With apologies to Robin Williams and all Chamorro speakers everywhere for the title…
It was very odd last night to arrive at a pacific island themed hotel lobby and find a snow covered Christmas tree with polar bears though.
Arriving after dark makes it hard to actually figure out where you are
One of our agenda items today was to visit a memorial for the natives of Guam who suffered labor camps and forced marches under Japanese occupation, to find the names of Dave’s parents and grandparents.
One thing I learned here is that the battle of Guam had nearly as many casualties in 20 days as Guadacanal did in several months.
We also went to the Baptist cemetery where two of his grandparents are buried.
The evening plan is the “chamorro village” night market, to explore the locally made trinkets and foods.
After getting back to the hotel we went for a walk on the beach. It’s pretty at night. Water is plenty warm to stick your toes in, and there are little fish dartin and splashing around.
On the way back inside I was once again perplexed by the polar bear theming.
Not sure yet what tomorrow will bring, but I imagine finding some other local foods will be involved.