Guam and the NMI (Pt. 2)

Guam, I’ve heard of the island but didn’t know much about it and had to get out a map to find it. The council staff and retired military Scouters always seemed to talk about the island in a negative way; i.e. “I served my time on Guam…”; but the thought of some far away exotic setting was truly appealing. It took a few passes up the Hawaiian chain to realize that Guam wasn’t part of the Hawaiian chain…I was looking north when I should have been looking west…it’s actually so far west that it’s east, yep, it’s on the other side of the International Dateline, it’s where “America’s day begins”.

…and here’s an interesting (WT)Fact!?…the island of GUAM is the southernmost island in the Mariana chain, at the other end of the chain, one of the northernmost islands, is the island of MAUG…(WTF!-Whoa, That’s Funny!)

Many of the Chamorro today are a mix of the aboriginal society, Filipino, and Spanish blood. A full-blooded indigenous Chamorro is a rarity since many males were exterminated during the Spanish occupation, and to add insult to injury, the island was used as a penal colony for convicts and rebellious males from the Spanish ruled Philippines.

A beautiful island, a coral outcrop that’s on the edge of the deepest depths of the all the oceans. 19 villages spread around a landmass approximately the size of Molokai, each with a patron Saint who is honored every year with a huge “Fiesta”. Guamanians love to eat and they love to barbeque; that meant that there was a coma inducing eat-fest every month somewhere on the island. I fondly recall walking through the smokey village streets during their Fiesta, hands and stomach already full of food from our first stop at a friends’ friend’s home (I was still new to the island and was lucky to make some great connections), villagers left and right were pulling us in to join their celebration…chicken kelaguen, BBQ chicken/venison/fish, lumpia, pancit, “Achote” (red) rice, Kadon Pika (spicy stew), coconut crab, Fanihi (Fruit Bat)…the offerings were endless. There are 2 main elements in their BBQ that make it uniquely Guamanian (IMHO).

They also like their food spicy; Hawaiian type chili peppers were served as a side dish and restaurants had industrial-sized tabasco bottles on every table.

There’s something about Pacific Islands’ hospitality; a warm, sincere welcoming is always given, the food offered at parties was habitually enough to feed an army, and the take home plate is often more than what was brought to the party…I quickly realized I would have to step up my running routine.

I was fortunate to visit the other islands; Rota, Tinian and Saipan; and I’m sure their villages observe Fiestas as well. A couple friends and I were lucky to catch a 7-hour boat ride to Rota for their lone village’s Fiesta…a few shots of the island and check out the food table…