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

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...

Guam 8: Asan Beach

On Friday afternoons, Rob gets out of work at noon. Since his weeknights are busy with work almost until sundown, we take advantage of this daylight time to get out and see something new. This week we chose Asan Beach. Asan Beach has a long history on Guam, the most notable thing is that it was one of the two beaches where the US landed to push back the Japanese in WWII. Agat, right across the road from where we lived four years ago, is the other place. Here is a link to the National Park Service's view on the history of Asan Beach. Here is a link to more about the attack at Agat Beach , and some oral histories of the Chamorro People in the war . It is hard to believe on a beautiful day like this one, that this was the site of war, with young soldiers dying on both sides. You can find photos of how it looked in 1944 here. Waves crash on the reef, not far from the shore. The pipe on ...

Safeguard your Health

Want to safeguard your health? Here are the four steps you need. You can do it today and every day. 1. Gratitude. Tell everyone "Thank you." Write down what you are grateful for. Keep a gratitude journal. Read And Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts." Counteract negative thinking with gratitude. "And be thankful." Col. 3: 17. 2. Rejoicing. Especially rejoicing in the kindness and love of God. Sing. Listen to uplifting music. Read God's word and rejoice while you are reading it for everything that God has done, is doing, and has promised to do for you. "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." Proverbs 17:22. Rejoice out loud, if possible. 3. Benevolence. Benevolence means act of charity. Charity means loving kindness. Do something good for someone else. An act of kindness, for someone you know, or someone you don't, goes a long way. ...

A Wildflower Morning

Search This Blog