Amazing Guam
Amazing Guam
Guam
is an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. Located in
the western Pacific Ocean, Guam is one of five American territories with an established
civilian government. The capital city is Hagåtña and the most populous city is
Dededo. About 200,000 people resided on Guam. It is the largest and
southernmost of the Mariana Islands and the largest island in Micronesia.
The
ethnic mix of Guam's population is 40 percent indigenous Chamorro people, 25
percent Filipino and the rest is a blend of Pacific Islanders, Asians and
whites. You can see, and taste, this diversity in the island's food. More than
200 years of Spanish colonialism, a Western-Pacific heritage and the current
American control are stirred together for a number of unique local dishes, like
the Chorizo Breakfast Bowl. The delicious mix of spicy Chorizo sausage, grilled
onions, diced potatoes and rice, topped with a sunny-side-up egg, hits the
spot.
A
perfect local side dish is "red rice", which gets its color and
unique smoky flavor from being cooked in water soaked with red seeds from the
achiote tree. For dessert, the Philippine-inspired, brown-sugar fried Banana
Lumpia is a perfect bite into a hard wrap cover to unleash the mushy and very
sweet inside.
The island is just big enough that the US military presence in the north is not
felt elsewhere, but small enough that a drive around the southern tip can be
done in 40 minutes without stopping. But stop you should, because this is where
Guam's scenic overlooks, old Spanish bridges and waterfalls are concentrated.
There
are tiny villages like Umatac, nestled between steep hills and wrapped around a
bay. This where many believe Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed in
1521 during his famous circumnavigation. Another explorer, Spaniard Miguel
Lopez de Legazpi, set foot in Umatac four decades later and formally claimed
the island for Spain.
If
your interest in history extends beyond colonialism, head to Fouha Bay where a
very important rock on the northern tip shoots 150 feet up in the air.
Chamorros believe it to be the cradle of civilization, the last resting place
for goddess Fu'una who created the world along with her brother Puntan.
The
most populated island in Micronesia, this unincorporated US territory is full
of American accents, and sadly the Chamorro language is less spoken today than
it once was. Glamorous, modern Tumon Bay is where most of the hotels are, and
it’s pretty commercial with duty-free shopping being the order of the day.
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