Hello again to those who follow this blog! Surprise! It's only been about a week and here I am posting the promised photos of our island tour with our visitor, Sarah, from our home church in California, and Mary Lou, PIU missionary (also from our home church) who is our IT person. I will use larger than usual photos and minimal comments so you can enjoy the tour with us! So read on and join us on a pictorial journal of Guam!
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Our tour began on Sunday, January 23 as we drove southwest from church and stopped at Asan Beach. This is the beach where the American troops landed on July 21, 1944 to rout the Japanese troops who had invaded Guam and enslaved the citizens. This date (July 21) is now celebrated here annually as Liberation Day - Guam's "4th of July!"
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Since we'd just gotten out of church and it was past 2:00 pm at this point, the next stop was Jan Zs, a great little restaurant on a harbor near the south end of Guam. We all enjoyed what we ordered. Sarah and Tim had fish and chips - Mary Lou and I each ordered one of Jan Zs' famous burgers!
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Satisfied with a great meal, we piled back in the car and continued south and then rounded the turn at the tip of the island to begin going north. Most roads on Guam (other than in the business districts) are similar to what you see here: 2 lanes through the jungle.
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Our next stop was Magellan's Bay in the village of Umatac. The village was in "fiesta" mode with island music blaring at the village center near the beach and families were scattered around the area enjoying the beautiful weather. Sarah posed by a roadside cross on the sea-side of the road across from the village's Catholic Church.
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We then ALL wanted to pose in front of the cross with the bay in the background. Left to right: Mary Lou; Melody; Tim; Sarah.
(By the way, that peninsula in the background is where our next stop will be - Spanish Fort, which is at the top of the ridge.)
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Fort Soledad, the Spanish fort above Umatac Bay has been around since the early 1800s. It was damaged by some of the war activity in 1944 and was used by the Japanese during the war.
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Sarah made friends with a pregnant caribao while we were at Fort Soledad's ruins. Lest you think that was a typo, no, it's not a caribou - those are more like deer. A caribao is what the southeast Asians would call a water buffalo.
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At the same park, some local Chamorros have built a little palm house with local fruits for visitors to sample. here are some bananas and
coconuts.
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The volunteer who was working at the little house was slicing star fruit for us all to sample. It was delicious! We liked it so well, he generously gave us some to take home to enjoy. We sliced it up at work on Monday and shared it at lunch time.
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As we continued on the road, we stopped at a favorite place - a little bay (Agfayan Bay) just south of Inarajan Pools where there is an outcropping called "Bear Rock." Here Sarah poses with the bear seeming to be in the palm of her hand! :-)
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It being a warm day, we stopped at a local market in Inarajan to get a cold drink. This is a typical little store - most villages have at least one, and some as many as 4, 5 or even more little markets, depending on the size and population of the village.
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As we left Inarajan, we drove past the oldest known Protestant Church on Guam. All that remains of this little Baptist church, constructed in the early 1900s, is the front wall, but it's very picturesque.
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As we continued north, we came through an area where there were a couple of helicopters, Coast Guard boats, and emergency vehicles. We did not know what was going on until the next day when the news and papers announced that a fisherman was washed over the reef and lost at sea. Sadly, he was never found. This was an all to solemn reminder of the risks of the rough seas that surround Guam at many times of the year and the dangers local fishermen face.
Thanks for checking out our blog! The tour was over all too soon, but here on Guam and at PIU, the adventures never end. Check back in a week or two for more on what's going on here this spring!
Melody and Tim
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