Guam, Where America's Day Begins!

Yes, Guam is a part of the United States. Located west of the international date line, Guam is hours ahead of Hawaii, Alaska and the contiguous 48 states, hence the slogan, "Guam, Where America's Day Begins."

Guam is the southern most of the Mariana Islands, a 15-island chain in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippines. This archipelago includes Guam, a territory of the United States, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI).

The islands populated by humans include Guam, Saipan, Rota and Tinian. Guam is about 32 miles long and between 5 and 11 miles wide encompassing a total land area of 212 square miles. The weather on Guam is tropical; warm year round at latitude 13.38 degrees north and longitude 144.44 degrees east. Most of Guam is protected by a fringing reef. The warm ocean waters are crystal clear with an abundance of tropical fish and marine invertebrates which makes for great swimming and diving (and seafood feasts). The weather and water are the focus of tourism which is the major industry of the island.

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The native people of Guam are Chamorros. Their origin is thought to be of Malaysia and Indonesia. Today the Chamorros comprise 37% of the island's population. 26 % are Filipinos, 8 % are other Pacific Islanders, 7 % are Caucasian, and 22 % are other ethnic groups.

The 2000 census put the population of Guam at 155,000.

Ferdinand Magellan is historically recorded as the island's first visitor from the western world in 1521. Spain claimed Guam and the northern Marianas in 1565. The Jesuit missionaries brought Catholicism to Guam 100 years later and it is the dominate religion of the island today. For 250 years Guam was a port of call for Spanish galleons that crossed the Pacific Ocean trading western gold and silver for Asian silks and spices. Guam became a U.S. possession in 1898 following the Spanish American War. Guam was conveniently located for the U.S. military and the island had a U.S. naval government until Japan took control in 1941 shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. U.S. forces landed on Guam on July 21, 1944 and regained control of the island after 3 weeks of intense fighting and the loss of thousands of Chamorro, Americans and Japanese. July 21st is Liberation Day, one of the island's favorite celebrations.

The people of Guam are United States citizens although they are not able to vote in national elections because of the island's status as a U.S. territory.

Typhoons

Living on Guam is to live with typhoons. My husband and I came to Guam in 1990. He is a ship’s captain and was hesitant to come to a place located in the center of Typhoon Alley. Boats and typhoons do not go well together. We did some research and learned that Guam experiences a major typhoon on the average of once every 14 years. So we felt comfortable moving to Guam. That was in January. In December, we experienced our first major typhoon. In 1991, we had our second. In 1992, there were 5 (or was it 7?) that hit the island or were near hits. We got a rest (except for the 7.9 earthquake of 1993) until 1997, when super-typhoon Paka took the roof from our house and ravished the island. Last year, 2002, was most memorable with Chata’an in the summer and Pongsona in December.

People build their houses with typhoons always in mind. Most houses are concrete with concrete roofs. Steel typhoon shutters are desirable but those without shutters nail plywood over the windows when typhoon warnings are issued. During Pongsona, plywood was ripped away, shutters flew with the wind and windows broke even when the shutters remained in place. No one escaped the rain, no matter how well protected their house. When it’s raining horizontally, at over 150 MPH, the water will find a lot of ways to get into the house.

Schools were hit hard. Starting 2 to 3 weeks late due to the damage from Chata’an, we were discussing ways to make up the lost time when Pongsona hit. We lost school time again, and some public schools lost another 2 months. The school where I teach is doing double session as one high school was completely destroyed.

Living on a tropical paradise island in the Pacific with crystal clear, warm blue waters, makes it worth having an occasional, or frequent, typhoon.

These pictures show some Pongsona damage that is still visible at the docks. A dry dock was tied to these bollards and the dry dock eventually ripped away from the moorings and traveled to the other side of the harbor. The broken bollard platform was made of 1.5 inch steel. The second bollard and its entire base were lifted from the dock. The base is about 12 feet square by 4 feet deep.

For more pictures from Pongsona visit pdnews.com.

For more information on typhoons visit the National Weather Service Tropical Prediction Center.

Guam is famous for its hospitality. No where can you beat warmth and generosity of Chamorro culture. Each village celebrates its patron saint's day with a fiesta and feast to which everyone on the island is invited. Fiestas and parties are frequent, always with an abundance of food, and there is no such thing as a stranger. Guam is also famous for:

1. Snakes

There are probably a lot of brown tree snakes on Guam. Everyone tells us this is true, especially the magazines and television. If people have heard of Guam, it is generally in reference to the snakes. The snakes have certainly caused biological changes to the island. We have fewer birds and fewer bats. Fewer birds means more caterpillars and hence, more butterflies.

You can come to Guam without fear of the snakes. They are not hanging from the trees ready to attack. They rarely find their way into our houses. I see one or two snakes a year. Most people kill the snakes they find, but I like snakes, even if they are uninvited guests to the island, so I simply move them away from my house to a better home in the jungle. Yes, they bite, but not very hard and if you hold them just behind the head they can’t bite you at all.

Guam has one other species of snake. It’s called a blind snake but most people think it’s a worm. You occasionally find these in damp places like vegetative debris under trees. They are only about 3 inches long and look very much like earth worms at first glance.

For more about Guam’s brown tree snakes visit the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center web site.

Small wire traps like this, baited with a mouse (who has plenty of food and water in his own little protected cage within a cage) are set up all around the Navy base. Snakes crawl in drawn by the warmth from the mouse and are trapped.

2. WWII. Guam's location in the Pacific made it a strategic command post for the Japanese and American militaries. War relics are common and many can still be viewed in their original locations. Was museums and memorials are numerous on the island.

3. Yokoi. Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier on Guam during the Japanese occupation refused to surrender after the Americans recaptured the island in 1944. Yokoi lived in hiding in a man-made cave deep in the jungles until he was discovered in 1972. He became a hero in his homeland, famous world-wide, and returned to visit Guam with his Japanese bride some years later.

4. Bats

5. Latte Stones. Ancient Chamorros built their houses pillars carved from limestone. Each latte included a column (halagi) which was topped by a capstone (tasa). Lattes can be seen both in their original locations and in public parks.

Newspaper: Pacific Daily News

University of Guam

Environmental Protection Agency

Guam Department of Education