Guam 2020: Post 22 - The Chocolate House and Guam History in Downtown Hagatna

Right beside the Post Office in Hagatna is this beautiful Guam Museum. Rob and I needed some postage stamps. We walked in and noticed that the line to the counter snaked around with maybe four bends, all the way out to the door, a bit like waiting to go through security at the airport. There was no way I was going to wait that long. Guess I'll have to go back and face the lines another day.

Across the street is what is left of the Spanish headquarters, The Plaza de Espana or Spain Square.

In the center of Spain Square is this round building, the Chocolate House. The sign says they used to serve hot chocolate in there every afternoon. Later on they switched to serving tea. Not sure why they wanted a hot drink at the hottest part of the day. Seems like ice tea or smoothies would be more popular. Now only birds go in and out of the bars, and nothing tasty is served.

Pretty little moss and fern gardens live where the paint has chipped off the walls of the borders of the square. I wonder if I'm the only one who noticed these little opportunists.

The trees are old and tall, forming geometric patterns in the sky. I wonder how old they are. Were they young when the Spanish were still here? Did they survive WWII?

A tower above the Catholic church keeps accurate time.

Comments

Pohnpei, Part 3: Liduhduhniap Falls

(Note to those who weren't with me on Pohnpei in 1988. You are welcome to listen in, but I am writing mainly for my fellow teachers, myself, and my family. There will be some things you won't understand. Just skim those parts, if you wish.) We stayed in this lovely building. I think it used to be painted blue. The lower floor used to be Mr. Quail's house. The lower left apartment was Mr. Keith's. Remember him? The maintenance man? We stayed in his apartment. The building is still in good condition, but the cupboards and cabinets need help. The particle board has swelled after all these years, and the drawers no longer work. The building behind "Mr. Quail's place" is a cafeteria on the ground floor with girls housing up above. The boys are in the building that the nice Philippino lady, I think her name was Ramie, who taught typing lived in. And there are a couple guys in the apartment in th...

Guam 2020: Post 2 - First Full Day on Guam

I'm doing pretty good, jet lag wise for the first day. I was able to sleep until 4:45 this morning. On past visits to the island, I woke up at 2 or 3 AM and was unable to go back to sleep. I've been busy all day. We took a hike with our friends, Roger and Amy Krum, and their children Nathan and Alyssa. There is a mural at the parking area that wasn't there before. It depicts the traditional sailing boat of the Chamorro people, and the ancient latte stones. We went south on the highway, just a little ways to the viewpoint for Cetti Bay. Then across the road is the trail to Mt. Lam Lam, the highest point on the island. It was such a beautiful afternoon with temperatures in the low to mid 80's and a nice breeze off the sea. The trail goes up through grassland savannas with trees and flowers along the way. We saw the Bamboo orchid that grows in the grass. There were some little blue pea family flowers and some yellow pea family flo...

Mother's Day - Meal and Music

To start the morning out, I was banished from our home. The kids were working on a surprise, and they didn't even allow me to be in my bedroom to wait. So, I went to garage sales (there aren't many on a Mother's Day morning, but I scouted them out anyway), I bought gas, and went back home. They said they weren't done yet, only 10 more minutes though. So Rob took me on a 20 minute walk. They weren't done when we got back, so they sent me to my room this time (am I in "time-out"), and around 30 minutes later I was finally called for breakfast. Ok, it was worth it, waiting for breakfast until 10:30 A.M. this morning. My kids made a gourmet meal for me, nicer then the finest restaurant around, and there is not chance of me getting "glutened' here. My plate looked like a serving platter itself. They made Baked Hashbrowns in a heart shaped pan, and then filled the center with my favorite recipe of scrambled tofu, garnished wit...

A Wildflower Morning

Search This Blog