Surprising Guam

I never intended to go to Guam. I didn't really know much about Guam before I went. I only knew there was US military bases there and that the scuba diving was just so-so. But I had to fly through there so I figured I might as well spend a few days. Turns out I had to spend either 2 days or 5 days so I opted for 5 days. I had arranged to CouchSurf and my host had kindly offered to pick me up at the airport. I arrived at about 6 in the morning after an overnight flight and was feeling rather sleepy when I walked up to the US immigration officer. As a Canadian, I didn't have to go through the quantity of paperwork required by most travelers, but I soon discovered that I didn't quite have what I needed. What I needed was the address of where I was staying. I hadn't thought about it since my host was picking me up. I had his phone number in case there were any problems. I was too tired to recall the names of any hotels. So I simply put my host's name and phone number down on the form with the vain hope that it would be sufficient. It wasn't. I got hauled into the immigration office. At that early hour of the morning the airport was very quiet (my flight only had about 20 passengers on it and it was the only one to arrive) so obviously there wasn't much work to be done. When I walked in the room about 10 immigration officers stood up from where they had been sitting. They promptly left the room, leaving me alone with the officer who said I needed an address. Fortunately I had my host's number so he gave him a call. No answer. I sat down and waited. He called again and this time he answered. All sorted! I was free to go.

Guam is a small island, less than 50 km long and less than 20 km wide. However, the population and the sights are spread around the island in various villages so you really need to have your own transport. Fortunately rental cars are cheap. After breakfast I got myself an old Nissan for next to nothing. I caught up on a bit of sleep and then ventured out in the car to get myself oriented. My first goal was to get a map which actually proved to be harder than one might think. After stopping at numerous places I finally managed to track one down. I managed to find the dive shop and sort out plans for diving the following day. Guam certainly doesn't belong on a list of the world's top dive destinations, but the diving was actually not too bad. We managed to see some turtles and the Blue Hole is a fantastic site. For $25-30 for two dives (unguided), the price is the cheapest I've seen on the planet! The second day I had the unique experience of touching two shipwrecks which had gone down in two separate wars. The 440 foot Japanese passenger-cargo freighter, the Tokai Maru, was sunk by a US submarine in World War II. The 290 foot merchant raider, the German SS Cormoran, was scuttled by its captain in World War I rather than face capture by the Americans. It really was awesome to be able to dive on both these wrecks in a single dive and extend my arms out to reach two bits of history at the same time. Thanks to my CouchSurfing host who had dived these wrecks many times I had the perfect guide!

That night we were joined by a CouchSurfing couple from Hawaii. The guy only stayed one night before heading back home, but Louise stayed on for the next few days so were able to have some adventures together. We went snorkeling, toured around dropping in at sights at random and she showed me what has to be one of the craziest houses on the planet. Our host did a superb job at inviting us into the local scene as we took in a poetry slam at the university and went to a Christmas concert/dinner at his church. My favourite part of CouchSurfing is that you get a much better feel for how the locals live and don't just see a place from a tourist perspective. It's infinitely more interesting to hear about Chamorro history from a Chamorro than to read about it on some sign at a museum. I even got to attend a Christmas fiesta (the fiesta is a cultural tradition) one afternoon.

As I continued my exploration of Guam on my own after Louise left, I continued to marvel at the beauty of this tiny island. Unfortunately it was raining so I wasn't able to hike as planned since the trail was treacherously slippery. However, I stopped at many historic sites as well as ones of natural beauty. It's true that Guam is massively influenced by American culture (there are many McDonalds and the world's biggest KMart), that the diving is only average and there isn't a whole lot to do. But if you get a chance to experience it as I did, diving and staying with the locals, you may be pleasantly surprised. It is naturally gorgeous, multi-cultural and rich in history (Spanish colonization, Japanese occupation during WWII and as an American territory). And as I found out on my final day, full of some of the kindest and most helpful people on earth. My decision to rent a super cheap, well used car came back to haunt me on my final day as I was headed to the airport. I decided to go early, planning to stop at one more sight before I hopped on my flight. Unfortunately I only made it about 500 metres from my host's house before the car failed and I could not get it to start. My NZ phone didn't work in Guam so I walked back to the nearest shop to call the rental company. After I returned to my car, I was amazed as every single car that drove by stopped to offer to help. I had people try to push me off the road (but the tires seemed locked) and a woman even went and bought me some water. They all offered to call someone to help me and some offered to drive me to the airport. It was unbelievable. I actually started waving cars on and even then most of them stopped anyway. A policewoman stopped as clearly the car on the road was a hazard. But while she was making a report a truck drove by with a teenager driving and she had to leave to give chase (apparently some sort of troublemaker). A couple people lent me their phone to call the rental company again as it was taking forever. In the end I waited for about an hour and a half for a mechanic from the rental car company to show up. By that time I was needing to get to the airport for my flight so the mechanic ended up driving me. If you are going to break down, certainly Guam is the place to do it.

Chamorro chief