Picture shows my dad and brother walking along Boracay’s main pathway back in 1986 ,where tourists could stroll  from Cocomangas to Jonah’s Fruit-shakes. Today in 2010(check photo below), if you tried to stroll along the same path you’d be killed by heavy vehicular traffic.

Picture above  shows the pathway of Boracay  in 1986 going through the heart of Barangay Balabag. No cars or motorbikes to be seen , only bicycles and people walking about on the pure white sands of Boracay. Absolute paradise!!! Picture below is from 2010  taken from the same spot (What a difference 24 years makes).

Horses were a common sight along Boracay’s beach trail back in 1986 .The above photo taken right out front of Cocomangas Shooter Bar .Below is the  2010 photo taken from the same spot . I preferred the horse back mode of transport!!!

What was Boracay like back in the year 1986 ? I inevitably get this question from a visitor every night while working  at Cocomangas Shooter Bar in the beautiful Philippines.  Boracay in 1986 was  paradise to perfection with the whitest sand of any beach I’d ever seen on the planet . The quality of the white sand along White Beach had a perfect powdery feel to it like no other beach in Asia or quite possibly the world . The island was a special place in 86 with no cars ,no roads , no telephones ,no Internet,no daily newspapers, and hardly any tourists, just friendly locals. 

 I recently returned  to Canada to visit my sick mom and to help with  cleaning  out her apartment as she is moving into an independent living facility in Vancouver. While at home my mom  gave away all her photo’s which she had accumulated over the years and that’s where i found the  old photo’s of Boracay from 1986 , shown above . When I saw the photo’s I remembered how unbelievably beautiful Boracay was and I said to myself , it’s no wonder why I   stayed here all these years .Imagine an island with no roads , just white sand trails passing through the villages . It really was a paradise island like you see only in pictures or in a Hollywood movie.

One day in the early 90’s I awoke to dump trucks dumping dirt over top of the beautiful white sand trail which ran in front of Cocomangas. It was a sad day for me as i knew what the future was going to bring , a cement road with tons of traffic .The paradise island of Boracay really started to change when we got electrical power in 1992  . Electricity enabled builders to build faster with power tools and resorts offered better rooms with air conditioning and swimming pools .Commercialism arrived in the mid 90’s and Boracay has never looked back .

To the newcomer , Boracay is still a beautiful paradise island in the Philippines ,  but to the old timers there’s nothing like the old days … 

Yours truly,

John Munro