Talofofo Falls

We spent a day this week hanging out at Talofofo falls. It cost $10 with a local id, $20 for anyone else (ie Asian Tourists), and we thought it was over priced at the 10.

So you enter and see lots of pigs, just wandering around, eating piles of feed the tourist paid a buck for and then just threw on the ground. There is the cheesiest Ghost House ever. Scariest thing in there was Stephen spooking me in the first minute as we walked in, then it was just funny. The Ghost House is in the basement of the cable car building from which you take a cable car down the hill, and see all the falls as you go - and this is making you see the beauty of the area. The bottom of the falls is where you can swim, but it was full of tourists, so we decided to hike around and see what else was there first.

The big attraction other than water that runs down rocks, is Yokoi's cave. Back when the US took Guam in WWII, a bunch of Japanese soldiers ran for the hills and hid. Some were caught, some died from food poisoning, but not Yokoi. He dug himself a "cave" and lived there for 28 years not knowing the war had ended. Then one day he was discovered by some Chamorros in the forest and the US military quickly deported him back to Japan where he is considered the ultimate hero.

While checking out this hole Yokoi lived in, a Guamanian came a long leading a tour. He was explaining the Yokoi story to his troupe in Japanese (i think) and then pulled us aside. He thought we were University of Guam students for one (he's a UOG student), and secondly he said his professor said this Yokoi cave is a fake and the real one is much deeper in the woods. We're okay with that though, because the funniest things were in the "museum of guam" on location. The museum is this maze of encased carved sculptures that has one scene of the native Chamorros and how they believe the island was formed and then the rest are about the different occupations of Guam. On each display the explanation is obviously in Japanese and English (if we can call it that). Some of the English versions, actually did not make sense the wording was so poor. And it also stated that WWII began in 1941...now I'm pretty sure I learned in history class that WWII began in 1939, but the Japanese joined in 1941. SO, we deducted this was a Japanese owned property there to celebrate Yokoi, and it's just sad that they didn't spend the money to get a translator that would write up the English versions correctly (at least grammar wise, I don't much care if they go with their version of history).

Now laughing quite a bit, we went back to the lower part of the falls, where the tourists were packing up to leave for the day. Once gone, we had the whole falls to ourselves. A few people walked by, but no swimmers. The river there has dug out a hole big enough to swim in but I wouldn't go in because the fish kept coming up to me and then Stephen said he thought he saw a snake - yeah, no way I'm getting in a confined swimming hole with a snake. It was cooling and quiet and peaceful (once the tourist headed out) and that is what we enjoyed the most.

Then it was cable car back up the hill and go home time. Not a half bad day here on Guam.

Places you've never heard of and can't find on a map.

This weekend, I had the good fortune of going to work. Seriously, it was absolutely stunning. I did a trip known as "The island hopper". It starts in Guam and goes to several islands before finishing in Honolulu for a couple days and then making our way back to Guam afterward. Hawaii was good and all, but the islands that we stop at were the most amazing places I've ever seen. Prisitne, jungle-like untouched except for a few small villages of people. Mostly fishing communities, I guess. We bring supplies and some tourists between these islands. Just for the record....We start in Guam. Next is Chuuk (pronounced Chooook) and formerly known as Truk (like a vehicle). Next was Pohnpei, Kosrae, Kwajalein ("Kwaj"), Majuro, the Hawaii. The ones you've never heard of are part of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. Basically, they are volcanic islands with crazy lush tropical forestry and jagged rock mountain or they are almost totally flat atolls that were once volcanoes and have since imploded and collapsed leaving a ring of land extending 1-10 feet above the ocean. These places are literally in the middle of nowhere. Isolated in the Enormous Pacific ocean halfway between Hawaii and Asia, nearer the equator. I've never felt more isolated and awe-struck as I was in Majuro. The Atoll is long and thin and averages maybe 100 feet across, but is many miles round. You'll see it in the pics on flickr. When you're standing on the ramp at the airport and can feel the waves' mist on your skin from crashing on the barrier 20 feet away and a few feet below you. You get the feeling that this place is temporary. The Pacific is going to take it back and you just hope you aren't there to see it when it happens. ( I later found out that Wake island north of there had just that happen in a storm. The entire island was under the sea and is finally reemerging and rebuilding. WTF?) I'll blog more about these crazy places separately later. But there is such contrast in the pics from Kosrae and Chuuk to Kwaj and Majuro. Words and pics won't do any of these places justice. But, hopefully you'll get an idea of them. Make sure to read the tags on the pics too.

Odds and Ends

Stephen's random blog stuff...

We bought a used TV from the sketchiest dude I've ever met. Some crazy looking (maybe white supremecist?) guy who is moving to the philippines (pedophile?) and who is still pissed that somebody stole his rotweiler. Just happy to get a cheap TV and not get too close to him.

Finished my Scuba license. Certified to 60 feet deep. I might try another level in the near future to dive some different kind of specialty dives like wrecks, or night or 100' deep.
The currents are vicious out here. Riptides and longshores that you can see clearly. Ever see a wave going out to sea? Freaky stuff.

Going for our first bike ride today!!!!! I wonder if there is a road rash equivalent out here....Coral Contusion, perhaps. I think coral will hurt more, and I hope to not find out.

That stupid Honda civic that we got such a great deal on is really making me angry. Serves me right for buying from some Chamorro punk. We got the brakes fixed (which we knew about), when the radiator blew, and that's when we found out the left front axle is on it's way out very quickly. Pretty sweet ride. Well, at least it's nearly impossible to get parts out here. That's nice.
Never got charged for the rental car "incidents". I guess Karma does come back around again.

Welcome to planet earth, Kelcie. Make sure you give your new parents a fun ride. Looking forward to meeting you around your first birthday. Hopefully you'll be over the screaming stage that lots of you newcomers enjoy by then :).....Maybe you can team up with the other newcomer for a duet every now and again!

Going to Honolulu in a few days. Should have some pictures (and maybe a Civic front left axle) to bring back.

Off for the bike ride along the coast. I've been looking forward to this ride since we got here.

We got a phone number for the US that can call anybody for FREE. If anybody wants to call and chat, drop me an email at my aol.com account and i'll send you the phone number. You can call and say hi and tell us to call you back. Oh, but make sure we know who you are. No caller ID out here.
Stay Classy, Connecticut (and other select New England states)

Settling in

So on Saturday we got the keys to the new place - a 900 square foot condo on the 7th floor of Alupang Cove (a-loop-ang). It's got tile through out - some places with carpet get a musty odor due to the high humidity and the expense of keeping the AC on all the time. It's just a simple one bed one bath place that comes with utilities included - that's big here on Guam where (due to running the AC all the time) most electric bills are $300-350.

Stephen wasn't happy to spend so much time over the weekend shopping for things for the place (everyone knows how hard it is for me to make a decision) but it's paying off. I also have a new concept for shopping here -"if I don't plan to take it home, just choose the cheapest one that will last a year." So far we've done that for everything, except the bed (found one place that sold Sealeys and decided that was better than the random Asian brands we'd seen. At least we knew it had to have some sort of quality we were used to) and the rug but that's blue and brown and my mom will attest that I dream of either a blue and brown living room at home or bedroom. Stephen found the deal of 64 piece storage container set for something like $12! I already melted one top in the dishwasher (oh, we're also very lucky to have one of those too).

Still more things are needed - like drawers for the clothing that can't be hung - really what about my socks and bike shorts?! But hopefully we'll get that done tomorrow after we pick up the bikes and the "box of random" that we had shipped out. I can't remember what's in the box other than Scrabble and some DVDs (24 season one :)), maybe our snow pants and jackets too -not for use on Guam, for skiing in Japan or New Zealand. It's going to be like a second Christmas!

Hope all is well with everyone on the mainland!

Beach Day!

We are two lazy people for a Wednesday. After a few calls to the mainland we left the hotel at 11am, went to Kmart to get a cooler, waters, ice and some towels. Hit the best breakfast joint we've tried so far (Hafa Adai Cafe). Then headed to the northern most point of Guam, Ritidian Point. It's home of the Guam National Wildlife Refuge, and has one of the best beaches we've found yet. You have to drive a long boring road - boring due to the military base on both sides, which is why they have such lush tall plants here. It also contains the messiest batch of pot holes I've ever seen. I could probably lay down in a few and never be seen again.

We played/swam/tried to stand in the current for a few hours and then Stephen buried me in the sand from the waist down - sorry no photos were taken. The sand is this soft but course coral sand that's mushy when you step on it, but feels like a good exfoliant, so I tried rubbing my feet in it a bunch.

It's so strange to be on a beach like that where we only see maybe 5 other groups and think "we live here." Definitely a place we'll be spending free time at.

We left around 330pm, thank god, the gate is closed at 4pm. Headed home to the Hilton (Hilton Home Count Down : 3 days). Tried the Jamaican Grill for dinner and Stephen had some great ribs and 1/4 jerk BBQ chicken, I had the chicken too. Also on the list of places we'll go again.

stuff

ok, so I am finally getting up to speed with the youngsters about flickr and blogging.
The correct flickr address is http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenandkatrinaweaver/sets/
this one will let you not see all the non-guam photos that are in our album.

Moving on......
Why does it cost 4 cents/minute to call The US, but 27 cents/minute to call next door on Guam? It's a crazy mixed up world.

That sweet 95 civic we bought.....not so sweet. The master cylinder blew on it. Can't wait to get that fixed. Stopping is now an extreme-sport. Maybe it'll stop, maybe it won't. How fast can you grab the ebrake. Hopefully before you kiss the car in front of you. At least the E-brake works. Don't ask about the power windows, though. Or the rental car that was in front of me when I found out that the master cylinder was gone. (it was katrina's). Good times. Nothing major at all, just a little touch up paint job. I really should start getting rental coverage.

I should get my scuba license on sunday!!!! Just another way for me to hurt myself and others.

We were hoping to get some traveling in this month. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen because of the time it takes to do all this other stuff. I should get my schedule for february in a few days. I am hoping to make up for the slow start to our traveling. Although Guam is nicer than I thought it was gonna be, i still wanna check so many other places out. Looks like we'll probably be here closer to a year or so. 6 months just wouldn't cut it for all the places we want to go.

We should be in our new condo saturday. More flickr pics coming up on monday, unless that car kills me first.

Home of the U-turn

So, in nine days I've done more U-turns than in fifteen years of driving in the mainland. When something is across the street from me, I feel like some old Maine-er is laughing while saying "you can't get there from here." Most major roads are separated by a concrete 6" high divider, some have the death lane - or as they say the "left turn lane." it's a chicken lane to use for turning or U-turning. Once you pass something you have to figure out how to get back.

Plus without street signs to tell you where you are (the last typhoon, seven years ago, got rid of them, and Guam decided to not replace them), directions are all about the Kmart, the gas stations and banks. With only three types of gas and three types of banks on Guam directions are confusing because which Circle K and which Bank of Guam are you talking about???

And for those of you who LOVE our hometown rotary....yes, there is one on Guam. It's maybe a quarter mile from our hotel. But as we're used to rotaries come in two varieties depending on the state you live in....1: if you're in the rotary, you have the right of way, or 2: if you're entering the rotary you have the right of way. Well, that was too simple of a system for Guam. If you're coming from our hotel, you have to give the right of way to the in rotary traffic, but if you're coming back to the hotel, you have right of way. I just don't get it.

As confusing as that is, we're sure to be safe drivers since everyone drives under the Guam speed limit of 45mph.

Brand Spanking New

Well, we're here. Still a bit jet lagged and finally getting settled. This will be the place for any of our South Pacific updates instead of the mass-emails we've sent. We'll still email with people, but the Blog will make it so you can check to see what we're up to, where we've gone and are going a bit easier.
So far......to recap.
We got here Friday Jan 4th really late at night. First Class to Tokyo, then down to Guam. Lots of great food internationally on the Boeing 777. Watched some movies and the 14hr flight to tokyo flew by. The 4hr flight reminded me how much traveling stinks. Middle seat, way back in the plane with nobody who speaks our language. A stupid kid actually pulled my hair. I can't even pull my hair. Too short and not enough to grab onto.

Anyways, Hilton Resort and Spa in Guam is where my company puts us up. Sweet digs. Nice balcony, great beaches and pools. Maybe the nicest hotel I ever stayed in. We actually thought about living here for the year. But more on that later....
I worked the first couple days. Work is fun. Not really like work. I went to Manilla, Chuuk, Saipan. Then I have 18 days off before I go to Honolulu for a day of relaxation. Not so tough.

We've spent the first 8 days looking at condos, cars, and scuba classes. I start scuba Monday. We sign for our Condo today and we bought a car yesterday. Oh yeah, I got a Guam driver's license. Not a bad picture considering what they had to work with. The condo is SWEET. One bedroom condo right on the beach, just outside downtown Tumon (where all the night life is), new appliances and has just been totally remodeled. The car is a mint Honda Civic with 56K miles on it. We got it dirt cheap. It's probably stolen and shipped here from somewhere else. Just kidding. But at the same time not so sure......

Car insurance....$165. For the Year. With upgraded liability limits. I laughed when the agent told me. I thought she quoted us per month.

The snorkeling and beaches around Guam are pristine. The surfing is alright if you don't mind paddling out past the coral reef around the island. It's about 200 feet or more out there. I get tired just thinking about it.

We've already met the Guam version of our friends out here. (There's even the guam version of our Vinny....except not quite as cool). Lots of great people. I dropped the first few real estate agents we worked with because they were too nice. It irritated me. Seriously. That part wasn't a joke. I just couldn't handle it. The people out here are so nice that it takes some getting used to. I think they like being nice and actually don't want anything from you, nor are they trying to sell you something. It's like the 1950s.

If you haven't checked out our first batch of photos, here's the link. We'll update the blog as more pictures go up. www.flickr.com/photos/stephenandkatrinaweaver

That's all from 15 hours in the future for now. PS-the sun rises today. We just saw it a couple hours ago...