Welcome to Guam, an “overseas territory” of the United States and not a UN Country. This is my 4th overseas territory for both Visit and Run.
Guam (Pop 171,774) is a peace of California but only 8% the size of Tasmania, covered in lush, thick low-height vegetation and surrounded by coral and clear turquoise waters. I say California because the main city Tamuning looks like any city in California, which I explain later. Guam is a territory and not a state of the USA even though it has a “Governor” and completely controlled and governed by the US Government. Most of the island is covered in military installations, the biggest of which is the Andersen Air Force Base which ran many sorties against the Imperial Japanese Army during WWII including the very last air mission to bomb Japanese Fuel Depots, 5 days after the Hiroshima Nagasaki Nuclear Bomb to ensure the Japanese did not have the fuel to retaliate.
People born on Guam are American citizens but are politically disenfranchised, having no vote in the United States presidential elections while residing on Guam. Indigenous Guamanians are the Chamoru, who are related to the Austronesian peoples of Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Polynesia. The Chamorro language is its own language like Palauan and not classified as a Micronesian or Polynesian language. Rather, like Palauan, it possibly constitutes an independent branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language. Chamorros are the largest ethnic group, but a minority on the multi-ethnic island. The Chamorro people settled the island approximately 3,500 years ago.
Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, while in the service of Spain, was the first European to visit the island on 6 March 1521. Guam was colonized by Spain in 1668 with obvious remnants of forts and Catholic Churches to prove it !!! Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Guam was an important stopover for the Spanish Manila Galleons. During the Spanish–American War, the United States captured Guam on 21 June 1898. Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Guam to the US effective 11 April 1899.
Before World War II, Guam was one of five American jurisdictions in the Pacific Ocean, along with Wake Island in Micronesia, American Samoa and Hawaii in Polynesia, and the Philippines. On 8 December 1941, hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Guam was captured by the Japanese, who occupied the island for two and a half years. During the occupation, Guamanians were subjected to forced labour, incarceration, torture and execution. American forces recaptured the island on 21 July 1944. Since the 1960s, Guam's economy has been supported primarily by tourism and the US military, for which Guam is a major strategic asset.
An unofficial but frequently used territorial motto is "Where America's Day Begins", which refers to the island's proximity to the International Date Line. Guam is among the 17 non-self-governing territories listed by the United Nations, and has been a member of the Pacific Community since 1983.
Now back to why I called Guam – California. The main city of Tamuning (Pop 19,285) is like a beachside suburb of Los Angeles or San Francisco – big wide roads full of traffic, open-plan shopping malls with big car parks around them, all the Californian fast food outlets, ugly industrial areas and hotels and malls that look like they were built in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This city is run-down, tired and old looking. What is not like California is the wonderful, clear, turquoise water with coral that surrounds the entire island. This makes Guam very sensitive to tides – you cannot distance swim here at low tide since the coral shield surrounding the island is too shallow and you cannot go out to sea without ripping yourself on the coral and outlying rocks – I found this out the hard way !!!
During my first stay in Guam I hired a car for two days and drove a total of 163km visiting Tamuning, Hagatna (The Capital for the US and Indigenous) and the entire northern section of the island. I then scooted off to Saipan for 3 days and returned for a second visit to drive the southern section of Guam. The capital is a much more pleasant place with obvious Spanish architecture and colourful buildings as you will see in the photos. In Tamuning I visited: Archbishop Felixberto Flores Memorial Circle, Sagan Kotturan Chamoru Cultural Center Guam (Viewpoint), Hilton Hotel Chapel and Lookout, Ypao Beach, Chinese Park, Puntan Dos Amantes (Two Lover’s Point), Micronesia Mall. In Hagatna, I visited Libugon Vista Point, Mount Alifan Unit War, Fort Santa Agueda, Governor's House, Japanese Fortification, Dulce Nombre De Basilica (our Lady of Purification Cathedral), Almacen Arches, Azotea, Guam Congress Building, Guam National Musuem, Guam National Post Office, Skinner Plaza, Fallen Memorial, General Macarthur Bust, San Antonia Bridge, Agana Bay, Agana Statue of Liberty.
My drive around northern Guam was nowhere near as scenic as Palau due to the many military installations and associated commercial business that service the military chewing up forest and littering the landscape with solar farms, concrete pits, electrical poles and wires and radar domes that look like giant golf balls !!! Beaches are beautiful especially Riridian on the northern tip. I visited the following places in the north: Pagat Cave Lookout, South Pacific Memorial Park, Riridian Point & Beach, Ritidian Viewpoint, WWII Memorial "The Last Mission", Tanguisson Beach, Puntan Dos Amantes (Two Lovers Leap), Tamon Beach, Onward Beach, Oka Point.
Just like the rest of the Western Pacific, Guam has also picked up “pigeon English” and the popular word for HELLO is HAFA ADAI or “Have A Good Day”…
During my stay in Guam and Saipan I watched the movies “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” since both are based on the 1944 US-Japan battles that led to the end of WWII. Iwo Jima is an island 1,309km north of Guam where these movies are based.
Please enjoy the sites of Northern Guam…
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