Magellan's landing

And a bit more :)!

Yesterday I let the oldest pick where we went for our field trip because it was his birthday. He chose to try to find Ferdinand Magellan's landing site, so, after we were done with some things that had to be done, we headed out.

The location is on Umatac Bay, a bit south of the Navy base on the western side of the island. it's a beautiful, quiet, drive to get there.

I should clarify: the traditional landing site is at Umatac Bay, but of course historians dispute the actual landing site. What is not disputed is that the bay was used for the Spanish trade route from Mexico to the Philippines, and that there was a fort at both the north and south ends of the bay.

When we arrived in the bay area, we started at the north end of the bay to try to find the ruins of Fort San Jose. We found a pull off to park at with beautiful views, but failed to figure out where the ruins were. (Now looking back on it I think I know where they are, so we'll have to go back and try again).

Then we continued around the bay to stop and look at a cross situated on the bay and admire the small catholic church across the street.





Next we arrived at the beach park with the Magellan memorial marker. We read all the signs, explored the church ruins of an old catholic church across the street, and then went back to the beach side to explore the beach a bit. This beach was much different than many of the other's I've seen thus far on Guam. The rocks were different and the sand was black in color. It was still quite beautiful, just different.

historical marker

church ruins-and little ones distracted
by a coconut.

river flowing into the bay

 From there, we continued around the bay to our final destination: Fort Nuestra de la Soledad. There are no actual signs I saw to mark the site, but I can now say that if you're heading south it's the second right turn following this:

Pretty cool, huh? I could actually see the Fort from the marker for Magellan's landing, so I knew about where to go, and just guessed until I figured it out. :)! It was completely worth it. We got to explore, and the views from the top were breathtaking.

On our way home I pulled off at a random overlook area just south of one we stopped at the the last time we were in the area. The views were completely amazing, and I can't wait to explore some of the trails we saw the starts to there!

Latte of Freedom

"In commemoration of the 200th birthday of the United States of America in 1976, Governor Ricardo J. Bordallo launched a bicentennial project to celebrate the American freedoms and the proud heritage of the Guamanian people. The latte, the handiwork of the ancient Chamorros, gave rise to Governor Bordallo's vision for the Latte of Freedom.

As the Statue of Liberty welcomes visitors to America's eastern shores, Governor Bordallo envisioned the Latte of Freedom rising above Guam as a welcoming symbol of American freedom in the Western Pacific. And just as the children of America donated their pennies to erect the Statue of Liberty, Guam's school children raised thousands of dollars to make the first donation to build the Latte of Freedom.

Today, we welcome you to the Latte of Freedom, a gift from the people of Guam to freedom lovers everywhere."

The Latte of Freedom stands a full 3 stories tall on the western side of the island behind the Governors Mansion in Hagatna. The above quote is inscribed at its entrance, and I think is a wonderful description of it.

Next to the Latte is the Hall of Governors, which is run by the Guam Museum Foundation and contains a few Guam historical artifacts. The day we went, the man working in the hall took the time to explain quite a bit of Guam's history to us and answer questions we had. 

From the Spanish American War up to the capture of the island by Japan, the Governors of Guam were all actually just US Naval Admirals assigned to the island. Once the island was re-taken by the US during WWII, Governors continued to be assigned military officials (again, primarily Admirals). In 1949, the position switched from an appointed military official to a Presidential appointed civilian one.This continued until 1970, when the people of Guam were finally given the right to elect their own governor.

Guide explaining the governor history

Interesting to note on the picture above: according to our guide the beautiful desk in the middle was actually used by the Spanish here when they controlled the island. Sometime after the US gained control of the island he US Navy moved it to Annapolis. The people of Guam were successful in getting it brought back to the island by the Navy.

Items from the period of Naval control

Beyond just the Hall and the Latte there were many interesting things to see on the Governor's Mansion property. There were cannons, WWII guns, Latte, and memorials. The impending rain made the views of the  bay no less astounding, either.

Local note: there is a small fee to climb up in the Latte ($2 for adults and $1 for children)

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a whirlwind here recently. I keep saying I need to sit down explain what's been going on, but when I finally have a few minutes I tend to just fall asleep.

No hiking trips though, I figured the girl should have one set of stitches out before doing anything that may involve getting another set in. ;)!

The week started off pretty rough. I got a phone call early Monday morning from my brother about this tragic event. The female victim went to our church when we lived in KS, and babysat our kids a few times. Her whole family is quite amazing, and her death was quite a shock to everyone. Please pray for her family and her church family, that God brings everyone peace and healing that only he can provide.

petting an ayuyu (pronouced ah-ju-ju-
 Chomorro for coconut crab) at
the market

Every Wednesday downtown is the Chamorro Village night market. The market is open daily, but on Wednesday night it really opens up and becomes a huge event attended by tourists and locals alike. There's food stands everywhere, local crafts, multiple DJs, and plenty of people dancing. It's normally one of the first things that people do when they arrive here, but we hadn't until last week. I'm so glad we finally did. I was a bit concerned about the crowds and such (it was very busy) but it was such a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere and quite a bit of fun as well! I see now why so many make it a weekly family event.


For last Friday's field trip we went to Two Lovers Point. Admittedly not the MOST educational of places I could have picked, but a very popular island site none-the-less (that and ever since the oldest girl heard about it she's begged to go). It was amazingly beautiful, and thankfully we arrived before the hotel tourists really started to show up so it was relatively quiet until just before we left. The story behind the point is the old "star crossed lovers" tale, but with a local twist (any one else notice how it seems every culture has one of these stories?). The Village Chief's daughter was supposed to marry a Spaniard, but she fell in love with Chamorro. Dad gets mad, and tries to force his daughter to marry the Spaniard. In the end, she and her lover stand on a high cliff, tie their hair together, kiss and fling themselves into the water.

taking in the view

The water is so clear and blue!

I found it pretty interesting that on the backs of these stone pictures of the tale was the story in a different language: English, Chamorro, Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

story in pictures

Friday night we went to another local market, this time in the village of Mangilao, which is just north of where we live. The market goes on every Thursday and Friday, but last week it was expanded and extended through the weekend for the Donne' (aka Boonie) Pepper festival. It's a local little pepper that can pack quite a punch, and the locals use it in about everything. We sampled, tasted, talked and no kidding left with 6 jars of different types of jellies. I mean come on, where else but here could you find spicy star apple (star fruit) jelly? That's my excuse anyway. :)!

Saturday was an early morning. Once a year they do an island-wide beach cleanup that starts at 7am, and the kids and I signed up to help with the beach up the road that we love so much. I was very proud of the kids, they all worked really hard and even climbed around in the less accessible areas to make sure it was really, really, clean.

My plan from there originally had been to go home, shower, and immediately head out to go grocery shopping. The shopping part got delayed though. While at the cleanup we were all given T-Shirts, and we could use the T-shirts to get $5 admission to Underwater World (post about our last visit) as well as a $5 plate lunch from the restaurant there. I figured it was a pretty cheap fun event that we could do, and the kids had worked really hard for it. By the time we left Underwater World, went to the grocery store and came home it was 3, but it was well worth it. We all slept hard that night!

Sunday morning we went to church, and then Sunday afternoon we met a few families from the boat at Gab-Gab beach and hung out for a while.

Beyond that has been normal home school, library trips, having friends over, getting stiches removed......and for myself I've become pretty in the Guam Naval Officer Spouses Club, which is a great group and gives me something to do with out the kids. :)!

Having fun and keeping busy as always!

Tarzan Swimming Hole Hike

Yesterday marked our first attempt at the Boonie Stompers, a local group that meets every Saturday to hike some trek on the island. You just have to show up on whatever Saturday you want at the Chamorro village at 9 am (the hike schedule is on line about a month in advance), sign some forms, pay 2 bucks for everyone over 12 and you're ready to go! The guides give a brief overview of the hike, and then everyone caravans out to the hike site.

these little beauties were everywhere

Yesterday's hike was to the Tarzan Swim Hole. It was a medium hike, about 1.5 miles each way. I strapped the baby on the front, put my back pack on my back, and started out. The hike itself was beautiful (though occasionally quite muddy), and I was amazed at how far we could see around us.

the boys are up there.....somewhere

When we got down to the river, I was very thankful to be out with such an amazing and friendly group of people. The guides and others in the group helped quite a bit to get the kids across the river without incident. Once we crossed, it was only a short distance to the swimming hole.

The water was surprisingly cold and refreshing. There was a high boulder to jump off, a rope swing, and a natural water slide. We all had a blast playing and swimming.

getting ready to get back on the rope swing

Unfortunately, we had to leave a bit earlier than the rest of the group. The oldest girl slipped on a rock and split her chin open. Thankfully again, the group was quite helpful in getting us up and out from our location. Not only did a guide escort us up so we wouldn't get lost, but others came along to help with kids, one guy carried my backpack so I wouldn't have to worry about it, and the guide actually carried the baby on his shoulders for the last 1/3 of the trek! It was such a blessing to have such wonderful people around to help with everything.

Once we got out we grabbed the van, got a quite bite to eat and headed straight for the Naval Hospital. Unfortunately they were quite busy and it took about 6 hours for us to get through there, but as always they were very helpful and highly professional. My friend was wonderful enough to come and stay at the hospital with us as well to help watch the other kids.

Despite the hospital trip, it was a wonderful day, with clear reminders of how blessed we are to be here!

Field trip Fridays

Yup. You read that right.

As I've mentioned before, this island is full of history.On the main Navy base alone 29 distinct historic sites are listed. My kids learn history best when they actually get to see what we are talking about, so, on top of their normal homeschool history lessons every week I decided we're doing an on-location Guam history lesson that I've dubbed "Field trip Fridays".

The kids were ultra excited (of course) by this idea, and now that everyone is feeling well we embarked on our first one today. I tried to pick an easy location just to see how it would go, but wanted something that explored the original Chamorro people a bit. The result: "Latte Stone Park" in Agana.

Latte and Japanese tourists

I was a small well maintained park, with latte that had been moved to the site following WWII.

Latte explanation in English, Chamorro
and Japanese

I bet you're wondering "what is a latte stone"? Well, that's actually part of why we went to the park, I was curious to find out. The latte are actually 2 separate pieces (a pillar and a hemispherical cap) that based on 16th century Spanish accounts were used to support structures. Since no drawings were done and there is very limited (and disputing) information regarding what these structures were used for is heavily disputed. These structures are particular to the Marianas islands, and now stand as a symbol for the native Chamorro heritage.

There was a rather large Japanese cave from the WWII occupation at the park as well that the kids had a fun time exploring.

A short trip, but a fun and informational one none-the-less. Can't wait to visit more of these locations!

Hafa Adai!

PS In case you didn't see it, the CBS Sunday Morning News did a short segment called "Postcard from Guam". You can watch it here. Enjoy!

Orote point and the Spanish steps-take 2

Happy Labor day weekend! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Yesterday (Sunday) was an amazing day, if a tad bit busy for us here on the Island. Right after going to church,we headed to the gym (which is right across the street) to change into hiking clothes and meet a friend to head out to the Spanish steps and Orote point.

If you don't remember, Orote point was the first hike we did following our arrival on the island (story here). Since then, I've learned that it was actually amazing that we made it out there when we did. Navy operational restrictions frequently shut down the site to visitors, and it is actually quite rare that it is open.

(I now have a goal to hike down there every time it's open while I'm here I think. It's that much fun and that beautiful )

Any way, back to the story. We met our friend (the same one we took to Talofofo Falls) and drove out to the hike point. I strapped the baby on my back, hand carried a backpack, and we headed down the side of the cliff out to the tiny cove. The trip this time went much faster than last since the kids and I knew what to expect.

Since this trip was a bit earlier in the day than last, the sun was a bit more intense, but it made the trip in many ways much more fun. We were able to see SO many more fish playing in the reefs, and the aqua blue reflection off the water took my breath away.

Despite the hike being "easier" this time we were still quite tired between the actual journey, exploring and swimming.

Our day was no where close to over when we got back to the car though. First, we ended up driving a few guys that we met while on our hike back to a ship that was currently pulled in but is normally homeported in Yokuska so they wouldn't have to walk the whole way back to their ship. It's a far journey, and they were very grateful for the ride. From there, we went back to the gym to shower and change, headed to the commissary to get some food, went home to prep food and then headed out to the first on-Guam spouse party for those associated with Adam's boat (all 6 of us)! WHEW! It was tiring, but a blast of a day, that ended with me actually knowing a few of the other wives I've been isolated from by being the only boat spouse on Guam for so long.

This week, I hope to continue the hiking adventures by joining the "boonie stompers". It's a local group that runs hikes every Saturday morning to different locations on island. Some hikes will be too much for the kids, but the schedule for this week looks totally doable! Fingers crossed the weather is clear and we can go!