What a fun weekend. Saturday I headed up to Dededo to join the Seafarers for wood cutting. Unfortunately it started to rain and being as how I have not yet managed to get the wipers fixed I had to pull off into a convenient parking lot, which just happened to be in front of American Music.

American Music is a good size music store with plenty of acoustic guitars and small sampling of electric guitars and bases, a bunch of keyboards and the miscellaneous extras that every decent music shop should include. Since I was stuck there for an indeterminate time I wandered in to look at the guitars. They have Taylor, Gretsch, Yamaha, and a few others. There is also a selection of ukeleles. I asked and they agreed to let me play around with a few of the guitars. The Gretsch had a nice lively sound. I've never been a fan of Taylors but that's because they are so ubiquitous.

I arrived at Manny's house just as the heavens opened up again. There were several people already gathered under the carport. Obviously we weren't going to get any wood cut that day. We conducted a business meeting instead, talking over the rain, thunder, and the military jets flying circles overhead.

The best news at the meeting was that the Solo had turned up with her crew safe and sound. Solo is another large ocean canoe. She set out with a crew of five for Pikelot to hunt turtles. No one had seen her since and she was five days overdue for her return. As it turns out she met a long liner (fishing boat) who offered them a tow. They accepted but there was a misunderstanding of destination. There are two islands with very different names on the charts but the Chamorro names are very similar. The crew asked for Pikalot but were taken to West Felial which is called Pikel on the charts. They had a tough time getting back to where they belonged.

The rain kept on all afternoon. I persuaded my wipers to work finally and made my way home.

Sunday was pretty so I headed out. I needed cleaning supplies and a set of shelves for my towels so I headed for the Exchange. I stopped at the furniture store on the base and bought a table for $119.00 so I can now eat my meals like a human being. Then I headed home.

Along the way I realized that I hadn't really had any adventures lately so instead of taking my left for Cross Island Road I took the long way home, around the southern tip of the island. I drove down through Agat, Umatac, Malesso, Inarajan, Talafofo, Ipan, and Yona. All along the way I saw crowds of cars at houses as families gathered to barbecue and talk.

Before I got to the village center of Umatac I saw a turn out labeled "Mountain Overlook". I pulled off to take a look.

I haven't adequately described the mountains of Guam. They are pretty spectacular. Sure, they don't hold a candle to the really dramatic ranges in the world but they can hold their own in any comparisons you'd like to make. Where I stood I was in a semicircle of rough high peaks and deep gorges and valleys. The higher and steeper ground was covered by grass and looked from a distance like a covered of green velour. The lower ground was covered by jungle and looked for all the world like green woolly sheepskin. There is very little open rocky ground. Where the rocks show through they are black patches grinning out through the green covering. Where erosion has scoured away the green the dirt shows bright brick red. Trust me, we are talking one beautiful sight.

On the hills overlooking Umatac I saw another turn out. I pulled in to find I had discovered Guam's Viet Nam Memorial. It wasn't much to look at but the view is very nice. There is a covered cabana and there were a couple of young men playing guitars and singing while they sat on the stone wall looking down on Umatac Bay. I listened, while pretending to look at the view, until they started to drop notes and I realized I was cramping their style so I moved on.

In Umatac I saw a family fiesta going on and stopped to watch fishermen working their nets in Umatac bay. Just before the old Spanish bridge (which is neither old or Spanish) I saw three carabao lazily pulling at grass from tethers. I guess I have to agree with my daughter. They are kind of cute. They aren't really black, or maybe they are but they must also be really dirty. They are a kind of dusty brown black color.

I wanted to stop at the Inarajan Pools but they were crowded with another fiesta going on in the cabanas so I cruised on by. I was getting pretty hungry and every once in a while I would float through the smoke of another barbecue. I started to have visions of a plate full of barbecued pork, beef and chicken. I determined to stop at Jeff's Pirates Cove for lunch.

At Malesso I saw a substantial road running off to the left (inland) and a sign saying "Hilltop Store Pugua 6/$1.00". I turned left. I drove uphill for what seemed like an hour. In Guam when you drive uphill you are really driving uphill. The roads can be so steep you feel yourself pressing back into your seat. This was like that. At the top I came out into what had once been a promising housing development. There were roads curving here and there and the view was staggering. If not for the utility poles it would have been worthy of a postcard. Spread out below was Cocos Lagoon with the great Pacific Ocean out to the distant horizon. Unfortunately no one had bothered to finish building the neighborhood. There were a few houses and one under construction but mostly the area was open grass land.

I followed the roads around until one dead ended in a field. I parked the truck and got out. Off in the distance I could see a knoll that looked as though it promised a view. There was something that looked like a blue-green couch balanced on the top.

There was a car track running through muddy ground in the right direction so I walked out, slipping in the mud and avoiding the puddles as best I could. Closer to the knoll the ground was drier. The grass is not your standard lawn variety. This grass is tough, wide bladed, and grows to knee and waist height. I could feel is cutting at my bare legs and was glad I'd worn my sneakers instead of my sandals. Note to self, shorts are not the right outfit for wading through the grass.

At the top of the knoll I found the remains of at least two bonfires and many empty beer cans. The blue-green object was indeed a couch hauled there, I suspect, as the ultimate make out spot for the view is superlative. At my feet was the village of Malesso while the Cocos Lagoon lay with its blue and green water out to Cocos Island and surrounded by the surf pounding on the reef. There were sailboats moored and a jet ski made silent curves across the surface. In the distance I could hear roosters crowing, you are never far from chickens on Guam, and the rattle of the grass in the breeze. From somewhere below came the tiny roar of a weed whacker. The breeze was warm and the sun was hot and the day was gorgeous.

The rest of the trip was nice but had been overshadowed by that view. I blew by Jeff's and headed home to put my new furniture together.

Today at lunch we talked about Malesso and how that village was named after the esso, the juvenile rabbit fish. I learned that the Chamorro have many names for fish. They apparently have names for the different stages of development. I looked in a Chamorro-English dictionary the other day and noticed that the entry for fish runs on for at least a page and a half. It's like Eskimos and their fifty words for snow.