Days 2 & 3 – Getting to know folks and the island!

This will be a long blog…..I suspect the rest to be smaller since the semester officially gets under way tomorrow! 
The past few days have been about getting to know the folks at PIU and this amazing island!   On Friday we started off with a stop on campus and once again had an opportunity to meet Daisy, a wonderful woman from Texas who has a great heart for the students here.  She introduced me to Mollie and to Charles (pronounced Shar-less) who wore the most ingenious hat as you can see!
  Below Daisy  and Doug make the sign "h""  for “haole”  non-whites, which they jokingly show to introduce themselves.  
A trip to a local store Kwong Hwa to get some fans for sleeping and other  key items! Lunch at an Owen’s favorite the “Jamaica Grill”  Then we  went to Ypao and the Tumon hotel tourist district and the sea.  Magical chrysalis wrapped in gold!

  
 On to the “Leo Palace”  a resort complex built by a Japanese company.  A favorite tourist spot for Japanese citizens it also has a spectacular view of both sides of the Island with the mid-island location at the narrowest part of the island.  Ann Stinnette joined Joyce  and they were definitely most  excellent tour guides!  Ann is pointing out the south-easternmost point of Guam.

Off to the former site of the Spanish government.  Behind the archway is the “Chocolate House” where the wives of the Spanish governors sipped chocolate!

      

At Latte Stone Park (above)  Latte stones are believed to be the posts holding up ancient structures.  
Below are some other interesting sites:  an old Spanish bridge and Mt. Lam-Lam.  From the bottom of the Marianas Trench on the ocean floor to its tip it is the highest mountain in the world!  The native Chamorro are 90% Catholic.   The practice for many Island Catholics of all ethnicities on Good Friday  is to carry a wood cross, while self-flagellating, climbing the mountain on their knees.   The picture below the Lam-lam is the view on the opposite side from where we were taking the pictures.  
Below is Ft. Soledad Park and we were treated to some star fruit and fresh coconut by Big John.  He assured  us the star fruit came straight from the sky!  After watching him with the machete I am not so sure I can fulfill the challenge by Joyce to crack one open myself!
  
Our Lady of Camarin , is believed by some to be a very important patron saint.   The legend is that after a typhoon this statue reportedly came out of the water on the backs of crabs.  She is believed to protect the island from Typhoons. 
   
The amazing Inarahin pools just invited swimming….alas we didn’t have time, and the rain was coming and going throughout our tour.
 
The stones below are grinding stones, some from the tops of the lette configurations. Below that are the remains of the oldest Protestant Church in Guam.  Considering this is a predominantly Catholic country this building is remarkable!

 

On the way back we stopped a few places to pick up sea shells on the beach.  First time in the water on the Pacific side of the Island.  Folks don’t usually swim there since it is so rough and treacherous with the currents and deep water.
  
Back home after a marvelous day.  Marci, Joyce and I poured over our collections ---- her shell, coral and rocks from her many years here and on Palau are amazing!  Then I cooked up a nice hearty ragu to go over pasta and cut Dave’s hair!
 
This morning we went to church at Bayview and came home, had lunch, I worked on this blog while Dave and Marci watched some sports……not sure what Joyce was up to. 
As beautiful as it all was, a quote from the John Piper book I am studying somehow fits best:  “The reality of spiritual joy depends moment by moment on the steadfast seeing of the glory of God”      God bless from Guam, Jo