Guam 2020 - Post 3 - Shopping, Food and a Walk

My second morning I slept until 3:30 AM, which is 6:30 AM, the day before in the Pacific time zone.  My mind was awake and ready to do something, but alas it was still dark outside.  So I spent some time getting started on blogging again.  It seems I mainly blog when I'm on epic trips.  How else will I remember what I did when I get older, and how else will I pass on my legacy to my descendants.  So I write.  I won't write every day, but I hope it will give you a window into some of the beauties of the tropical island of Guam, and the important things in my life.

This morning after the sun came up, I opened the front door to let some of the morning into the house.  Rain poured from the sky for a while, that lovely tropical downpour I learned to love when I taught 3rd grade on Pohnpei, Micronesia, back in the late 80's.  I considered going out for a walk in it, and getting soaked to the skin, but I wasn't hot.  I'm sure there will be a perfect moment for playing in the rain sometime soon.

Breakfast was left over tofu and veggies, yes, the batch without salt.  They had onions and garlic, so actually, they tasted pretty good, once I got used to the idea I needed to savor the flavor of the veggies and not keep longing for salt.

Mid-morning I drove down the hill and picked up my friend Amy Krum.  I first met her in 2013, the first time we came to Guam.  She is related to one of my other friends and I was told I needed to meet her.  When we were first here that time, I was in town trying to figure out where to buy groceries, at a little health food store.  In walked a family of four and somehow I was pretty sure they were the family I was supposed to meet.  I think they approached me, and sure enough we quickly became good friends.  What a blessing the Krum family has been.  I have been looking forward to spending time with Amy again.



This morning both of their cars weren't working, and she had an appointment on the north side of town.  So I picked her up and drove her there.  It was to my advantage to do this, because we got to spend time in the car talk, and her appointment was up by the grocery stores that I wanted to go to.  Plus she was able to tell me which stores had which items that I wanted.

While she was at her appointment, I went to the Payless (Grocery store).  There are several on the island, but this particular one has the best health food section.  I was able to get gluten free oats, and flax seeds, which is an important part of my daily menu.  Plus they have produce and everything else.  You have to realize that most food on Guam comes here on a container ship.  So prices can be very high!  But I have also noticed that prices on food have been going up in Washington state.  I am guessing it is because minimum wage keeps going up, and stores have to charge enough to cover their expenses.  With this in mind, I was delighted to discover that a bag of mandarin oranges was $4.99, a price I would be fine with paying back home.  A bag of mini peppers was $4.99.  10 pounds of potatoes was $5.99.  But a good price for bananas on island is $0.99 and back home they are $0.59.  Yes, on this tropical island, bananas are imported from South America, just like in the states.  I will talk more local produce another time, but for now I'll just say, they don't grow very much of their own food.

After I picked Amy up again, we went to American Grocers (where they specialize in Asian foods) .  Amy says they have the best price on tofu.  $1.99, and yes, that is less expensive than Andy's Market back at home where I might pay $2.49 a package.  I found some frozen green beans there for a good price but otherwise, frozen veggies can be quite expensive.  I got dried beans here, 1 pound packages of garbonzos, pintos and lentils.  I forgot the price, but it was reasonable.  In the produce section they have a lot of Asian greens.  Chinese Broccoli, Gai Lan, was $1 per pound.  That is less expensive than regular broccoli here which was something over $2.00 per pound.  I think I will be getting some Gai Lan when I can.  As I remember from Thailand, it is a really nice green, and good with garlic, ginger and or sesame.  I'll see what else I can do with it.  I got some baby bok choi. If you have a good recipe for baby bok choi, let me know.  Cabbage is $1.00 per pound and I got a head.  Apples are under $2 per pound, depending on the variety, but they do have Fuji's here, so I can keep eating my Washington Apples this far away from home.

Our last stop for the day was Cost-U-Less.  They are a small scale version of Costco specializing in the large sized packaging, and even carry some Costco products, just at higher prices.  Grapes were on sale for $2.49 per pound.  I was glad to get some of those.  They have the best prices on Quaker oats, and large packages of nice raisins.  Quinoa and chia seeds were on sale, so I put a couple bags in my cart.  But what I really wanted was some of their Costco sized bags of frozen fruit.  It got a bag of Triple Berries for $17.00, a bag of frozen pineapple chunks for $12. And I can't remember how much the large bag of broccoli cost.  It will be hand to have when I don't have any fresh veggies.  Yes, I eat lots of veggies.  They are my main food.

I got home mid afternoon, and hadn't eaten any lunch yet.  I thought Rob was working over at the Adventist World Radio station (AWR or the station from now on).  That was where he went in the morning.  But the card they gave him to get back into the gate after lunch wasn't working, and he couldn't get in.  So he went back home and was taking a nap.  I was eating just a little food because I thought I would be making supper soon and would eat with him.  I figured out where to put away groceries, put the silverware in a more convenient drawer, found the trash can and put it closer to the sink and stove.  While I was doing that, I did find a small salt shaker, all but empty, that was hidden behind something.  So last night, if I had searched more carefully, I would have had a little little salt on my food. Rob surprised me when he got up, because I thought I was alone in the house. At that point I went ahead and made supper.

At the store I had purchased half of an Asian pumpkin, which is really more like a squash.  When I lived in Thailand, my friend Pi Oi (Araya Hattenako), had taught me how to stir fry these with garlic.  I also put some potatoes in the oven, and some Hawaiian sweet potatoes too.  I had some Swamp Cabbage" that I cut up, but I didn't end up cooking it because we suddenly remember that if we wanted to go for a walk while it was still light we needed to take off.  Sundown is just after 6:00 PM this time of the year.  Later in the year it will be close to 6:30.  I wanted to walk out toward the sea from the station, but you can only do that when they aren't broadcasting to Asia on the giant antennas.  They broadcast from 8:00 PM through the night until noon the next day.  So it is generally safe to walk there in the afternoon and evening, unless they are doing testing on the transmitters, etc.





To get out there you walk on a gravel road, right past the antennas.  Then you have to find your way under or over a barbed wire fence, that tries to keep other people out and away from the antennas.  From there you walk through short ferns, past Ironwood trees, near wild Bamboo orchids, and over dark red soil and then you can see the water down below off of Facti Point.  The sun was getting low.





I wanted to stay and watch it set, but I didn't want to have to find my way back in the dark my first time.  I wasn't strong on which way we had to go to get back.  It was a good thing we didn't delay because we did go the wrong way, and had to wonder around a bit.  But that was fun too.  We found a gully full of Pandanas trees.  I'd really like to explore more and see what interesting plants grow in the nooks and corners of the property, but that will be for another day.  Some other time I would like to bushwhack all the way down to the sea.