stubsadventures

My guided hike was awesome. Although I was extremely hung over and wanted to throw up for the first half hour. What didn’t help the nausea, was the giant spiders that were all through the jungle. GIANT. There were some that were the same yellow butted ones that terrified me in Hawaii but they also have this other bigger scarier one with red on it too. My nausea climaxed when I watched my guide, Jason, walk directly into a web. I managed to hold it together but not by much.

Although the day before I had rented a car and drove all around the island, it was amazing how much you miss as a tourist if you don’t know what you’re looking for. The signage in Guam isn’t fantastic and I was really surprised at how much I had driven right by and thankful that I got a second chance to see it! As I said, the war history in Guam is everywhere and is a part of everything. Most of the parks were dedicated to war history. Guns still mounted on the coast, bunkers where the Japanese held their lasts stands, cliffs where thousands of people’s bodies were hurled off, to places where the locals hid out trying to avoid the violence. Guam and it’s stories will humble you.

Two of my favourite moments from my day with Jason (who by the way is from Guam Guided Adventures and would highly recommend him if you are in the area!): stopped by this road side stand that had been closed the day before. The woman, who looked to be around 100, had no teeth and the biggest smile you can imagine. She had pure coconut oil that she made by hand. I bought as much as I could with my remaining cash. She also gave me a starfruit because she said everyone had to try one (even though I’ve had about 10 in my travels, haha). From there, we stopped at a tiny village that is a recreation of a native village. They have several huts set up to demonstrate the ways of life and people inside them to tell you a little story and then demonstrate and let you try their traditional ways. I was the only tourist in the entire place and treated to one of the most amazing hours in my life. There is no way to describe the people there, they are always smiling, very educated but most importantly educated on their traditions, history and stories of their ancestors. Very, very proud people, and rightfully so. I had an awesome conversation with a 24 year old woman who showed me how to scrape and then cook coconut to make coconut candy. For anyone who likes coconut, there is nothing like this. Heaven. Her and I had a long discussion about her life and what it was like, she was very open. Her husband is a marine and just got deployed for a year. You could tell when she talked that this deeply saddened her but she was determined to make the best of it and always tried to finish her thoughts with a positive statement. In the end, she wasn’t 100% happy with the first batch of candy, so told me to go to the next hut and she would perfect a batch that I could take with me.

My other favourite hut was the place where they showed you how to make rope. The guide (which by the way was $6 for the hour) was showing me how they peel trees to make their rope when his family member Frank walked up behind me and handed me a gift. It was a little bird woven from a palm leaf. Frank was also toothless and was in his 90’s and couldn’t have been happier if he tried. He clearly took a lot of joy teaching people his traditions because he was full of smiles the whole time he showed us how to make thick rope used for boats. The pictures speak for themselves.

Stubs.

Mary, what an adventure you had. WOW is all I can say. You are soooo brave to go off on these adventures by yourself to the unknown areas of the world and let us all see a glimpse of what you are seeing and the education you are giving us as well. WOW!!! 🙂

Comment by Cathy Lucas May 6, 2013 @ 8:53 am

Reply