Lower Sigua Falls Part 2

This boonie stomp was a close encounter with Guam MUD. I had experienced coral and lava rock and had heard a rumor that Guam actually had dirt. This stomp gave me proof that Guam does have dirt - red clay dirt that turns into red MUD.
This was an innocent beginning to an extensive encounter with MUD. Soon after starting our stomp, the MUD started building up on the bottoms of our shoes. It was no good knocking it off because within steps it was back. Not that it would fall off. Some implement would have been handy -- like a chisel.
This is dried MUD. It dried into this really interesting formation. I thought it was rock at first but it was just dried MUD. It's not red but it is still MUD.
The whole group. Feet covered in MUD. Our shoes will never be the same. Mine are still sitting outside my front door waiting for some cleaning. They were white. They are now red. They will never be white again. At this point I was still innocent and had no idea how completely covered I would become in MUD.
It's starting to get steep, I got a pull up the hill but I had no idea how vertical it was to become.
The teenagers took off ahead. They are the dots in the middle of the picture. I don't think they even noticed it was a tough stomp. Ah....to be a teenager again.
Wild orchids were common along the trail. Isn't it beautiful?
The scenery was gorgeous! Not a drop of MUD in sight in this picture. The darker greens are swaths of palm trees with fern looking plants much shorter between. We speculated that maybe some areas were more protected from the wind and typhoons which promoted the palm tree growth.
Back to the MUD. How would you like to cross this bridge. By the time we got to it there was slimy red MUD on it. We crossed very, very carefully. Note that I am still wearing my red back pack. That means the going had not got that tough yet. Someone else ended up wearing it most of the time.
Here is the source of the red MUD (clay so slimy you could make a pot out of it). It is really beautiful -- red is my favorite color.
Now it gets steep and this is where I picked up most of the MUD on my back side as in a lot of places the safest way down was to slide. One slope was so slippery that it was a good thing there was a tree in the middle of the path to stop myself on. As you can see this is not red mud but brown, but it is still MUD.

Lower Sigua Falls has a wonderful jumping platform which I declined to try. I'm not afraid of heights, it is the sudden drop I am afraid of. Here is our photographer taking the leap. The pool was not deep enough for diving. Feet first was the only way to do it.

The swim was wonderful. The MUD did not come off. Later on it dried on into a layer on my legs like armor plating.
Here is the map - five miles round trip. I believe yellow is fairly level. Red is an elevation change. Notice how red the trail gets as you get nearer to the falls.

This was a wonderful experience with the MUD that God made and a chance to see some of the wondrous things he has made with fellow Christians he has called.

Boonie Stomp to Lower Sigua Falls

Last Saturday I wen on a Boonie Stomp to Lower Sigua Falls which was organized by Jeff Johnson at the Lutheran Church of Guam. The group is arranged over a WWII American tank. Jeff thought it was Japanese but someone saw some print on it and it was English. It was VERY shot up with bullet marks all over and big shell holes.


The 4 teenagers pictured trotted down and up arriving at the falls and back at the vehicles at least 1/2 hour ahead of the rest of us. I climbed, sat and slid, and scrambled down with the help of Pastor Jeff. On the way up it took Pastor Jeff and Mike standing IN the tank at the lower right to pull and shove me up the hills. It rained and the ground was red clay which turned to slime. I'm not in the picture because I was behind the camera.

Wes was the photographer. He emailed the 3 included out and I will be getting a complete set. It will be interesting to see if there is a picture of me and the complete degree of mud coating I received. By the time we got up, my legs were impervious to sword grass (gives paper cuts) due to the thick layer of tried mud everywhere. I have a tee shirt which will always be red/brown - especially the back.

I asked Pastor Jeff how it compared to another boony stomp I had gone on and was told it was about the same -- not. The trail books list this one as very difficult. But, the trip was worth it.
At one point were were on top of a ridge and I could almost see my house. There is a building called Ladera Tower that really sticks out because it is the only tall building in the area. I live about a mile away. The Ordot dump was also very visible -- which Guam Gov. has been talking about closing for years.

There were wild orchids and hybiscus. There were swaths of palm trees with a short ferny looking plant between. One thing I like about Guam is that you can park along the road and walk down a trail and almost immediatly you are out in the middle of nowwhere.

Below is our first view of Lower Sigua Falls. Thiere is a swimming pond out of sight at the bottom. This was taken before the going got really tough although I thought it had already been tough. We had to go down and up and down in some places almost vertically. Some places had ropes strung but this was not like anything I have seen in the lower 48. The path was made by people walking it and the ropes were provided by prior hikers. Nothing official.
After getting to the bottom the reward was swimming. This is a picture of Pastor Jeff jumping off the cliff. The pool was well over my head but there was no way I would jump. You can see Pastor Jeff is sporting some of the mud that probably will never come off.
I enjoyed the swim. Could you believe it was a bit chillie? I had to get out to sit in the sun and warm up.

After an enjoyable time at the pool it was time to climb back up. That's where the help of the guys really came in. There was one place where the next step up was about 4 feet. On the way down, I slid down. On the way back it too pushing, pulling, and squirming into a place less than 2 feet wide. With help I made it!

If Pastor Jeff had told me this trail was rated very difficult, I would not have gone and I would have missed this great opportunity. I probably won't go again unless I lose at least 20 lbs and get more upper and lower body strength. I hurt just about everywhere except my back, chest, and head.

I thank the Lord for giving me this wonderful experience in his glorious nature. It was such a blessing that I cannot express it other than thank you.

A Sunset and Flowers

I have misplaced my camera. One day it just vanished. It had lived a hard life inside it's sock (the only case it ever had). There was a dent in the front and the battery/card holder door was held shut with duck tape but it took some pretty nice pictures. The battery would run dry at the most inopportune times. I have a number of samples of events where I have only pictures of the beginning of the event.

Somewhere in my sock drawer is an odd sock.

While I wait for my new camera to arrive (along with an extra battery), I thought I would go back through my pictures and select a few to share. Here are a sunset and a bunch of flowers (which there are a lot of on Guam) as samplings God's handiwork.
This is the view out the back of my apartment at dusk. During the day the jungle is covered with pink flowers, but, at dusk one day there were the clouds and the jungle in silhouette. I don't have a view of the ocean but I like what I see when I look out at the jungle.

Plumeria blossoms are beautiful and smell wonderful and come in a number of colors. All of these pictures were taken at the PIBC campus.

This is a picture I took a year ago in Tim and Melody Plaxton's yard while I was staying at their house while visiting Guam. I think Melody told me this was a hibiscus but I'm not sure.

These next flower pictures were taken in Dave and Joyce Owen's yard. They were all in pots -- some of them because they had to be dug up before their next door neighbor built a fence where they were. They were waiting for Joyce to get out her jack hammer to re-plant them. I assume they are now in the ground again by now after a year.

What kind of flower is this? I'm drawing a blank. I really should know. I have a cousin who grows them in his backyard in San Diego.Isn't this flower georgeous? What vivid colors.I'm sure this plant was waiting to get back in the ground because it doesn't look totally happy. A bit droopy but the flowers are beautiful.

I have not seen it, but I am told that when the flame trees here really start blossoming they really do look like they are on fire. The flame trees have dropped their leaves and I am starting to see blossoms. I surely will take pictures when they blossom.
This flower was clinging to a rock overlooking a cliff to the sea on the Eastern side of Guam. I took this picture while on a boonie stomp to a cave where there is swimming if you are brave enough to climb down in and bring enough candles to light the way.

I hope you have enjoyed these little snapshots of the beauty that God has created. I am enjoying the warm weather here and the lack of air polution. I also enjoy looking out while just driving around and -- there is the ocean. I don't have nearly the amount of alergies here than I did in the states which I attribute to the cleaner air for which I thank the Lord and I also thank the Lord that he is allowing me to be of service to him.

Random Things Learned on Guam

I have already been on Guam for 4 months and a lot has happened both in my work at PIBC and everyday living. So, I am going to start with some random things I have learned about living on Guam.

Guam's version of getting anything done with the local government (Guam Gov.)

I thought I was going to be taking a written test so I went to Tax and Rev where the DMV is located. I wanted to get a book of the regulations so I could study.

Once I arrived at the Tax & Rev. building, I didn't know where to go. So I picked on the man taking pictures for driver's licenses. He was very helpful (Guamanians are very friendly). He filled out a form. He then sent me to the cashier to pay $5.00 for the book. So, I went and paid my $5.00 and the form was stamped paid. I then went back to the man taking pictures. He disappeared for quite a while and returned with the book and gave it to me.

I later learned that because I was from California, I didn't have to take the written test.

Getting my car registered, driver's license, water hookup, and electricity hookup all followed a similar pattern. 1) Get in a line and wait. 2) get some paperwork reviewed 3) get in another line and pay the bill. The driver's license had an extra line for picture taking and to get my license made.

It was a bit disconcerting when they punched a hole in my California license before I had my new one!

Guam is a friendly place.

Two examples of the friendliness and helpfulness of the Guamanians .

One day after moving into my apartment, I went shopping in Kmart to get necessities I didn't bring with me (like a shower curtain). In my cart I had a microwave, a DVD/VCR player plus a lot of other things. It was too much for me to handle. I asked the cashier at the checkout counter for help an a teenage boy appeared. He helped me with checking out and I thought he was an employee of KMart. On the way out I found out he was was the son of another customer. I thanked them for helping. They insisted on helping me out to my car (which was way, way out) and loading my car. I can't imagine that happening in the States.

Another time I had a full cart and a man walking up the street just came up and helped me load my car.

Guam Drivers are crazy

I did learn one useful thing from the motor vehicle rules book I didn't need to buy. The center lane in a road used for turning or entering a road is referred to as the “suicide lane” or “kamikaze lane” right in the book. This is due to drivers using them for a passing lane. I have had cars pass me going really fast and Melody had 2 cars pass her one day while she had her left turn signal on!

It's also really good to watch out at stop lights because many times people don't stop until the light turns red (I am guilty of this myself). If you are going to stop, look to the rear because the driver behind may not be planning to stop. I have seen one rear end crash that looked to me like someone stopped of the light and the driver behind didn't.

The maximum speed on most major streets here is 35 mph with a couple of short stretches on Marine Corps Drive where it is 45. On side steets it is usually 20 mph. It was published in the local paper that the police was not going to ticket anyone unless they were driving more than 15 miles over the limit. So, of course, dirvers push the limit. I don't think it was such a good idea to publish this in the PDN (Pacific Daily News).

Guam navigation

If you see someone weaving up the road. The driver is probably not drunk. It is more likely the road is full of potholes.

I hate to drive at night. At some point, in the distant past, lines were painted on the roads -- maybe even with reflective paint. The paint is about 90% worn off. I find it difficult to see where the lanes are at night. The streets are, also, not well lighted.

There are no freeways here. No limited access highways. There is only one set of entrance / exit ramps on the island where one road goes over another. Going under is referred to as going through the tunnel. I am told it had something to do with airport access.

There are no decent maps. Due to typhoons, street signs are a luxury and numbered roads become nu-numbered after a typhoon. Few buildings have numbers on them. Therefore, you can't find anything by address. Mapquest does not work. Every set of directions is in the form of landmarks which for the newcomer makes navigation difficult.

So, whenever I get directions, I get asked if I know where a certain school or other building is and usually I say no but I know where GPO (Guam Premium Outlets), Micronesian Mall, Kmart, Home Depot, and Hafa Adai market are and go from there. There are a couple of places I have never found.

I hope you have been blessed by the Lord this day and have enjoyed my random comments. More to come later -- with pictures.

What am I doing here?

This is a start of a blog where I can share what's going on in Guam with my work at Pacific Islands Bible College (PIBC) and my life here on Guam and post Pictures.

For example, the picture to the above is taken from the "GPO" parking lot. It seems that whenever I am at this spot, there is a really great sunset.

It was a Thursday night outside of Wendys on the way to Worship Team practice at the Lutheran Evangelical Church of Guam.