Boracay's Café Society

If the French painter Henri de Toulouse – Lautrec were alive today, he would probably recognize snippets of café society along White Beach; chronicle them, as he did with the Parisian nightlife in the late nineteenth century, in colorful posters; and, exhibit them in various quarters on the isle.

Instead of the city's theaters, music halls, and cafés, he would illustrate the beach. In Boracay, the beach is theater. Everyday, people sit on lounge chairs, woven mats, and sand, facing the sea; their hours spent gazing at the reels of life uncoiling before them. The skies and the ocean become a huge, panoramic backdrop; White Beach, an entire stretch of front row seats. Here, life is somewhat like a spectator sport. On this island, it is perfectly fine to watch life move lazily by. It has, of course, a different atmosphere.

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