My American phone, which has been turned off since I left Huntsville over a year ago, came to life in the middle of the night and sounded my old wake-up alarm. Coming out of a dead sleep, I did not know what it was. I pawed frantically in the dark until I came across Chris' backpack, then went through it by touch until I found the offending device and shut it off. Eventually I went back to sleep.
My Korean phone alarm went off at 6:30 or earlier. Really, is there no end to this? But it was in a different room and I knew it would shut down after a minute, and it did. I might have gone back to sleep.
At 7, Reveille was played through the speakers on base. I felt like I was in the army. But Chris stayed asleep, so I tried, too. But I needed to be in motion. I got out of bed and unpacked my suitcase and carry-on. The drawers were really low and it hurt my back so I had to lay on the floor for awhile. Chris hard-boiled some eggs. I ate the tomato and handful of nuts I had packed in Korea and meant to eat before we landed in Guam. I made oatmeal with kefir, and added my supplements for the day. I checked e-mail. We talked about what to do today, and Chris suggested the game and wildlife preserve.
On our way to the game and wildlife preserve, we stopped at a war memorial to take pictures. The sun was bright and the air smelled so good. The view was excellent, but hard to capture. Then we proceeded with our original plan. Kinda went the long way around, too. I had to check the tablet to see where we were. We parked and went inside the building. We saw painted panoramas with text about the environment. A very nice gentleman explained how the birdsong is so much less than it used to be because the birds were hunted and their nesting areas are dying. The coconut palms are killed off by large beetles. He showed us a map of trails we could hike and where to find the safe part of the beach. I asked about where to get coconuts and he said just to pick some up, they were lying around. It started raining. He said the locals were used to it and no one cared if they got wet. So we walked down a short path and found an entrance to cave-like structures. As we were taking pics in the rain, the man came along and showed us around, explained about coconut crabs, and banyan tree roots. He found a noni fruit and let me eat it. It was not as bad as he said. Then we picked some coconuts off the ground. He showed us how to husk them with a rock and with a sharpened stick. Then he tapped it all around the middle and it cracked open. He did one and I tried the next, husking and cracking. Chris started eating one of the halves. The man mentioned putting an uncracked one in the oven and said the shell would come off with the meat intact. I wanted to try that so we picked up another coconut; this time a sprouted one so I could see the sponge that forms inside. Finally we said goodbye and promised to return since there was so much we did not see, but the park was closing. On the way back, we decided to go to a restaurant named Shirley's because it was recommended. I got the chicken tocino with eggplant omelet. Chris got the chorizo with eggs and hash browns. It was very good but I could not finish all of mine, so we got it to go. Then we walked around a nearby mall, first the outside, then the inside. At one store I bought a brown headband. I chose the largest one, but the stretch still made it tight. From there, we came home. I ate half a coconut while looking for a banana oatmeal cookie recipe. Just bananas and oatmeal. I wanted to bake some here for the trip home.
Since my computer no longer recognizes my phone, I could not download the pics I took. So I tried to e-mail them from the phone to the laptop. But they just sat in queue. Later, we watched three episodes of Xena. I typed up my blog and got ready for bed.
* This is a pic I took with the tablet. The tablet pics are not good because I could not see what was on the screen when I snapped the pic. *
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