Day at the beach

I washed my feet before I went to bed. I was startled when a roach fell on me. I did not know what it was and jumped out of bed. Chris found it on the floor, dazed. He got rid of it. I noticed more hot flashes than in Korea, but that I was able to go back to sleep sooner. I heard Reveille and went back to sleep. I got up at 8:30 local time, before Chris. I drank lemon water, and did my exercises. Chris got up to drink coffee and read e-mail. I checked e-mail and made oatmeal and kefir. I also ate an egg and took my supplements. The pics I had e-mailed from my phone finally came through. I could not open them in Yahoo because they were zipped and a pop-up told me I had to buy Winzip to unzip them. But Chris could get them in Gmail and they did not need to be unzipped. So I forwarded them to my Gmail account and downloaded them to my December file. We had some personal time, and then I washed up and put on my bathing suit. Chris took a shower. I jotted notes for my blog. When he was dressed, we headed to Gap Gap beach. I followed a paper map along with the tablet to guide Chris. We found a picnic area and put down our stuff. We walked through the vegetation to the sand and then into the water. It was only slightly cooler than the air. The bottom was mostly sandy but there were rocks and large clumps of seaweed. I did not notice any crabs or mobile creatures. I did not stay out too long because I didn't want to get burned.

At the picnic area, I found what looked like a box-shaped coconut. I peeled the husk off. There was a four-lobed nut inside, with the consistency of a brazil nut. I wanted to eat it, but decided I should find out what it is first in case they ask at the emergency room. Ha! I swam some more and read a book sitting on the beach. We sat in the shade for awhile. I spied a papaya tree, but fruit was unripe and too high up. Chris found one on the ground, partly rotten. I peeled the rest with his knife, but it did not taste good. We went to a building on post to meet two men he knows are here. It was the wrong one, but we met the CO of the base and his secretary. They gave us ideas on what to do on vacation, said green papaya is usually eaten pickled, and we can use the commissary because our Ids say OCONUS. We went back to the hotel room, changed and had lunch (leftovers from last night). Then we drove down the street to the NavFac building. The two people Chris wanted to meet were not in the office, but he found a buddy from some course he took in Washington DC. He spoke to the man for awhile, then we left and headed to Chamorro Village. Wednesday night is their big night.

All kinds of vendors set up stands, mostly food and trinkets, some clothing and artwork. I got a water buffalo ride. They had green coconuts with straws for $5 each or get coconut sashimi (coconut mixed with soy sauce and wasabi). I skipped that. The squid sounded interesting, but the barbecued squid line was too long. I bought two tops from a Korean lady at her trinket store. I found out that very few things are actually make here in Guam. Most of the stuff comes from Thailand or China. I also bought bananas, and soap. We had interesting conversations and advice: tour a fruit ranch. Finally we headed back to the car. One place was selling intact coconut meat without the shell. I bought one and was going to save it for home, but Chris and the vendor talked so long that I put the straw in it and drank all the juice. When we got home, I cut it in half and ate the meat. Delicious. I e-mailed all the pics on my phone to my gmail account, 5 at a time. I searched long and hard for images of the nut I found. It turned out to be a fish poison tree (barringtonia asiatica). I'm glad I didn't eat it. Chris noted the redness of my skin. I rubbed some coconut oil on it. Then we watched two episodes of Xena. Chris went to bed and I followed after I finished my blog.