Ritidian Cave

Man it has been a long time since I have posted anything on this blog!  This time we took a hike to Ritidian Cave which was an ancient Chamorro village site. Inside the cave were some mysterious markings that no one knows much about (oooh) and other signs of past Chamorro inhabitants.

Entrance to the first cave we went to.

Mysterious circle with a hole in the middle inside the cave. The world may never know what the purpose of it was.

A stalagmite forming.

Outside of the cave small mortar-like bowls in the stone. Apparently the ancient Chamorros would mash stuff using them.

After we finished at that cave we headed along the cliff side to another cave nearby. It was kind of interesting because there was one part where water would seep through the stone and I guess the ancient people would use it as a shower. Also you could see fossils in the side of the cliff like this one.

There were pieces of pottery all around and for good luck you could put them back on the cliff sides.

On the way to the next cave were also some stone pillars that the Chamorros used to prop up their homes. I forget the name of it but they are all over Guam.

Finally we got to the next cave but unfortunately some animal decided it was a nice place to die and stunk up the entire place so we couldn't go in. I did at least take a some pictures of the ouside!

 

This was our reaction when we got to the cave and the smell wafted out.

Overall it was pretty interesting but also kind of depressing because there were so many signs and pictures of what Guam used to be like compared to Guam today.  The bird population on Guam is essentially non existent due to the brown tree snake and a lot of the reef is dying from over fishing. The good news is they are working hard to preserve the wilderness so hopefully they can keep some of natural Guam alive!

Guam Indoc Tour

Not much has really been happening for me to post about but I figured I'd give a little update. This week I've been in Guam Indoc which basically means I sit around and listen to GMTs for 4 days straight. Today, however, we got a mini tour of the island. I thought we were going to be riding in an un-airconditioned school bus but they gave us a real tour bus with a tour guide and he took us around the island where we made a few stops here and there. The first place we stopped at was some bridge that the Spanish built way back in the day. Apparently Guam Gov spent 1 million dollars to rebuild it. Prepare yourself... this is what 1 million dollars looks like.

...I think someone took a little off the top on that project. I'm actually standing on the bridge but it is made of those white stones in the picture above. It was about 10 feet long and 4 feet wide.

It had a nice view out into the ocean though.

We continued on our way south and stopped on top of one of the hills where I got a nice scenic view.

From there we continued southwest and eventually arrived to where Magellan first landed in Guam in 1521. On top of a hill near the landing is an old Spanish fort named Soledad. The Spanish built a few forts in the area to protect the harbor from pirates and stuff since Guam was the only stop for Spanish Galleons traveling from Mexico to the Philippines.

Picture of the harbor.

And some pictures of Fort Soledad.

There was even a Caribou tied up nearby.

Some guy on the island has a bunch of them and I guess stashes them around the island. He also has one with a saddle that works with some dogs he trained to ride the Caribou and walks up and down the street taking pictures with tourists. One day I will get a picture with him.

From there we went to Inarajan Pools which is a natural pool that was once 50 feet deep but is slowly shrinking due to getting filled in with debris from typhoons and stuff.

That's all for now! This weekend I think I'm gonna for Tweed's Cave Part 2 so hopefully I find it this time. Other than that it is studying for my quals since I got a test this Wednesday.

I'll try to sneak in some other adventures. Mostly my days are spent coming home snorkeling the reefs right outside my house because it is just too convenient. Maybe I should get an underwater camera and make a post about that.