The local Chamorro People

     The Chamorros are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, of which Guam is the largest and most southern in the island chain. Archeological evidence identified civilization here dating back 5,000 years. They were expert seafarers and skilled craftspeople familiar with intricate weaving and detailed pottery-making. In 1521, Ferdinand Magellan landed and life changed forever for these people. In recorded history, the Chamorro people have, as a community, experienced traumatic periods that remain unresolved. These include the near total genocide and colonization by the Spanish (1521-1898). Guam and the Philippines became territories of the USA as a part of the “spoils of war” of the Spanish-American War of 1898 and bought from Spain for a mere $20 million. Guam had been a possession of the United States from 1898 to 1941 until it was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces from 1941–1944. Guam was liberated from the Japanese in 1944 by the USA. In 1950, it became a territory of the USA, and as such, has no power.

     The population of Guam is approximately 182,000 people. The Chamorros are the largest ethnic group making up about 37%, and the Filipinos are second making up an additional 26%. Because Guam was colonized by Spain for over 300 years, many Chamorro words derive from the Spanish language. The traditional Chamorro number system was replaced by Spanish numbers. There has been a resurgence of interest in reviving the language, and all public schools on both Guam and The Northern Mariana Islands are now required by law to teach the Chamorro language from elementary through high school. The Chamorro greeting for Hello is "Hafa Adai" (hah-fuh-day). I guarantee you that if you give a Chamorro a big smile and say that phrase, you will definitely get the very same back! These people are very sweet and gentle.

     Perhaps, because the Chamorros are actually a “minority” on their own island of Guam, and they want to preserve their history and promote their culture, they declared March to be Chamorro Month. Since we had given ourselves the month of March to get settled into our new surroundings, and for Jim to finish all his island qualifying flights, we were able to enjoy several of these activities.

     Governor Eddie Calvo and First Lady Christine Calvo opened their home, the House of the People, for an exhibit of photos and artifacts. Before arriving at their home, we mistakenly went to the beautiful Government House on the water. You’ll see pics of Pat standing in front of a huge replica of a latte stone. This is a term for a pillar capped by a hemispherical stone capital (tasa) with the flat side facing up. It is used as a building support by the ancient Chamorros and found throughout most of the Mariana Islands. Today it is seen as a sign of Chamorro identity. 

View of Government House on the bay

Huge Latte Stone replica 

         Canon on Government House property

     Photos from inside the Governor's house (above) depicting religious items, view from their backyard looking down the mountain to the ocean, picture of Governor and First Lady Calvo (pics of his father & grandfather as former governors also on the wall), plus their front door. We were absolutely shocked that no one with a weapon was at the door when we walked in, just local docents, even though the family lived upstairs!

       On Friday, March 28th, we drove to the SW village of Merizo (above) for their 6th annual crab festival. The village was a virtual postcard with gorgeous ocean & mountain views. The local children sang songs in Chamorro and it was followed by a skit performed by the senior citizens. The locale reminded us of the Great Falls community with our summer Sunday concerts on the green...great sense of community. Today, Sunday, they released 2,000 crabs that the locals had caught and then let various age groups have a go at catching them with buckets/bags to take home....small crabs w/big pinchers! The event was on a green outside the local school next to the pier. All weekend there were activities like canoe races, coconut husking/grating contest, live bands/dancers, etc.

     On Saturday, March 29th, (below) there was a local fashion show at one of the malls showcasing original Chamorro clothing, Spanish-influenced, and modern. We didn't walk the catwalk, but were ready for it:-)

Home Sweet Guam....at last!

   We had a 10-day paid stay, until March 1st, at the Marriott while Jim was getting line checked (IOE) on the B-737 and an all-night Micronesian island hop. In the meantime, Pat was in touch with Norma, our realtor, and checking out what was currently available for housing.  About a month before we departed Virginia, Pat had found someone on...Craigslist....that owned a beautiful, semi-furnished 2-bedroom condo for rent in Guam at the Alupang Cove.  A number of emails had been exchanged. The wife was a FAA licensed dispatcher and her husband had been a furloughed US Air pilot, that now flys a Global Express for a private charter company and they are living in Jordan for two years.  They wanted to explore Europe & the Middle East, for a change of diet, just as we had wanted new Asian adventures. Their condo was at the time being rented to a US military family and they were scheduled to move out on March 8th.  We had a hotel room paid until March 1st, so we were looking at a mini-gap of a week and then move into their condo. Since we were going to offer them a no-gap rental, they offered us rent at $2275/month including electricity/water and we would only pay cable/internet, plus they offered us $3,000 to buy living room furniture to complete their apt. Both sides enjoyed the email exchanges, much commonality between us, and looking forward to culminating the deal in GUM. However, ten days before we departed for GUM, they sent us a sad email that the military deployment for their tenant had been extended until May:-(

   Again, arriving in the middle of a military multi-national exercise, NATO personnel having drone problems that extended their stay by weeks, Russian/Japanese tourists fleeing cold winters, etc. meant that furnished condos & hotels were extremely rare at best. Norma sent Pat over to the Oka Towers on March 30th, to see a furnished 2-bedroom at the Oka Towers that had a to-die for vista on the Philippine Sea. Rent was $2400 + utilities. There was a group of about 15 Japanese women touring the condo at the same time as they wanted to buy it as an investment. However, the owner wanted to sell, rather than rent, so getting a removal of a clause that they would give us 90 days notice and sell it out from under us was a potential problem. Check out the Oka Towers vista with pool.Philippine Sea:

   Pat got a call to quickly go to the Agana Beach condos to see a condo that a military officer was moving out of that same day, March 30th. Pat had seen this building before, as Norma has a friend that is an UAL pilot and lives in that building. This building sits on it's own waterfront property. Take the elevator to the lobby, walk into the backyard to swim, or snorkel...take your choice. BUT, it became a problem as the owners were holding out for a military family that would give them a two-year lease. It was furnished and rent was $2600 + utilities. Again, no home! Here is view from balcony from Agana Beach condo.....imagine the sunsets!

  Next day, was March 1st, and we had no accommodations for GUM yet...panic was starting to set in quickly!  We waited to hear if the issues at the Oka Towers & Agana Beach could be solved by 1 pm, when we had to check out.  Norma told us the manager at the Oceanview (a hotel & residence resort that we'd seen earlier in the week) had said to stop by, as the unit that we wanted....top floor/end... was between guests and we could view it quickly. It was a very sunny 2-bedroom/2-bath unit with a small U-shaped kitchen, with stools against the kitchen open bar between the kitchen and the main living room/dining area. There is a washer/dryer to the right of the front door behind doors and a big pantry to the left. If you check out the pictures, you will see it has a large, round table with 6 red chairs. There is a sectional futon sofa (very firm), end coffee table, occasional chair and a desk with chair. The main bedroom has a king-sized bed, end tables, lamps and an entire wall of built-in storage. The 2nd bedroom has two single beds, table w/lamp, desk & stool. It has a closet that is totally filled with our six suitcases, and misc. boxes. The manager of the Oceanview, Ruben, is from the Philippines. And, like ALL the Filipino people we had met, was extremely sweet and willing to do whatever it took to make us happy. He said as a permanent resident, we'd get free airport transportation.....whoa....Jim had his own driver on demand ?! And, free weekly housecleaning was included with the rent......hello?.....Pat had her own maid?!?! Since this was a 24-hr staffed hotel (in Guam, flights are arriving/departing at all hours of the day/night), there was always someone at reception to answer the phone (& ring our room directly). There was also a 24-hr kiosk store in the lobby open and they carried groceries. Also, there's an operating restaurant in the lobby open for all meals that serves local Chamorro food. There is a swimming pool and office center, too. Things were getting very appealing on our final D-Day!

  Rent was $2200/month (no deposit necessary) and included weekly maid service, airport transportation, phone, TV, internet, cable. We would only pay water & electricity. We have had everyone warn us that electricity due to the air conditioning, could easily run $500-$600 month. Water was estimated at maybe $50/month. We requested our own washer/dryer in our unit @ $50/month. UAL is paying us an extra $3,000/month stipend for housing. The US military gives their own, who qualify to live off base, a very generous allowance. The market rents are skewed due to the military allowance....UAL had to follow suit! Otherwise, they wouldn't get any pilots to bid GUM as it's expensive compared to Houston, Cleveland, and other domiciles.
Here are some pics of our new "home sweet Guam" kitchen:

  It's an open living/dining area....and our "command center" (computers on desk) when we're home:

  Our bedroom has a beautiful water view also, and an entire wall of built-in wood closets. We ended up with empty drawers as we had more space than clothes. The living room and bedrooms have these great wood shutters that slide closed completely. It keeps the temp colder in here when we're gone, totally darkens the rooms for sleeping, gives 100% privacy...although on the 7th floor there is no one to eyeball us...haha!  They just refurbished the Oceanview last year, so everything is new. Here is our bedroom:

  Little TV from K-Mart above the drawers (the largest K-Mart in the world is in Guam) and we're all set to watch TV/Netflix in bed!

  The guest bedroom has two single beds with a  table/lamp between them and those super darkening sliding shutters. There are two full bathrooms with a walk-in shower in one and a tub in the other. 

  We brought a copier/scanner with us, so Jim is able to copy his trip pairings, make copies of important docs, etc. They have an office down in the lobby that we can use, too, for free. If we'd gotten an unfurnished condo, we would have been running around trying to get electricity turned on, phone/cable/internet bundling started, furniture/kitchen ware bought, etc. Yikes, what an expensive, time consuming effort that would have been. This way, for the short 12 months we are living here, we only had to unpack and within 3-4 hrs, ready to pop the wine cork and enjoy the sunsets! 

  Pat did visit several furniture stores while we were exploring our options. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that, of course everything was imported, but no major price gouging. Most things were....made in China, so no surprise there. However, in 12 months, it would have been an issue to dispose of it all and still have beds to sleep in the night before we departed in 2015. Where we are living, all worries/concerns immediately disappeared. The Oceanview is a hotel with rooms in a 3-story tall building. Most rooms have 2 double beds and most can be opened to adjoining rooms, so ideal for families. The condo part of the Oceanview is attached by a walkway. The Oceanview swimming pool is between the hotel & condos.The condo residences have units like ours, although some have 2 doubles & 2 singles.

  Since we had to move out of the Marriott on March 1st, we were able to move into the Oceanview hotel for three nights.  They charged us the "local" rate of $85 + 11% tax. Truly a bargain in Guam, especially during February. The doormen from the Marriott drove their van over to the Oceanview with our 5 boxes we had stored there and they were put into a storage room here. On March 4th, Ruben informed us that our condo was ready for occupancy. One of the men here helped Pat bring all the 5 boxes, plus multiple suitcases up to #702. By the time Jim returned from his turnaround Asian trip, everything was put away, and we were ready to relax and catch our breath finally!

  Here are pictures of the Oceanview Hotel (3 stories high) and the condo residences (7 stories high):

 We are the unit on the top floor, far right side, just to the left of the end unit that has the blue facade around their balcony. This pic was taken last week while we were staying in the hotel and before we bought the chairs for our own balcony! Picture below was taken from our hotel room on the third floor.

 There is a fountain between the hotel wings. Hotel is U-shaped.

 Swimming pool seen from our balcony on the 7th floor.

 Standing inside our sliding doors in the living room, you can see the Westin Hotel (kind of an oval-shaped hotel), with their chapel to the left of the hotel on the beach.

  Standing inside our living room, you can see the white, tall  Nikko Hotel. Note the stained glass little Nikko Hotel chapel with white roof peaks to the left of the hotel on the beach. Hotel in front of the Nikko is closed and being refurbished and due to reopen later this year.

  So, you can see that our new Guam digs has enabled us to live very carefree. It's not huge like our Great Falls home, but "Simple is Good" when you want to relax & enjoy your Guam year!!!!