Our first few days here were spent mostly standing in lines. They have a lot of them here on Guam. Let me just say that anytime you desire to kill a day of your life all you need to do is apply for a Guam drivers liscense. It was our first lesson that everything here moves a bit slower. Our hotel, The Hilton, is quite nice. We are here until June 5th or so until our stuff arrives from the mainland. Its actually not too hard living in a hotel room. At least our bed gets made every day now. The grounds are very nice, with lots of pools and a beachfront that has some of the best snorkeling on Guam. Here is a picture out our hotel room at sunrise. The first week we woke up at around 5am every day until we got use to the time change.
We have made friends pretty fast, everyone who works for Continental gets together a lot. And we signed a lease in a building that is pretty social where several of our pilots live. Its a bit like a dorm, but with no studying and everybody is married. But there is always someone wanting to grill out or go snorkeling or take a hike or go to some beach. Its a bit of a 180 from our quieter STL life, but we are warming up to it. A few days after we arrived, we took a really cool hike to a place called Sigua Falls. The inland part of this island is much better looking than I thought it would be. We passed a rusted out Japanese tank left over from WWII. It was weird and normal at the same time. Our friend Steve broke his ankle on the hike which presented us with a bit of a problem getting him out, but we managed to pool all our resources together and carry him out somehow. It got a bit ridiculous at times, but made for a good story. Looking back on it I think how amazing it is what people working together can do. Here is a view of the islands interior. It really reminds me of the hills behind our house in San Clemente.
Vicki scouting out our way.
The work aspect of being here I will mostly leave at work, but its different and easier. Different in that I've never been to any of these places, like the other night I flew into Yap. Its really small and one of the more true to their roots islands out here. They still wear grass skirts and the women don't wear tops. Yikes!! It's very national geographic of them. The work is easier in that I can again drive 8 minutes to work and come home every night. And the trips are more productive as well which allows me to have more days off. But thats about it. I won't bore you with work nonsense.
The other day we drove around the southern part of the island, which is the most beautiful part of the island that we've seen. There are lots of hills, I refrain to call them mountains, but a little known fact is that the tallest mountain in the world is Lam Lam right here on Guam. If you measure all the way down to the bottom of the Marianas Trench right off our coast, it goes more than 35,000 feet down which dwarfs Everest. You don't need oxygen or a sherpa to climb Lam Lam so we will probably tackle it sometime soon. So, on the south side there are lots of coves and hills and its really pretty as you can see below.
Last week we went to Ritidian Point which is by far the biggest beach weve seen, and it has the best sand. For those of you interested, there are surfable waves here, but they mostly break in shallow water with pretty rocky/sharp reefs below. I have scouted out a few nice point breaks and one beach break with sandy bottoms, but the swell has to be just right, which I hear doesn't happen too often. Actually the best consistant break is right off our Condo, so I got that going for me. Below is Ritidian Point, its too far away for any tourists and for some reason the locals don't come here. You have to know where you are going, there are no signs and at a whopping 20 minutes drive, I guess most don't bother with all the hassle and we have no problem with that.
Sunset overlooking the break out our eventual residence. Notice the nicely formed set rolling in courtesey of the tropical storm that just went by a few hundred miles west of here. It looks quite nice, but those waves are breaking in about 1-2 feet of water. The look on my face is one of hope in future swells and one of sorrow in that I may have missed a golden opportunity in not having a board yet. Waves like this dont hit Guam every day, week or month even. And as you can see in the foreground, St. Louis is well represented here with our traditional red and white canned beverage of choice.
Note: For those concerned, please know that this is a free forum for all to enjoy and that this blog in no way is meant to compete with or rival any other blog that may or may not have a similar name. Nor is this blog expected to reach as high a cult like status or to attain such incrideble commenting records. However, if the aforementioned should happen, it will be most welcomed.
