Natalia Zobel connects sand, surf, and spirituality through Inara, her exclusive boutique hotel in Siargao.

PHOTOGRAPHY Liza Hechanova LOCATION <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/43108503">Inara Siargao</a>

Natalia Zobel finally opens <a href="https://www.instagram.com/inarasiargao/">Inara, an exclusive boutique hotel in Siargao</a>, which also happens to be the realization of her decade-long dream. Straight out of college, she wanted to move to the island but got deterred with the nagging thought that she was rushing into retirement instead of enjoying the rush of her youth. She busied herself with opportunities in the city, most especially those within the retail sector. Among them is Lanai, a shop she maintains with her sister, Bianca, and friend, Maria Parsons.
 As the pandemic hampered her plans, Natalia&rsquo;s desire to build a life in Siargao resurfaced. This time, she heeded the call and flew to the island not to visit but to stay. &ldquo;Two years ago, I almost fell out of love with the island,&rdquo; she admits. It was teeming with crowds and entering a state of glamorized squalor. You couldn&rsquo;t hear the birds through the blare of party music. Strangers strolled in a drunken stupor while the simple joy of sand and surf was squandered for the easy entertainment of selfies.
 However, this wasn&rsquo;t the scene that greeted her upon returning. Natalia immediately recognized what was in front of her &mdash; Siargao in unprecedented stillness. The break from tourism allowed the island to breathe and &ldquo;regress gracefully,&rdquo; and this took her back to the early days. She recalls, &ldquo;I searched &lsquo;surf&rsquo; in the Philippines, and that&rsquo;s how I got here 10 years ago. There was a cult culture for surfing that involves waking up at six in the morning and going on with your day with appreciation for the raw beauty of the island. It&rsquo;s a take-it-or-leave-it kind of place where it&rsquo;s just as it is, and you realize how little you need to be happy.&rdquo;

Her zeal bears a resemblance to Sal&rsquo;s character in Alex Garland&rsquo;s novel, The Beach &mdash; an observation that humors her, eventually making her draw an astute comparison between fact and fiction, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve watched the movie. It&rsquo;s been a long time, but I guess they&rsquo;re like lost people trying to escape. What I find here is not like that. It&rsquo;s not an escape. It&rsquo;s a community. It&rsquo;s real life.&rdquo; Through the years, Siargao has gathered not only tourists and adventurers, but residents from all over the world who contribute to its innate worldliness and culture of tolerance that aspires to accommodate people&rsquo;s diverse backgrounds, preferences, and livelihood.&nbsp;
 With that in mind, Inara was born &mdash; a place that invites everyone to come as they are. Natalia explains, &ldquo;It should feel like a tropical escape where you could fulfill the dream of living on an island with a beautiful beachfront in a beautiful room that&rsquo;s very authentic to the local environment. It&rsquo;s rustic. It&rsquo;s well-made. And, oh my god, it&rsquo;s very clean. I always joke around saying it&rsquo;s like visiting your aunt&rsquo;s house,&rdquo; she laughs.&nbsp;

Architecturally inspired by Andalusian cortijos and Filipino ancestral homes, Inara&rsquo;s bamboo and rattan furnishing reflects its total lack of pretense and strong backbone of service. Natalia takes it to heart to personally tailor her guests&rsquo; itineraries, making sure they experience the island like a local. She takes cues from the Siargaonons who are reclaiming the value of restraint in the face of a global health crisis.&nbsp;
 The pandemic has taught her many lessons too. One of them is to keep the faith and remain hopeful. Every week, Natalia engages in bible studies with her friends over Zoom. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s something that enriches me more than anything else especially during the hard times that we&rsquo;re living in now,&rdquo; she professes. This spiritual devotion is felt all over Inara from its horseshoe windows to its thatched roofing. Apart from being a place for rest, it&rsquo;s also a shelter where you can bask in nature&rsquo;s abundance &mdash; an attribute that lives up to its name, which in Arabic means &ldquo;ray of everlasting light.&rdquo;

"It&rsquo;s a take-it-or-leave-it kind of place where it&rsquo;s just as it is, and you realize how little you need to be happy.&rdquo;

Book directly through <a href="https://www.instagram.com/inarasiargao/">@inarasiargao</a> or visit their AirBnB <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/43108503?source_impression_id=p3_1619680552_O7FfeC1x424M79mt&amp;guests=1&amp;adults=1">here</a>.

Natalia's Top 3 Beach Essentials:

I don&rsquo;t travel without my ISDIN Fotoprotector Hydro Oil. It&rsquo;s the perfect combination of protection while also leaving me with a golden tan.

Viajecitos mini splash kits are the perfect example of an island essential especially in the rainy season. I can be assured all my personal items are safely tucked away in their waterproof bags.

I&rsquo;m always looking for practical and beautiful pieces. The mana towels are a fashionable piece using inabel handwoven fabric mixed with towel material on the reverse side, making it the best beach day essential.

Catching Rays and Waves With Natalia Zobel

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