Lam Lam and the Nudies

Groceries are super expensive on Guam. That's why Darren and I tank up on gallons of water and go to Cost U Less!

Saturday morning we traveled an hour to the very tip top of the island in order to explore Ritidian Point. It used to be military land and restricted to islanders, but 40% of it is available to wander. And they are strict about the off limits land--Darren and I got chased off one of the roads.
The beach is super nice and expansive in the National Wildlife Refuge and a lot less populated than Ypao Beach.
After a few sermons on the radio on the drive home, the end of church and potluck, Darren and I pursued another climbing area the island climbers had told us about--Window Rock at the Talofofo Caves. Along our drive to the caves, Darren and I concentrated on our favorite Guam car game which consists of spotting the ubiquitous 2010 donut signs before everyone else.
Darren walking by Talofofo Bay on our way to the trailhead
We scrambled around a half a dozen caves. Some would require ropes and other gear to explore further.

One of the caves pops out into a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. Rarr!!!
Descending from some jingus, rusty anchors at Window Rock. Bolts near the ocean should be titanium, but the ones here are made of stainless steel and will soon rust. Good thing they were just bolted!
Around 5PM we met some folks to climb Guam's tallest mountain--Mount Lam Lam! Although it is 1,332 feet from sea level, some say it is the tallest "mountain" because of its close proximity to the Mariana Trench.
Our plan was to hike at dusk and watch the sunset and then descend with light from the full moon. Instead Lam Lam was socked in with fog and occasional pouring rain which gave the place a sort of eery feeling especially around the crosses on the peak. There are numerous of these because every Easter many local Catholics haul up another cross processional style.



On the way down, the rain began to fall with more ferocity and we slipped and slid down through the mud. It actually made the relatively easy hike more memorable.

Sunday we went diving with Mike, Scott, Chad, and Chris in Piti. The fellas are obsessed with nudibranchs. I was so impressed that they could find the little guys! (photos by Scott Parker)

We are not quite as seasoned Guamanian divers and were just as excited about the more macro animals--except for the sea cucumber that sprouted all sorts of weird sticky strings all over my fins and leg. It was gross.

Our Favorite Classic Climbing Films

Funny old school films and seldom seen clips. Click on the links to watch them! We'll be adding more as we discover or rediscover them all:

Three on a Rope (1938) Filmed at Tahquitz!

Classic 80's Bouldering! " John Long, the first to climb Yosemite in a day!"

"Captain Kirk is Climbing a Mountain. Why is he climbing the mountain?

Yosemite Weather

John Bachar free soloing in J-Tree to disco music in the 70's--"He must literally walk upside down!"

70's John Bachar movie complete with slack-lining, Yosemite, and super short shorts! It might be even better than the last film.

Monty Python Adeptly Reports on Hairstylists Scaling Everest--funny if you like British humor

A Walk Through Jungle and Ocean

A subject of great contention and discussion in Guam is the apparent expansion of military to the island. Basically a huge amount of personnel are moving here from Japan. With this expansion, more land will be designated as accessible for only military, including important Chamorro historical sites. Pagat Cave, the area we hiked to this weekend, is one of these places and the local newspaper has encouraged locals to see sites like these while they can.

Pagat cave is filled with waxy candles, trash (as is found, unfortunately, in most naturey places on the island), but is interesting because one has to wade through water to a large stalagtite and pond filled room. We swam around, dove through passageways, and found an interesting bouldering problem for some "shallow water cave soloing."

Outside of the cave we hiked over to the Philippine Ocean which is still beautifully untouched by human development (we'll see after the expansion comes) and is bordered by sharp rocks, tide pools, and crashing waves.

On Sunday, Darren and I played beach volleyball with friends at the ABC. I then dropped off Darren so he could go hiking, and I tried unsuccessfully to help with a health fair (I got lost). I read while waiting for Darren to return and then he and I tried to meet some peeps at Gun Beach for some snorkeling and SCUBA diving. We saw some turtles, puffer fish, and a various assortment of other wildlife. When we were finished, I was still bummed that I had missed out on Darren's hike because I hadn't even been able to help anyone at the clinic. Darren agreed to hike a little bit with me before the sun set. It was beautiful weather and the sky was magnificient. Even though our walk probably was just an hour or so I really enjoyed walking through the tide pools, talking with the fishermen, and feeling the cool water around my legs.

Myriads of starfish, sea cucumbers, and sergeant majors surrounded us

This is a view of Tumon from our hike through the cliff near Gun Beach

Supper at Shirley's

This picture caused Darren and I tummy aches for quite some time

10 Freaky Things about Guam

1. Seedy "Massage" parlors

2. Malingering patients

3. Natives that can't swim

4. Geckos

5. Water currents

6. Lights that take 50 seconds to turn on

7. Massive spiders

8. Trash dumped in the jungle

9. Spiky rock near our rock climbing rope

10. Tufa that breaks off when you pull on it while rock climbing. Aiee!

10 Things We Miss about Southern California

1. Pink Berry

2. Road trips

3. Highway 395

4. Peeps

5. Stell Coffee Shop cookies

6. Joshua Tree

7. Vast landscapes

8. Lindy Groove

9. Simone the cat

10. Stable weather

Tedium

Hi. We are one month newlyweds and we loathe dish washing.

My Island Birthday

I thought my birthday would be quite lonely this year. We still don't know too many people on the island, Darren had to do his check out dive so I couldn't hang out with him after church, and I was left without a car. Thankfully I ended up talking to my sisters, bro-in-law, mother, and saw my new niece on Skype for a great bulk of the afternoon. Then in the evening, some of the new peeps we have met here invited Darren and I over for evening games. I was surprised and excited to find that they had bought me a very chocolatey Cold Stone cake (Yes, they have it here). Yum!

Playing The Great Malzini (something like that)

On Sunday I went with Darren to do his final check out dive in order for him to be a certified diver (Guam is one of the cheaper places in the world to become certified). The first dive was over a sunken American war ship that still had a U.S. flag attached to it (and nearby it little fish that bit both Darren and me). There weren't tons of fish, but we were able to dive into some rooms--something which I had never done before. Our second dive Darren and his classmates had to do some skills but I just looked around with another spouse who was diving. We also got to check out a Harley that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Why it is there is anyone's guess. O.O.G ("Only on Guam")

First Weekend of Guam Fun

The first Friday Darren and I had free, I wanted to take a loop around the island. We didn't really know where to stop in order to see things, but we did our best. We found a Vietnam memorial site with a beautiful overlook of the Philippine Ocean.

And the ever present Latte stones lauded everywhere throughout Guam

We also found some tide pools and where a river meets the ocean. I remember a friend who had lived a year on Guam telling me about how cool this place was.
On Saturday we went to church and discovered that loads of young couples are here on Guam helping out in various capacities. It is such a huge blessing to have them here, and we hiked with a few of them to SHARK pit cove and to a near by fresh water pond. As I got out of the pond, I saw a leech crawling on a rock. Urg!

Darren had discovered some bolts on a wall the first day we were in Guam. This past Sunday we decided to try them out. We met the five climbers on the island who, along with a Philippine man, helped set the routes up about four months ago. They were super friendly and seemed happy for us to join them. We were stoked at how similar the rock was to Thailand and with the peaceful sound and scenery of the ocean right below us.