got the beetle/bugs
Got my sister to buy them for me.
One week nag-fade na?? Baka two weeks pwera hilod hehe
dhayL 04.07.08 at 4:03 am
i’ve always wanted to get a tattoo, but I was afraid na mapagalitan ng parents..that was my thought 9 yrs ago, now married for 6 yrs, my husband has 6 tattoos, but he’s afraid of the dentist! sabi ko on my 30th bday, i’ll get one, so we’ll see