An Active Vacation in Guam

Guam

This is the true story of 7 strangers picked to travel to an island together.  To live together, do activities together, and travel together for 3(ish) days.

So maybe the trip to Guam was more Real World Road Rules Challenge style, but here's how this random trip went down.

My roommate Dustin and I were flying a trip together and were sitting at an airport discussing our airline agreements.  Air Tahiti came up and we decided we needed a beach trip in our lives, and Tahiti should be it.  After looking it up we quickly changed our minds.  It was expensive, difficult to get to the areas we would stay, and a honeymooners paradise.  Dustin and I like the same type of men, and I'm not sure how that would go over at a honeymooners resort.  So, he pitched the idea of Guam.  I had previously looked into Guam and knew the beaches were beautiful.  We can also fly there for free as flight attendants because it's a US territory, (yes people, it's the U.S... ) Done. That was all we needed to pick our days and start sending out text invites.  All within 3 hours of sitting at the Detroit airport.

So, a week later...  7 people found their way to Honolulu.  Personally, I knew 3 others in the group. Everyone went a day or so early other than me.  I had to make things difficult and flew from Tampa to Houston to Honolulu to Guam.... all in a day. Actually around 24 hours of traveling exactly and a lot of luck flying the entire thing standby.

We arrived in the evening and drove our rental mini suv (yep 7 people) to our airbnb.  There are surprisingly plenty of rental options in Guam, specifically the touristy area around Tumon Bay, but no so many options for 7 budget travelers.  So, when we pulled up to our dimly lit apartment rental behind a strip of restaurants and see 5 guys hanging out in the hallway we were a little concerned.  Upon entering we realize it was a converted store, made obvious by the push and pull stickers on the glass front door.  It turned out to be just fine though, and prime location next to an alley that led to a tree swing on the beach, and it was just off the main strip of bars and restaurants.  7 people made it work in a 2 bedroom 1 bath pretty easily if I do say so myself.  There were a few complications that last night, but I'll just leave that memory for the 7 of us haha...

We woke up and rolled out early morning for our poorly planned day of exploring.  Poorly planned because we had no WiFi and had to revert back to the days of not having a phone for navigation or to Google hikes.  We find 'directions' for a hike we previously picked out, called something pools, and set off.  The directions took us to a beach... that was all.  No markers, no sign, no anything except for a family hanging out on a beautiful beach.

We decided to walk the empty beach, and I'll be dang if we don't come up to WWII pipes that were in the description on the hike.  Next were the 2 balancing rocks about to topple over into the ocean... which was the end of the 'hike'. Apparently we wandered in the right direction! Climbing over razor sharp coral/rocks to get to that point wasn't enough tho.  We kept going... Actually we were just trying to keep up with Dustin.  But, I'm very thankful we did.  The beaches we came across were some of the most beautiful I think I've ever walked on.  Dale & Melissa worked diligently and cracked open fresh coconuts on the coral, we swam in perfectly clear water, picked up freakin starfish right off the ocean floor, and relaxed under giant palm trees on a pink sand beach that casually leaned towards the ocean. Basically, my perfect day.

The best part, we didn't see a sole!  Unless you count the bazillion hermit crabs and multiple blue starfish.  I've never seen a starfish in the 'wild', and we (Dustin) just picked 2 of them right up (after a conversation about if the blue ones could be poisonous).  There were a couple more curled up around coral that we didn't bother. Once we had our fill, we put our socks and tennis shoes back on and walked back.

Next, we planned to hike to a place called Tarzan Pools and then Tarzan Falls.

We weren't exactly prepared for this.  Like, half the group didn't eat breakfast and we had no water.  It was 80 degrees and the hike was completely exposed to the sun.  By the time we made it to the lack-luster pool, half of us were exhausted.  Then we had to hike back... Forget finding the falls, at that point we had to get back to the car before one of our group passed out.... ahem, I'm not naming any names.

We had Mexican for lunch, as recommended by locals.  Yes, Mexican, in Guam... A friend of one of our group met up with us at that point and took over as tour guide.  He took us to the south side of the island (I think) and we saw lots of rolling hills and views for days. Guam actually has the highest mountain in the world, Mount Lamlam.  It is 37,820 feet tall! However, it starts at the deepest point of the ocean, the Marianas Trench, so only the top of it is exposed above sea level at an elevation of only 1,334 feet. We went to a natural tide pool, and then to watch the sunset from the ruins of a Spanish fort built to overlook the ocean.

 It was the perfect spot for a sunset, and we cracked open a beer and enjoyed. We were dead tired by the time we got home and in bed by 9 I think. Wild ones I tell ya.

We woke up for sunrise and walked through our sketchy building's little alleyway to the beach to watch it.  I had purchased champagne and orange juice the night before and surprised the group with mimosas as we watched the sunrise over a completely calm ocean.  As we are enjoying the moment it started raining, whatever... we didn't mind. As the champagne buzz was kicking in we notice a rainbow appear as the rain slowed.  Then another rainbow as the sun started to come up.  It was ridiculous I tell ya! I'm a huge fan of sunrises and sunsets, and rainbows, and mimosas, and tree swings, and anything cliche cheesy...  so to say I was a happy camper is a massive understatement. I wasn't alone in my feelings, pretty sure everyone enjoyed starting the day out on such an awesome note. I mean a double rainbow, while drinking mimosas, watching the sunrise on the beach?! Come on!

This day we planned a bit better.  We wanted to do a hike to the waterfalls that our new local friend mentioned, so we went to Burger King for free wifi and breakfast.  Yes, Burger King, in Guam. Our map that we saved to our phone was a bit ummm, cave-mannish, and our directions included things like turn right at the tank.  Well, we found the tank.  But, there were like 6 trails leading all ways from the tank.

 As we're debating which trail 'right at the tank' meant, 2 people appeared from one of the trails straight ahead and informed us the waterfall was like 30 minutes away.  Score! Or so we thought.  We headed that way, and yes... found the top of the waterfall, longer than 30 minutes later, but couldn't find the path to the bottom.  We wandered through brush, jungle, spider webs, and razor palms.  So, we turned around and headed back to the tank.  That is when we realized Dustin left his $450 sunglasses at the fall.  So we did exactly what marks when things are about to go bad in horror movies, and we split.  I went with him so we could quickly grab them and hustle back... and the others were going to go down the process of elimination correct trail.

Well, once we found the glasses we also found the path down to the bottom.  We yelled for the group that we could see above up at that point and they said no, they were going the other way.  Dustin and I huuustled down that gutter trail complete with ropes to lower yourself down convinced that we were going to beat the others to the bottom.  We did. We swam. We jumped off the falls. We waited. We yelled. We went back.  Apparently they didn't like the trail down and decided to wait for us to come back before we all went.  Yeaaaa, they were pissed. But, the waterfall was beautiful and totally secluded...  I wish the group could have experienced it, but selfishly I'm glad I got to. 

We piled back into our 5 person small SUV and rolled out after a hot hike back.  We stopped for a gorgeous views and  few photos while just cruising around the island with windows down and music playing.

Next up on the exploration list, a green sand beach.  Actually only 1 of 4 in the world. Hello, of course we wanted to see that!  We knew the area it was in and semi had directions.  We passed beach after beach but none of them were green.  Finally we stopped and Muj, our fearless driver, asked for directions.  Apparently the green sand beach was actually the poop brown beach we had just driven past.  The store worker said that it really is green when the tide washed the minerals up, but it isn't always that way.  Apparently we weren't in luck that day.  BUT, he also mentioned that he was surprised that was why we came, because most people come to that beach for the sand.  When asked why he just said to go see.  Melissa nailed it when she said it was like walking on freakin memory foam.  Craziest sand I've ever felt, and totally surprising.  It was 'diamond' sand I think the man said, and extreemely fine.  The disappointing poop brown beach turned out to be pretty awesome after all.

Next... beers on the beach.  Quite a few.  We watched a beautiful sunset from Tumon Bay and then wrapped up a solid day.

It happened to be the local festival night and we decided to check it.  I finally had some local food, which was rice, a meat skewer, and delicious corn. We watched some local dances, and shopped at the booths.  This is when we had the missing person incident.  One of our group had one too many beverages on the beach and we left them in the car to sleep it off, per their request, with strict instructions not to leave.  Apparently we were gone a little too long and they got hungry.  So, when we got back to the car we had a missing person on our hands. That's when scenes from a horror movie started playing in my 'mother hen' mind.  There is no cell phone service keep in mind.  So we split up, 2 guys searched the alleyways for her body, and the other 2 groups split the market and searched... ya know, in case she wasn't actually abducted from the car.   We found her shopping for her nephew with an explanation that we took too long and she was hungry...  So, a scene from Taken didn't play out on this vacation, phew.

That was about it... later, we went out that night to experience a local bar, which was dead on a Wednesday night.  I karaoked Avril Lavigne 'Sk8er Boi' with a random local because it was her birthday and she asked me to, and then we headed back to bed.  The (again) not very well thought out plan was to stay awake until our flight so we would sleep the entire thing, which backfired per usual.  I mayyybe got an hr and a half of sleep, and we woke up and headed to the airport.  6 hours back to Honolulu (and slept maybe 1 of them), then we debated who was heading to the mainland and who would stay on for the vacation that never ends.

2 of the girls I met on this trip and I decided to stay.  We booked a hotel for 2 nights rather than the original plan of 1, and headed to Wikiki beach.  

While  having drinks at a rooftop bar one of Melissas friends called her up and asked where we were.  When she told them they informed us they were actually on the way to that same place to pick some people up in a party bus and that we were coming with. I mean, out of all the places.  Soooo, on a Wednesday... in Honolulu, we boarded a party bus with 15 or so locals that were raging for one of their birthdays. We had a blast and stayed up until 530am... our bodies had no internal clock at that point anyhow.

Next day was a much needed beach and relax day. We went to sleep early prepared to wake up at 3am to hike the stairway to heaven, but it was too windy that day apparently. Melissa knew someone in the marines stationed there that offered to pick us up and take us hiking.  So we spent the day doing that and seeing the windward side of the island which is beauuuuutiful.

It was great to have access to the beaches only military can get to.  After a few complications, we headed to the airport to fly home.  Jenny went home, however, she took the last seat

We were forced to stay another night, darn it.  The hotels by Waikiki were the same price as the ones near the airport so we decided this was the vacation that never ends and headed back to the beach.  We could have tried for 8am flights, but we figured if we had to book another night we might as well enjoy the beach and another Waikiki sunset one more day.  That night the vacation that never ends finally ended.  We made our redeye flight to LAX and then finally the next afternoon caught a ride home.

It was a really random trip, but one I wont forget. I try and make sure I never forget how lucky I am to be able to see new places and write new stories. This was a trip that reminded me to be very thankful for my flight benefits, and the fact that 6 other people were willing to join the trip to a unconventional place on such a short notice. Guam was great in a take you back to nature kind of way.  To find a place with that much beauty that hasn't been built up and touristy felt really special.  The jetlag struggle of being 15 hours ahead and then going to 5 hours behind in Honolulu was real, actually it's a week later and I'm still trying to get a solid 8 hours of sleep.  It was totally worth it!  As they say, I can sleep when I'm dead.

Guatemala- Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and a Stranger

Sometimes you go places that you'll never forget, and sometimes you meet people you'll never forget. My trip to Guatemala with my friend, Shenna, has both.

The details of our trip to Guatemala and the story of our new friend Alexi definitely go hand in hand.

We arrived in Antigua and wandered around town for a bit before asking for a restaurant recommendation.  It was one we both recognized from reading material, and we decided it was a winner. We were trying to order jalapeños when the man next to us assisted and started chatting. He is french & mexican, but was raised in Guatemala City among other places. His mom was an anthropologist, and he traveled through Guatemala extensively growing up. He was full of interesting stories about Antigua, and immediately asked if we had checked out the Arch, the monastery turned 5 star hotel, the cathedral ruins, etc etc etc... we had walked past all of the above but didn't know a thing about it. So, when this seemingly nice man who spoke fluent english and spanish offered to walk us around and tell us about the local sites, we agreed.

Let me stop the story right here for a second. I'm pretty open to engaging people when I travel, but Shenna is a bit on the 'I've seen too many scary movies/criminal shows' side. She questions everything they say to make sure their story aligns, and even then doesn't fully believe them. I'm being a little dramatic, but it's obviously a good thing when 2 females are traveling together alone. Also, we are well traveled and know the basics... new friends never know where we stay, we don't drink a lot, blah blah blah.

So the night with Alexi starts out by him explaining the famous yellow arch in Antigua was actually just a way for the nuns to cross the street from their convent that was on both sides of the street.  It was a convent of reclusion, and the arch was a way to make sure the nuns could remain unseen. Yea, I never would have known that if he would not have offered to be our tour guide. Interestingly, Antigua was one of the 3 largest cities after the Spanish colonization. Lima, Peru being one and I forget the other.

The entire city is dotted with convent ruins, but one in particular had been refurbished and turned into a hotel.  Convenient enough, Alexi knows the owner of the 5 star hotel and we continued our impromptu tour and wandered through the cathedral ruins and crips where the monks were buried at night.  It's actually a fully functioning cathedral in the ruins (seats set up and a giant tent over), and we walked through by the full moon.  He knew years, facts, and folklore for a place on every street. I'm a big nerd and love learning the history of a new place, and was immediately sucked in.  He was teaching Shenna spanish along the way (attempting with me as well), so it was a great time!

This is when we learned about Masheemon, or Saint Simon to a gringa like me. I can't possibly go into as much detail as he did, but I'll give a brief because these people truly believe in this and its fascinating. There is a small statue dressed in traditional clothes that the Mayans believe is a saint that will return to you in fold whatever you leave at his statue.

So, you light a candle and make your wish and either leave what you wish for, or leave an offering (apparently the Saint prefers cigars and liquor... not joking). So, you see these vigils set up at a couple of places around town and sure enough there are liquor bottles around or cigars in the statues mouth.  There is one in the Lake Atitlan village of Santiago that is very interesting. There is a brotherhood that keep track of this particular Masheemon. Once a year he changes houses. The way they pick the house, and add another man to the brotherhood is by essentially having a human football game with the statue as the football. Only the brotherhood can partake, and they run through the streets of this village trying to tackle whoever has Saint Simon. Whatever house the statue falls in front of is the house which hosts his vigil for 1 year. Meaning, they allow visitors whenever, and are supposed to 'taste' or use whatever is left for the Saint.  We never made it to Santiago, but we did find a couple of Masheemons in Antigua that we were able to see and leave our offering for... obviously.

Somewhere along the lines that night we nicknamed our french/mexican friend (who we later found out when he gave me his business card, got his masters from does contract work for Harvard), as our personal wikipedia. And he speaks 5 languages. And he's lived in almost every country in Central/South America in his 39 years.  Yea, obviously our tour guide wasn't the average tour guide. We were leaving for the Lake in the am, and said goodnight to Alexi. He said he would meet us for coffee before we left, that he wanted to show us the coffee shop with a haunted butler that was close by. He claimed it wouldn't stay open past dark because no worker would agree to work those hours because of a butler who was buried alive when it was a working home. True to his word, he was waiting for me when I had forgotten he was going to be, and he got our to go coffees and showed me where the butler was buried alive.

We boarded our shuttle to Lake Atitlan, and Alexi said he may come that way too... that he had friends who lived on the lake he had not seen in a while.  We were like ok, whatever, we will email you. He really did come, and stayed in the same small village.... which we thought was a little more than coincidence.  From Panajachel you have to take a boat to get to the other villages around the lake.  This was our first introduction to the peaceful beauty this lake had to offer.  So shuttle, then boat, then a tuktuk took us to our hotel from the dock.

the hotel view

We met up for dinner only to realize he knew as much about the villages around the lake as he had about Antigua. And the Mayan culture, and the best local spots, and had fun folklore stories the locals believed about the lake. But we were still trying to figure out what his deal was. He knew Shenna was happily married, he wasn't hitting on me or making any moves. He was just hanging out with us, and very good company.

The next morning we woke up at 3am for the sunrise hike to Indian Nose. Our guide met us and walked us to the bus stop. To the chicken bus stop. The chicken bus is a mode of transportation that includes.... -a very colorfully decorated school bus from the US. -Lots of locals.... like crammed in there. -Smells, lots of smells. -A rack on top that the locals climb a ladder to place their boxes of stuff they're taking to the market. -And some sort of death wish for the passengers.  These buses take hairpin turns up mountain at 50mph, they just stop in the middle of the road if someone needs on or off. It was absolutely terrifying at 330 am going up a mountain in the dark!

I didn't document our ride on the inside, but this was a video from riding behind one. 

But, we lived. However, we barely made it up the last 45 min hiking up that dang mountain. It was rough! As we are walking with our flashlights huffing and puffing I realize that they are farming in the area. Like, they climb up this daily carrying things up, and carrying crops down. These Mayans and their short little legs are beasts. The women carry the baskets on their head that can weigh up to 40lb sometimes  (our wikipedia said that), the men place the strap of a bag on their foreheads and carry the weight on their backs. Watching them work or just carry things around made me exhausted.

Indian Nose sunrise was breathtaking. I truly doubt I can put into words how much I appreciated being able to witness that. I'm a big suckered for a sunrise or sunset, but this one was one I'll never forget.  You get up there just as dawn is starting to show.

The outlines of the neighboring volcanoes and mountains with the lake spread out before you, and 2 visible cities below is pretty cool. Then the sun continues to rise and you realize that you are actually well above the clouds. The colors as it makes its way over the mountain were beautiful and reflect just perfectly off the lake. Again, I'll simply never forget it. The local who hiked up just to make us (& another group of 4) coffee on a bonfire just added to it!

The ride down was nearly as exciting.  We just missed the chicken bus down, darn it, and had to hop in the back of a pick up truck.  Confused but following our guide, we stood up and held onto the welded metal to hang on.  We stopped along the way and picked up locals.  I counted 14 in that truck bed by the time we filled up.  It was quite the experience, but the views going down the mountain were worth it!  Obviously we napped after that lol. We had set a time with Alexi to meet, and of course he was there. We had mentioned how horseback riding would be cool as we hung out for a bit. We went our separate ways only to find out later that he had set up and paid for us to go ride through the coffee plantations. We had made a friend from Amsterdam at the hotel, and she was included in the group outing. The sunset horse back ride was awesome! As someone who never cared for riding horses as a child, I discovered that I loooove it. So much fun!

 We grabbed dinner afterwards,  a local street food that we HAVE to try according to our friend, and then dessert... because he wants us to literally try every Guatemalan of Central American food that we come across. That Nutella empanada and ice cream is probably top 5 fav dessert ever tho. Obviously the stranger danger is starting to melt away, even tho we still can't figure out why he keeps wanting to hang out with us... strictly platonic. We're fun, duh... but men rarely do not have ulterior motives.

The next day we need to go back to Antigua. He had his car being painted at his friends shop on the lake, and offered to drive us back and stop by ancient Mayan ruins. SOLD. I love that shit. I love how he had professional theories about the civilizations disappearance. Anthropologist mom, and he himself is a mesoamerica political consultant and has lived all over Central, South America, and Europe.

So, he explained the Mayan calender, Myra-glyphs, that their language has been discovered as being written symbols and phonetic, and we debated the proof of all of the above. The ruin city wasn't all that impressive, but the ball courts were well excavated, and there were 2 palaces and courtyards, as well as a still used today sacrificial alter. This was in the back of the ruins, and was clearly still being used.  This particular ruin city, Iximche, was the last Mayan city to be concurred by the Spanish. It was last discovered because of its place in the highlands. The Spanish burnt everything upon discovery, and very little was said about the city on the plaques placed around the ruins. Even our wikipedia didn't know much more than the last city standing stuff.

The road trip consisted of stopping for lunch at a place that had smoked meats (Guatemalans take pride in their meats), and also a couple of lookout points over Lake Atitlan and then again over Antigua. It was also a continuous Spanish quiz, as he was teaching Shenna a lot, and patiently trying with me lol. That night he stayed put in Antigua again rather than heading back to his parents home in Guatemala City, and we made plans for dinner. Of course, it was another local meal we had to have while there. I really wish I could remember the names of ummm any of it. That's the problem with trusting someone to just order for you.

We went to No Se bar afterwards and met up with Shennas cousin who happened to be visiting as well. This is when the male objective became clear. He was suddenly very affectionate towards me.  When I commented he explained he was interested but wasn't sure if I was and didn't want Shenna to feel awkward when it was only the 3 of us. (Go ahead, ahhhh obviously there was an ulterior motive). No man insists of taking care of EVERYTHING, plans, check, transportation, for 2 women who are showing no interest without at least trying. Alexi is a 6'2, dark handsome, 39 year old man with a successful career and cultured life. But, I honestly told him I wasn't sure what I thought about him, and he simply said that's fine and we continued chatting. Wait, you're not mad you've wasted time and money and putting yourself out there?!

Ahhh. So that's what a real man acts like....

He walked us back to our hotel, and as promised was there to pick us up and drive us to Guatemala City to fly out the next morning. Giggles, Spanish lessons, travel plans being made, and more food and dessert stops along the way.

I seriously doubt our trip would have been as good without him, but who knows. I'm certain I learned more from him than I could have if we had gone at it solo, and I don't doubt that we will keep in touch and possibly see each other again somewhere around the world.

Guatemala is a beautiful beautiful country... Antigua and Lake Atitlan both are surrounded by lush mountains and volcanoes  (there are 33 in the country... 3 around the lake and 3 around Antigua). The people are so polite and always ready to offer a smile and Buenos. I loved the places we visited, and how our trip turned out.

Moral of making this into a 'story'...

Go out and travel, you never know what you'll get to see, or who you can meet!

P.s. I did this 5 day/ 4 night trip for under $250 including our flight taxes.  Obviously having a man pay for a lot helped....BUT you can travel, money isn't an excuse :)