Boracay

Beautiful Island

Her friends said they were taking her to this beautiful island of Boracay and she went along, only realizing on arrival that this was the same island she found so enchanting. Her trip with friends to Boracay became more frequent; traveling on board the now defunct airline they called “Pacific Scare”. “You didn’t know if you would land safely, and there was no airstrip so you land on the grass,” she said.

On the island, Fernandez and her friends would play their stereo music, powered by car batteries. “There was no electricity, no resorts or restaurants, just cottages; and we would look for fishermen to buy fish from and we would have grilled lapu-lapu (grouper). We also pumped water from the well and drank from there; it was the most spectacular place to be” she fondly recalls.

Boracay

Thirteen years ago, when the Philippines became too expensive a manufacturing base and her company moved to India, Fernandez decided to stay. She was first based in Manila running a boutique hotel business, Bianca, an 11-room, Spanish architecture-inspired property in Malate, Manila, and then she finally moved to Boracay where she first set up shops called True Foods, an Indian restaurant, and True Homes, a boutique resort designed in a Spanish colonial style. She eventually sold off both businesses, going off to build bar Luna Negra and sold it off again. People on the island would call her to ask for help in setting up their own shop and other businesses and she was always there to help. “I’m the Boracay yellow pages,” she says. Life these days is managing the Punta Rosa Resort in Station 1, which she also designed and helped build for a good friend. She is also looking after a friend’s diamond shop called Gem Talk and Gem Suites as well as a clothes boutique, Fashion Talk at D’Mall in Station 2.

Photo and Article Source: Inflight Magazine ( Seair)