HAFA ADAI

May 24, 2012 

I Finally got to go snorkeling today!  There was a brief moment where the sun peaked out this morning so I grabbed my swim gear and headed down to Pou Pou beach.  This is a pic taken of it the first time we came here in 2010.  It is a wide open beach and you can swim forever so get a great workout.  My fish friends were very excited to see me back and swam with me for awhile.  I even got to see what I can the "fairy" fish.  They are tiny little things that are a neon turquoise color.  Then the rains started pouring down so I had to swim to shore and say farewell:(  There was a couple around my age sitting under a tree waiting for the storm to pass (a brother and sister) and they offered me some mango.  The sister came over from California for their mother's 91st birthday celebration.  The brother lives here full time.  They were both trying to convince me to stay which you all know I would love to do!

Audra and I go out to eat almost every night.........say what???  A couple nights ago we tried to go to the Thai House but since it was only 4ish it wasn't opened yet.  It's a little building trying so hard to have "ambiance" on the outside, I just had to take a picture of it.  Hey, wait a minute, who is that trying to get into my picture???????  She always has to be in everything......I wonder where she gets that from?  Most of the restaurants are stand alone buildings like this.  It is actually very nice inside and the food is yummy.....too bad it wasn't open..


Then there are the chickens in downtown Garapan.  We were driving down the dirt road to Audra's friends apartment complex and came across Mr. Rooster and his girls.  I had to stop and take a picture and torment him.  He was not too happy with me.  Another car passed us and gave me "the tourist look".  He was showing off his feathers and struttin' his stuff and his girls were giving him center stage!

Last time I was here it was all about the pigs. We saw a pig tied up to a tree at a house behind the Bank of Guam.  Audra was very upset when I told her that was going to be "dinner".  The poor little guy was trying so hard to get away.

Beach road is one of the three major roads on the island and runs parallel to the ocean. It is lined with Flame trees and is such a pretty drive.  They have a walkway that you can stroll on for quite a distance.  There are always joggers and walkers on it.  In this picture you can see the ocean off to the left.


We were driving past it and I noticed one of the WWII Tanks has a little plant growing out of it so had to pull over and take a picture.  Here was something that caused tons of destruction and killed people all these years later with a plant growing out of it.  What a statement, huh?  It sits beside one of the Flame trees too.  The plant is right in front popping out of the metal body.  There are all kinds of WWII guns and machines and memorials all over the island and people still come across WWII shells and stuff on the beaches.  There is a blog about all the stuff a guy has found during his stay on the island just wandering around the various beaches.  He even came across several ammo boxes.

I guess that's about it for now.  I'll have to go take a picture of the big grocery warehouse that burned down last week on Middle Road.  It really gutted the place.  Middle road was closed down for two days and caused quite a traffic jam since everyone was re-routed down to Beach Road.  Weird seeing a traffic jam here.   There is a big controversy going on as to whether or not one of the fire hydrants failed.  That was one of the big stories in the Mariana Islands paper this week.  I LOVE reading the paper because of all the local drama that goes on.  Audra laughs that I get such a kick out of the goings on with the island and it's people.  It's like a big soap opera!  The politics here are not much different from being stateside....everyone is on the take and the place is broke because of it.


The sun is shining and it looks like the storms have passed over us so hopefully tomorrow will be a fabulous snorkeling/communing day with my fishies again.  I brought my underwater camera along so will take pictures to share!


Have as great a day as I'm having!