Priest's Pools and Merizo Pier

These past few weeks have been packed with tons of fun in the sun.

For the middle child's birthday I and a few friends took the kids to Tarza Waterpark (same place we went for the oldest girls birthday).I'm beginning to think this will be a theme for all the birthdays here. That's fine though. Makes for a great day, and even the baby is a water slide junkie.

This past week was spring break, so it seemed as if all our friends wanted to go to the beaches. We didn't take the full week off from school, but we did manage to make it out to Gab Gab beach and Taga'achang beach during the week.

On Friday, we also managed to go on a short hike. This time we went to Priest's Pools, a series of cascading freshwater pools in a volcanic rock formation at the southern tip of the island. It acquired the name because priests used the pools to bathe in following their arrival with the Spaniards in the 1500s. I've wanted to do this hike for a while, and we managed to drag quite a few people along with us.

swimming in a pool

Following the hike and playing in the pools, we decided to head over to the Merizo Pier and jump off into the beautiful water overlooking Cocos Island. It was supposed to be a short stop, but we were having way too much fun and stayed for quite a while playing.

The oldest got this gem. I may have had some fun that day :)!

Such a great Guam day!

Has it really been that long.....

...since I last posted?  The record doesn't lie so I guess so.

Sorry. I know I keep saying it's busy here, but it really is. I recently took on the treasurer position for the Guam Naval Officers Spouse Connection (GNOSC). It's an amazing group that loves to have fun and also does a bunch of fundraising in support of both military and local non profits. Also, now that the boat is on its way here, the spouses are starting to move here and boat events and homecoming preps are underway.

I've been told a few times in the last few weeks "dust doesn't settle on you". I'll take it.

Of course, there's never too much going on to explore! Last Friday it FINALLY cleared up a bit and we started to get a break from the rain. We took the chance to head out to the Gef Pago, a cultural park in Inarajan that is run by the Historic Inalajan Foundation. In the park we learned how to clean coconuts,  make sea salt, weave baskets, cook rice in woven leaves, and artistic weaving (where we met the SWEETEST old lady!).

watching them clean coconuts
(and make candy-they gave the kids a shell full!)

local sea salt

the little packet she's holding is how they cook rice

master weaver, and a sweet lady :)!

After touring the village they took us across the street to see an old house that predates WWII (a rare event here between typhoons and the intense bombing that occurred prior to the US storming of the island). The house was a one bedroom with a large common area in which 16 children all slept on the floor under mosquito nets!

one room........16 kids

From there, we were invited to the soft opening of a new small museum down the street. In true Guam fashion, we were invited to not just tour the museum but eat lunch with the group as well (trust me, saying no was not an option). What an amazing experience!

love the pools

We took the time to go see some church ruins, drive down to the Inarajan pools and swim for a bit, and came home.

old Baptist church

Yesterday we went and explored the historic Sumay village location. The village at one point was called "the pearl of the island" as the most wealthy village on the island pre-WWII. The village hosted whaling ships, the transoceanic cable station, was a stopping point for the Pan Am China Clipper, and supported various US military activities. That all changed when the Japanese took the Island in WWII. The strategic position of the village made it a prime target for takeover and the villagers were moved out (the Japanese used the village parish as a horse stable). The village was destroyed by US bombing efforts, and the ruins now remain on the Naval base (which makes resettlement impossible). Through a working relationship with the villagers and descendants the Navy now maintains the old church grounds and the cemetery and allows for the people to come on base to pay their respects. The people can always arrange a visit, but the prime days are Sumay day in April, Liberation Day in July and All Souls Day in November.

Sumay Cemetary

Cross of the Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Church

Afterwards we drove another spouse over to get her car, and then drove up to the Air Force Base to spend a beautiful afternoon with friends at Tarague beach. This morning it was back to Gab Gab beach with a bunch of spouses from the boat. Hopefully tomorrow another south island tour with a friend (have I mentioned that I am ultra excited to get a break from rain?! :) ). Have fun everyone!

Tarague beach

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!

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!

Talofofo Falls Resort park

Since Adam left, we've been cooped up in the house some more. First, yet another virus made its way through the house. Then, the baby developed a severe rash that ended up being a hyper-sensitivity reaction to .... something. We still have no idea what. He's finally starting to get over it, but it's been a miserable few weeks.

Luckily, we've gotten into the full swing of home-school again so the kids have been at least mentally challenged, but we've been going a bit stir crazy from being cooped up in the house for so long.

Today changed all that. For my birthday I decided I wanted to go to Talofofo Falls, a
"resort park" south of where I live that has both the tallest falls on the island and the historic cave that Yokoi lived in (more on him later). I took the opportunity to meet more people and asked a new boat wife that just arrived if she wanted to come along.

limo

After picking her up, we drove out to the site. The odd balance on the island I think was demonstrated quite clearly right in the parking lot, where we found both a limousine and a family of wild pigs.I found this probably a bit more amusing than I should have, but we paid for our tickets and headed inside.

and pigs

We were greeted by a Japanese man who spoke very broken English, who told us the story of Yokoi, a Japanese WWII soldier who hid in a small cave for 28 years following WWII and "didn't know" that the war was over and the surrender was ordered (not sure I buy that line, but that's how the story goes). He lived off of tropical plants and fish from the river until he was eventually found by a local in the 70's. Throughout the site they kept referring to Yokoi as a hero. Not exactly sure he fits my definition of a hero, but surviving that long in the jungle in a cave underground is pretty impressive.

kids in one car, adults in the other

After the short history lesson, we were pointed out towards the actual park which had a train, and a few amusement park style rides. We avoided these and headed straight to the cable cars for the voyage down to the bottom of the falls.

the falls are actually a series of many.
this is one, seen from the cable car

Once there, we walked around the base of the falls, over a very shaky suspension bridge (still not sure that the youngest girl was a fan of that part, though the older kids seemed to get quite a kick out of it) and up to the museum.

the base of the falls

The museum was very small with a few displays and wall paintings outlining the general history of the island from the initial island inhabitants up until current American holding of the Island following WWII.

After leaving the museum, I was very sad to see that the "monorail" was not working and we'd have to walk out to Yokoi's cave through the jungle path on foot. It wasn't a far walk by any means, but hey, wouldn't you want to ride on such a fine example of engineering greatness too? ;)!

yes, the white chair on the left is in fact a normal chair just tied in place

cave entrance

After completing the very buggy walk to the cave and back we followed the path to another section of the falls, across another suspension bridge and back to the cable cars for the ride out.

To cap off the day adventure we headed over to Jeff's Pirates Cove to eat and swim. I even treated myself to a birthday drink.  :)! All in all, another great Guam day!