Beauty and the Beach!

I flew to Boracay over the weekend to join Women's Health Beauty and the Beach 2011, the magazine's annual summer event. I remember interviewing Editor-in-Chief Lara Parpan last year and she told us all about the activities they had in store for all their female participants. This year, I got to join in on the fun! Wheee!

The event started early on Saturday, kicked off by the Havaianas Race to Hawaii contest. I was asked to choose between joining that or the Hatha Yoga class at 7am. I chose the latter, just so I could have an extra hour of sleep. It was my first time to try yoga on the beach, and it was a challenge trying to twist into complicated poses while keeping your balance on the uneven sand.

Indian Bollywood dance class. Photo courtesy of Ingrid Villafuerte.

But I had a good time and was ready to hop into the next class - Indian Bollywood dancing! Ms. Marlette Basa was our instructor, handling all the other dance classes in the event. I got to move like a graceful Indian princess for an hour, and my efforts were rewarded when I was chosen as one of the top 5 dancers in the class. I got two overflowing bags of goodies courtesy of Schick, Banana Boat and other sponsors.

During the midday break, my roomie Scarlet (99.5 RT) and I took our sweet time having lunch by the beach, swimming and getting toasted golden by Mr. Sun. It was a perfect break from all the work and stress that we left in Manila.

The Chair Cabaret class opened the 2nd half of the event. I joined the Hawaiian Hula dance class that came after. We swayed on the shore with our yellow and green leis until the sun was ready to set. I sweated buckets after all the activities we had that day, but I was having an awesome time!

Women's Health EIC Lara Parpan doing the Chair Cabaret class

Doing the Hawaiian Hula as the Boracay sun starts to set. Photo courtesy of Ingrid Villafuerte.

Day 1 of Beauty and the Beach was capped off by a dinner party at Astoria. I got to bond with the lovely Ingrid Villafuerte, Summit's Media Relations Manager, over delish Pinoy dishes and grilled blue marlin. Definitely one of the best parts of my trip!

With Ingrid. I made a new friend! :)

Posing with Lara Parpan, blogger Nouelle de Guzman and Ingrid Villafuerte.

Our flight was scheduled early Sunday morning, so we weren't able to join Day 2 of Beauty and the Beach. The second day of the event had Hatha Yoga and the Fitness Hula Hoop class, which I was looking forward to trying. But it's all good. It was such a lovely experience. Thank you, Summit Media and Women's Health, for bringing me with you to Boracay. Crossing my fingers that I get to tag along again next year.

Posing with my roomie Scarlet of 99.5 RT and Ms. Marlette Basa, our dance instructor.

Congratulations and job well done, Women's Health Philippines! Cheers to many more years of spreading good health, good vibes and great articles through the pages of your magazine!

:)