[Maryanne]Well, with Footprint now safely tucked away for the winter, we are off on our next adventure. Kyle first had to spend a few days at work, while I visited with Annie and Mike, but eventually we both met up in Newark to head off for our planned Holiday. Our destination is Perth, Western Australia, but to get there we had to travel via Tokyo, Guam, Cairns, and Sydney. On the way out we decided to break our journey in Guam – a US owned tropical Pacific island. We stayed in a swanky hotel, lounged for a day in the hotel pools, and rented a car to explore. But let’s not rush ahead of ourselves, first we stopped in Japan to change flights. It was only a short layover but I was really keen to just wonder around the airport and soak up the Japanese-ness. (OK I was a little shocked to find burger joints, but there was plenty of curious Japanese food on offer and beautiful silk clothing – I was like a kid at Disney and explored with my eyes wide in wonder while I left Kyle with the bags. I had nothing I wanted to buy (well, no space to put it if I did buy anything) but I did change some money into Yen just so I could get a look at it – all part of the experience of travelling in such an unfamiliar country. We were probably only there for a couple of hours, and I longed to explore outside the airport (just not possible for this trip).
Guam is a hot tourist destination for the Japanese, and it was strange to feel like a minority tourist in the USA. All signs, menus and maps have both Japanese and English (in some cases we were stuck with just the Japanese). Guam to the Japanese is like the Caribbean to the Americans. It is a major wedding destination for the Japanese; there are resort type hotels on beautiful beaches covered with loungers, and patrolled by attentive staff to take your drink order; there are huge air conditioned shopping malls filled with designer stores (and rich tourists). Of course, just like the Caribbean, there are equally nice beaches away from the crowds, there are road side food stands, and a million other reasons to leave the gates of the resorts. We rented a car for two days and only spotted tourists at a couple of heavily advertised (and over charged) sites.
We picked up the car late in our first full day, and there was little light left – we decided to detour to Two Lovers Leap –a cliff overlook, from where at some point (according to legend) two young lovers from feuding families, realizing they could never marry, decided to leap and end their lives together. Now it is a major site for Japanese weddings (and there are 1000’s of plaques adorning the walls in the gardens, one for each couple married there). From this cliff, some enterprising folk have built an overhanging viewing platform, installed a turnstile, and now collect money for the privilege of seeing the view. All well and good, but I’m with Kyle, and his romantic nature does not extend to spending money to be in a crowd – heck he figured we got the same view off to one side anyway.
Now Guam is not big (30 miles x 8 miles - depending where you measure). We did a bit of research and discovered a few small hikes that were purported to have views worth the effort. What I loved was the locals called hikers trekking out in the bush “Boonie stompers”; what a great phrase. Tarzan Falls was our first hike, allegedly a 20 minute stroll to the top of the falls and an optional 10 minute hike to the base. We set off on the muddy jeep trail we’d been advised to expect, but it soon twisted, turned and divided all over, so we kept having to judge which way was correct. Eventually we could hear tumbling water and assumed we were at the top of the falls and started to make our way down. The route down was quite a hike – very steep in places, and slick with mud – actually it looked like a dried river bed; there were MANY occasions when we questioned if we were on the right trail – but eventually Kyle spotted the pool at the base, complete with Tarzan swinging rope, so we persevered. Actually it was a pretty, tranquil spot. Kyle took a swim and a swing on the rope while I paddled, it was so nice to be able to cool off after the hike. We were both dreading the hike back up that steep slick trail.
[Kyle] The hike back up was a real exercise in misery. It was blazing hot and humid like standing in the bathroom while somebody takes a hot shower. The vegetation was mostly low scrub and offered no protection from the near vertical Sun. The ground was a fascinating kaleidoscope of different colors of clay, separated into stripes and swirls and polka-dots. The clay was just wet enough to have a slick layer on top, like a thin film of heavy grease. Traction on the way up was very tenuous. On the steeper parts or wetter parts, the loss of grip on the ground was a horrid, slow motion affair. I think I would have preferred a quick, feet-in-the-air, Scottish slip. As each slide began, every muscle would lock up in a vain attempt to keep weight over feet and feet firmly planted. We would slip and grab and then slip again until sliding off an edge and landing on our backs or knees and oozing to a stop on the viscous ground. We must have each pulled half the muscles in our bodies trying to just stay upright. The strain made us twice as tired than we would have been at the end of such a climb.
The pool where we swam was the one reported to be at the bottom of the falls. We never found the top. Our tortuous route down somehow managed to skip it. By the time we got back to the car, the idea of finding the proper trail had become completely out of the question. All along the trail and especially at the parking area, there were remains of shoes everywhere. At the beginning, it just seemed a little strange, but as we staggered back to the parking area, all smeared in clay, walking on giant, red clumps of mud with our feet somewhere inside, we understood. We attempted to wash our shoes in a blood red puddle with little effect. All that did was turn our sticky red shoes into slimy red shoes. If we hadn’t been in a rental car with plastic floor mats, we may well have decided that we would be better off ditching the shoes as well.
When we parked at Tarzan Falls, our car was amongst about five others in the mud lot. All along the hike, we kept wondering where all these people were. As we went further down the trail, we noticed fewer and fewer tracks from other people. We surmised that a few must have given up, others were going into the grass or onto rocky bits to dodge the clay. We kept expecting to see people from the other cars but they never materialized. We figured that, since it was Sunday, most of the others were locals spending the day at the pool at the bottom having a picnic. Not so. That place was deserted as well. Back at the lot, most of the same cars remained. We really hated the idea that we somehow missed the upper falls but neither of us had the motivation to go on a search so we decided to leave and head to the next spot. Just as we were pulling out, half a dozen, clean, fit, non-tired looking kids sauntered off the trail with towels around their necks as if they had just walked twenty yards from the pool showers. We agreed that we were already in the car so therefore would consider our Tarzan Falls attempt to be in the past, man, and got out of there. {Maryanne - we did later discover we most likely went to totally the wrong pool; the real Tarzan falls are spectacular - Oh well, a reason to visit again some day!}
Our next stop was Sella Falls and gardens. We ended up being the only car in the lot, which would have made a hasty retreat a little obvious to the gathered staff with their Oliver Twist faces. Feeling too ashamed to leave by that point, we grudgingly forked over the $5 each to get in. It was actually pretty nice if a little run down. To get the most out of our fee, we had a long stroll through the gardens and ate our pack lunch by the falls. I threw one of my crumbs in the water and a big school of fish swarmed at it. This was sufficiently entertaining for us that by the time the food was gone, the fish had eaten maybe a third of it. We also took the opportunity to crouch cave (wo)man style in the river. We stood on the rocks barefoot and used sharp stone hand axes to scrape the clay out of the grooves of our shoes, leaving a trail of red mud in the clear water like a dye marker.
Our new camera got wet at Tarzan Falls and was starting to play up more and more as the day went on. We managed to get a few photos, but as time passed, it seemed to prefer being off to working.
We decided to restrict the rest of our day to a more sedate drive along the coast road to see some of the more scenic spots. At one, we met a Chomorro (native islander) with a mohawk riding an ox named Bessie. Further along, we stopped at the wonderful Inigaram pools, a really cool swimming hole filled with locals and tourists alike and just about the prettiest place I could think of to have a barbecue with friends. We were unable to get photos of any of this, which broke our hearts, but what’re you gonna do?
Night fell quickly soon afterward, so it was time to get dinner and get back for a good night’s rest and to prepare for the trip to Australia.
Scenes from Guam - not a bad place to relax!
