February 16, 2025

Sunday

Yesterday, Saturday, C and I headed out in the Mustang to explore the southern part of Guam. We stopped at the Paseo de Susana (a peninsula) park in Hagåtña, the capitol of Guam. Paseo de Susana is the sight of the Chamorro Village where a famous “night market” is held. We haven’t gone to the night market yet as the older we get, the less we like big crowds. Still, one of these evenings, we will have to go because the food is supposed to be amazing.

The park has a fishing platform, a replica of the Statue of Liberty, many nice views and benches and stone cabanas for picnics. There is a baseball field there, and several youth teams in colorful uniforms milled around. According to Wikipedia, the peninsula was created with rubble left over from WWII, and you can certainly see that around the edges with the old, large crumbles of concrete and some iron culverts in concrete and whatnot used as erosion control against the ocean water.

From there we continued to drive along Route 1. Here’s the thing about Guam. There will be some lovely scenery–breathtaking turquoise water and heaps of red flowers and climbing pink vines and fancy, gated homes–and right next door you may see an abandoned building with rust crawling over the siding or a collection of shipping containers but then a cool drive-thru coffee shop with a sea turtle logo or maybe a place with string lights and colorful paint on the concrete structure.

There’s a LOT of concrete because of the typhoons and wind and rain. It just makes sense.

This photo represents this dichotomy. The place is growing on me.

Here is the Governor’s Mansion and another structure not too far away. The island’s power plant and the Emerald Valley waterway tucked alongside the power plant. Finally, a view from Sella Bay Overlook in Humåtak after we took a left onto Route 2A near the Naval Base Guam.

We continued on our way around the southern end of the island, enjoying the smaller villages that felt as cozy and sleepy as any lovely rural, lakeside village in New England, only the water here is the Philippine Sea and not a freshwater lake. Buildings clustered along the side of the narrow road winding through the villages of Hågat, Humåtak, Malesso’, and Inalåhan. We saw beaches and church steeples and elementary schools. The road was narrow, winding, and quite hilly in places. The trees and vines and shrubs lined the road, while glimpses of beach sand, sparkling water, and ruffled surf caught our eye as we let the wind race over our arms held out the car windows.

I saw my first Carabao!

There will be much more to see at another time. This was a “get ourselves oriented” drive. I’m looking forward to more in-depth exploration.

By 2 pm, hungry and more than ready for a meal, we glided into Jeff’s Pirates Cove restaurant/pub in Ipan-Talofofo. The smell of smoky BBQ greeted us as soon as we reached the parking lot. There was no way C was NOT going to get the BBQ plate. I opted for the seafood trio: fried fish, shrimp, and calamari with truly delicious hand-cut wedge fries, perfectly seasoned. But here’s the BBQ:

Okay, so there’s chicken, pork belly, and ribs with two generous scoops of red rice, a tasty dipping sauce I think is called Chamorro Finadene plus a more robust cumin-colored-peppery condiment that may or may not be a special BBQ sauce…I will be investigating as there isn’t a description on the menu.

The food was good. The service was lovely. Part of the fun is they give guests a red JPC bandana to wear. Some had them on their heads, others around their necks. At first I thought they were supposed to be used for napkins, but nope.

I also bought a book on Guam history I hope to dig into this week.

After lunch it was a quick drive home ACROSS the island. A lovely ride and day on the beautiful island of Guam. I can’t believe I live somewhere where bananas and papayas just grow on the side of the parking lots and everywhere you look is an expanse of the most turquoise and blue water.