Peter Brugger, PROPERTY MANAGER, SPR REAL ESTATE INC
Through his own agency, SPR Real Estate Inc., Peter Brugger manages and rents out 15 houses on Boracay, including beachfronts at Station 3 (Greenhouse and Mabuhay), the Tropicana Ocean Villas hilltop (Wahoo, Barracuda, Casa Mika, Gabriel, Grand Villa and Billiard Apartment), by the foot of a hill the two lovely apartments (Sunbird and Kingfisher), and the three prime oceanfront properties he built on the best side of Whitebeach (the Robinson Beach House, Tete a Tete, and Villa Kaloo). The Swiss-born and raised networks engineer who is an avid wind surfer, discovered the island traveling around Asia in 1984. He immediately fell in love with the place and snapped up the chance to buy some land, where he settled and built a life for himself, eventually becoming a respected member of the island`s Chamber of Commerce, and using the position to address environmental issues. We`ve been able to implement and enforce some regulations like trash segregation and other programs that will help preserve the island.
Those programs include a garbage-shredding station and composting area in Diniwid. Now, married to a girl from Kalibo named Elena. Peter doesn`t miss the computer business. I meet all kinds of people on this island, he says as we stroll through the shallow surf. And look how we are dressed-this is the way I like to live!
LifestyleAsia
PETER and ELENA Brugger`s hillsidehome in Boracay overlooks the longest stretch of white-sand on the famous Philippine island. In turn, from down below, everyone is bound to cast more than one glance at the house or, in the very least, at its cliff terrace and garden.
The house, five years old now, took a year to build, with workers hauling every brick, every pound of cement, every figure of Buddha-the couple`s from all over the world, up 150 steps. It was well worth the wait, says the former Elena Tosco, a native of nearby Aklan. She met Peter during an on-the-job-training stint. He had come to Boracay for a holiday, loved the powdery white sand and the windsurfing, and was considering making the place home after living 20 years in Switzerland. Finding the right property in the strategic Barangay Diniwid, and the right woman to share it with, made the decision easy for him.
To date, Peter and Elena have built eight houses in the property. They have kept for themselves the biggest, the most favoured by the sun and wind, the one with the best sweeping view of the world-renowned tourist destination. The other houses have either been sold to friends, or are on long-term lease.
Peter`s brother Kurt built the homes, which the couple designed themselves. The main three-level unit consists of the living and dining rooms on the cliff terrace level, a guest studio below it and the master bedroom above, where Elena has likewise set up her little workplace.
Friends often come around, at times just to sit in the garden that seems perennially abloom with topical flowers. The Bruggers entertain only on very special occasions; more often, they enjoy one another`s exclusive company especially after work hours, when they sit out on the terrace with tall glasses of fresh fruit juice.
Such a special house does need special care, says Elena. Every three years, we change the cogon roofing, varnish the wooden parts of the house, and paint the walls. Everything else is as cools scenery.
Destin-Asia
Robinson House is set back a stone`s throw from the water at the Northern end of Boracay`s famed White Beach. Furnished in the rustic Filipinostyle with wicker sofas, native fabrics, and four-poster bamboo beds, it has two separate apartments-each with a pair of bedrooms andbathrooms and their own entrance, living/dining area, and kitchen that can be rented out individually or together. Located well up the beach from Boracay`s welter of ramshackle cottages, dive shops, and dicos, the house fronts as quiet a stretch of sand you`ll find on this side of the island. A championship golf course is only a five-minute tricycle ride-away, and two doors down is Fridays`s Resort, home to the best kitchen around.
CASA MIKA
IF YOU LIVE IN A POLLUTION CHOKED CITY METROPOLIS LIKE MANILA. THERE`S NO MORE WELCOME PROSPECT THAN A FEW DAYS OF ESCAPE TO BORACAY, PERHAPS THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN OF OUR TROPICAL ISLANDS. BUT THIS TIME IT`S GOING TO BE DIFERRENT. NO BARS OR RESTAURANTS, NO SHOPPING, NO HOTELS AND RESORTS. NO JET SKIS OR INDULGENT SPA SESSIONS.
It may be only 7 km log and 1km wide at its narrowest point, but Boracay is a big island in a small package, with 30 beaches and coves and sunsets that are worth the journey on their own. The famous is White sand that you thought only existed in cocktails commercials.
Boracay has also become known as something of a ravel island, with nightlife that equals anything Asia`s biggest cities can offer.
The influx of tourists has made White Beach the most cosmopolitan patch of sand in the world: a walk along the narrow path at the back of the beach takes you past restaurants and bars serving a United nations of cuisine, including Filipino, Greek, Indian (cooked by Bengali Master chef), Caribbean, French Thai, German , Mexican and more.
But what about the other Boracay, the secluded and quiet one, where you don`t have to party all night and spend the next day sleeping off a hangover the size of a palm tree I`ll be staying in a small house where there`s no nightlife on the doorstep and, meals will consist of whatever fresh produce we can find in the market---or the sea. This is Casa Mika, a villa on top of Diniwid Hill, overlooking Diniwid Beach on the northwest of Boracay Island. It`s a quintessentially Filipino sort of place, with wooden floors and a roof made of native grass. It also presents me with a good opportunity for a serious work out, up and down the 230 steps from the beach below.
Casa Mika is one of a number of private properties on the island rented out to holidaying guests by Elena Brugger and her company SPR Real Estate, Inc. It`s a wonderful antithesis to the corporate ritziness of the island`s top hotels.
Both floors have breathtaking views of the sea and sky. A huge day bed at the center of the living area offers the perfect spot to simply lounge. At Night the fireflies arrive. Who needs entertainment of any other sort when you`ve got this?
As for the master`s bedroom, it just sweeps me off my feet. It`s huge but minimalist, with mosquito net and no aircon except that offered by Mother Nature, a welcome breeze through the open windows.
Meals are simple affairs. Casa Mika comes with a cook, Virgie, who for our first meals rustles up native sausages and salted eggs. Washed down with coffe. Virgie can also buy fresh fish from the market, D` Talipapa, and cook it almost any, which way you choose. For dinner on our first night, we present Virgie with Php1, 000 pesos (about US$24) and ask her to surprise us.
We return from an afternoon`s exploring at the Bat Caves to table laid out on the beach, with comfortable couches and torches for atmosphere. The food is no disappointment: piping hot tamarind soup with fish, grilled pork with mango ensalada, and even a decent bottle of red wine, or mango share if you`re not drinking.
By 8pm I am back in the villa and, as a perfect end to a perfect day, Virgie has found me a masseuse (php400 for an hour). I sleep like I haven`t slept for years, and wake early to fantastic views across the beach and the ocean. Virgie is already up and about, and presents us with breakfast on our balcony.
