guam for easter.

tryna be cute on the edge of guam.

One day in early March, Nick, Abby, and myself were sitting in the faculty room at school. Instead of using our off period to make lesson plans or grade papers, we talked randomly and excitedly about the potential of going to Guam for our Easter break. After looking up “Things to do in Guam” and talking for about fifteen minutes, it was decided. We chanted, "GUAM FOR EASTER, GUAM FOR EASTER" the rest of the day and then went to the United office after school the next day to buy tickets.

And just because it’s topical, I’ll mention the fact that United has a monopoly on this island and it’s the only airline you can fly to come or go. Also, Guam is the only place they fly to from here. So. Thanks, United.

The weeks leading up to our trip flew by and before we knew it we were boarding our flight at 1:55 on Wednesday morning. Once we arrived, we slept for a few hours and then started our first of four days. We all had a list of “must do” things for our time in Guam. Mine was short: goat cheese and hiking.

two lover's point.

Day 1: Remembering What Life is Like on the Outside

The first thing we did when we woke up was go to Chili’s. Partially because we wanted to go to a familiar restaurant and eat good (or mediocre?) food, but partially because it’s the new golf course. To our disappointment, they had neither awesome blossoms nor baby back ribs (hmmmm? hmmmmmmmmm?) on the menu.

"I almost had awesome blossom coming out of my nose!"

Next we went to K-Mart, which was like a total mecca. Capitalism at it’s finest! My first purchase was a pint of Half Baked because ice cream is the best invention of all time and since they didn’t have Blue Bell, I went for the next best thing. 

Later we drove up to Two Lover’s Point, a big cliff where, as legend has it, a Spanish ruler’s daughter and a local man from Guam (Chamorro) jumped to their deaths with their hair tied together as a response to their forbidden love. Which is so extra. But if things like this aren’t still happening today, I say romance is dead.

this gopro is really upping my photo cred.

We went to a public beach later in the afternoon, and much to our enjoyment, we quickly found out that nearly the whole coastline has PUBLIC BEACH ACCESS. It was incredible. 

shoreline is so foreign to us.

The beach situation on Guam is the polar opposite of that on Yap. We’re talking parallel universe. Guam offered cool water, sand instead of seaweed, fish everywhere, no crowds, and constant access. It was awesome. I could’ve lived on that beach for the rest of my life.

For dinner, we went to this local night market that takes place once a week. There were tons of vendors selling art and crafts and food and clothing. It was inundated with tourists (many tourists on Guam are from Japan and South Korea) but enjoyable all the same.

ready to check out a new culture.

There was even a local band playing music. They played “All My Loving” by the Beatles which is like, top five for sure.

After the market, we walked around Plaza de España while the sun set. There is a cathedral and a museum and a few historical monuments. 

structures called latte were used to hold up houses on guam long ago. 

Next, we went to Applebees for happy hour, which was (weirdly enough) on the list of things we absolutely needed to do while in Guam. It turned out to be awesome because they were having their first ever ladies night where women got half off the happy hour price so everything was literally a dollar and it was amazing. But I will say, I loathe the phrase “ladies night”. Talk about woat.

To finish off the night, we went to see a movie. The only ones we had heard of were “Get Out” which we already saw (because there are no copyright laws in the FSM, heyoooo) and “Beauty and the Beast,” so we saw the latter.

I mean, it was okay, I guess. But also I slept through a lot of it. Only because I was SO COLD that I figured I’d rather be asleep than freezing. So I willed myself unconscious. 

Seriously. Coldest I’ve ever been. I told myself during that movie that I’d rather be on Yap during a power outage in the middle of the day than experience that misery again. And then the day we got back to Yap I got my wish and had to remind myself about how much worse the theater was. 

Evening came and morning followed: the first day.

plaza de ethpaña.

Day 2: Conquering Guam

crosses at the top of Mt. LamLam for Good Friday.

Thursday morning we went to the grocery store and I went NUTS. I bought goat cheese and cherry tomatoes and a cantaloupe and bell peppers. Truly an out of body experience. I love food. I love food. I love food.

That afternoon we hiked Mt. LamLam, which is technically the tallest mountain in the world, as measured from base to peak. The reason for this is because the very bottom of the mountain rests in the Marianas Trench, which is the deepest place on earth. As measured from sea level, LamLam summits at only 1,334 feet, but the whole thing is technically 37,820 feet.

peak of LamLam.

I took the following picture at the top and it really sums up the entire Guam experience for me. Hiking, bucket hats, showing my thighs, eating vegetables, and Easter. Good times.

who says you can't have it all?

Next, we went to Inarajan Pools on the southern coast. They're naturally occurring tide pools among lots of big rock formations. It was a pretty cool spot. Big fan.

nature's pretty neat.

beaut.

Later, I took a solo venture to Forever 21 to go shopping. I feel really shallow admitting this, but that was the first time I felt fully like myself in a really long time. And I kind of hate that. But it’s true. I love clothes, and I haven’t had the opportunity to expand my wardrobe in Yap. So I took advantage of it while I could and got some new threads. Floral dresses, of course. Sorry, Jenn.

For dinner, we went to a local diner called King’s, which was pretty good. Nothing like breakfast for dinner, who’s with me?

A day on Guam without K-Mart is quite literally a day wasted, so went to the store again after we ate. Nighttime K-Mart is like a hundred thousand times more crowded than daytime K-Mart. We quickly made a mental note to avoid after-hours shopping at all costs in the future. I wanted to try a local beer (appropriately and simply named “Guam”) before we left so I figured now was the time. 

I opted for the mango beer. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Fun, festive, fruity. But after one sip I knew immediately that I had made a poor choice. 0/10, do not recommend.

We asked around for nightlife recommendations and several people referred us to this place called Beach Bar. And if you had to guess what that place was like, you’d probably be right on the money. It’s a bar on the beach. 

Full of military men and the same tourists that flooded K-Mart a couple of hours prior, Beach Bar was a bit overwhelming. I don’t like bars much in the first place, except the piano kind. Or the karaoke kind. Or the kind where you can sit at a table and actually hear the people you’re speaking to. But there were these big, comfortable chairs by the water, so there I sat, watching drunks venture into the water until the Coast Guard came and talking to random people as they came and went, striking up lame conversations along the way until the night was over.

hike 1/3: completed.

Day 3: Tarzan Falls? More like *fart noise*.

On Friday, we followed some questionable online directions to a trail called Tarzan Falls. I’ll keep this story short because it was an absolute beating, but we couldn’t find the trailhead for hours. The directions were horrible and we asked a bunch of people for better directions but no one knew what we were talking about.

Meanwhile, we were driving through one of the nicest areas on the island - around lots of resorts and golf courses and such. It was very beautiful in the hilly center of Guam.

Eventually, we found the trail. At different times of year, the trail is filled knee-deep with water. I was hoping for that experience, but it’s dry season. Which was also nice, because it allowed us to see the amazing colors in the rock on the ground of the trail. Lots of oranges and blues and purples. I loved it.

the tease that was tarzan falls.

We followed the trail until it started branching off in a million directions. There were no signs and no markers, but there was a massive wind turbine near the trailhead (10 points for renewable energy). We figured it would be alright to try out a few different paths because we’d always be able to return to the wind turbine. 

We went down all of the paths and they all either went in a circle or quickly reached a dead end. 

No waterfalls. No sign of them at all.

So we bailed.

We spent some time that afternoon at the beach and then met up with Father Francis Hezel, SJ for dinner.

Fran Hezel is the author of the textbook I use in my Micronesian History class. He has lived in Micronesia for decades and was so interesting to talk to. He took us to a nice Japanese restaurant, which was a huge bonus. It was an informative and enjoyable evening.

We were wiped out from the long days so we spent the night in and woke up early the next morning to enjoy our last day in paradise.

Day 4: The Final Countdown

We started things early on Saturday, going back to K-Mart (y’all, seriously, it was the greatest place ever) one last time to pick up some things to bring back to Yap. 

Then I had the feast of all feasts. I had to eat all of the food I bought, which sounded like a great idea but turned out to be a wildly gluttonous endeavor. 

We ventured up north to Marbo cave and cliffs, which ended up being the highlight of the trip for me. 

hair's gettin' blonde.

The cliffs were absolutely breathtaking. Mountains behind us, ocean ahead of us, greenery all around. It was perfectly windy and the water was entirely cerulean. I’ve seen few things as beautiful.

black, black, green, and brown. brown, brown, brown, and blue. yellow, violets, red.

Near the shoreline, there was a small cave. Inside, there was cool, clear water. You could swim through the cave into the darkness and out the other side. It reminded me of Blue Creek, my favorite place in Belize. It was too cool.

inside the cave.

After, we went to the Guam Museum of History. The exhibit there had a lot of information and artifacts outlining the history of the native Chamorro people, from thousands of years ago until now. 

the resilience and pride of the native people is so admirable.

The history is fascinating. The Chamorro are resilient, fighting to maintain their culture despite countless bouts of colonization and exploitation. The art was beautiful, the displays informative, and the interior cold. I’m glad we went to the museum, it was a cool experience.

happy happy.

just really liked this piece.

I found this interesting because we don't allow our students to speak Yapese in school, either. Made me think about how that affects the deterioration of the culture while simultaneously offering the students a different future.

this painting (which I couldn't stop staring at) cost $4,500 and a woman asked me if I wanted to buy it. chacos must be a new sign of wealth.

We finished off the trip grabbing some pizza, turning in our rental car, and heading to the airport. We sat at the gate for a bit before our flight and met some new Mormon missionaries heading to Yap. Can’t seem to stay away from those guys.

Returning to Yap feels good. Guam offered a much needed change of pace and scenery, but I’m ready to finish off this school year strong. I realized on the flight home that now is crunch time. There are still things left that I want to do before I leave Yap, so I’m wasting no time knocking them off my list.

The following morning, we went to Easter Mass with the Outer Island community. It was my first time attending an OI Mass but it was so lovely. They have such beautiful voices, and although I couldn’t understand a single word that was spoken, it’s nice to know we were all on the same page anyway. #universal

After Mass, we had an Easter Egg Hunt for some of the kids in our village, thanks to my thoughtful mother. She sent candy, eggs, peeps, and toys for them and we had so much fun.

 

 

waiting for Jeff to make a joke about my outfit.

excuse my weirdo hair and my guam k-mart shirt.

Of course, I was sad to miss Easter festivities with my family. I got to see most of my cousins (and THE MULTITUDE OF NEW BABIES, WHAT) via facetime at Papa Joe’s 5th Annual Good Friday Crawfish Boil, For the Cure. Shout out to John Paul who chugged a beer and yelled, “CAN’T WAIT TO READ ABOUT THIS ON YOUR BLOG LATER,” because if he hadn’t said that, I certainly wouldn’t have thought to include this paragraph.

"oh my. OH MY."

Monday morning I was woken up at 5 am because my phone was ringing. 

It was Jeff.

Jeff: “Mads. Hey. I’m thirsty.”

*laughter*

me: “huh? what?”

Nick? or Thomas? or Sam?: “Jeff, you woke her up! What time is it there?”

aaaaand scene.

There’s always a black sheep in big families. Said sheep is typically the butt of all family jokes. 

In my extended family, I am the butt. Always the butt. Ask. Anyone.

At family parties, my kindness and generosity is usually abused by my brothers and cousins because they’ll ask me to get them drinks and I always do it. I know it’s my own fault. I just never thought it’d reach me all the way out here.

“I’m thirsty.”

The things Jeff will do for a good joke. I have to admit, he made me laugh.

Since I was up anyway, I hiked up to the radio tower to watch the sunrise from the spot where you can see the entire island.

worth sprinting uphill to make it in time to see this.

I got a little emotional up there. You know how I am. But I used to get up every single Monday for like two years to watch the sun come up. It was my favorite thing ever. I haven’t done it in so long, but it was nice to resurrect this old habit.

I will say, though, it made me miss a lot of people and a lot of things. Jacquelyn, I miss your Monday morning company. I miss making homemade biscuits for my roommates after the sunrise before leaving to teach. I miss my old Mondays. But this one turned out to be great, too.

road to the radio tower.

We had Monday off from school as well, so we spent the morning with Norman. Norman worked for several years at Xavier High School on Chuuk (another state in the FSM) but has since relocated to Yap. He’s a complete renaissance man. He knows everything about everything. He comes to school most days to hang out and help out and we always chat about sports and movies and history. He’s fantastic.

a man and his machete.

Norman showed us around his village. There are a lot of historical sites around him. He lives in Kanifay, a municipality in the south. He also took us to the wreckage site of a continental plane that went down several decades ago. There are many times where I’ve felt like this island resembled the one on Lost, but no time as strongly as this.

stone money bank in kanifay.

<interjection>

In case you don’t already know, Jeff locked himself in his room for the entirety of spring break 2011 and watched every single episode of Lost in the dark without emerging once.

</interjection>

we have to go back.

ughH as I’m writing this, it’s the hottest part of the afternoon and the power just went out and I’m sweating profusely. I know you all wanted/needed to know that. I don’t remember what it feels like to be subjected to a normal temperature.

I’m losing my train of thought as my brain boils in this heat, but we’re past due for an end to this post anyway. If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I know it was long, but this was easily the most eventful six day stretch out of the entire *almost* nine months I’ve been here. 

Thanks again to everyone who continues to keep up with me as I finish this year. I have a loyal fanbase and I’m grateful for that steadfast support. I’m so lucky to have all of your love!

kanifay.