Since I have a little one (3 month old), we decided I will be going here on my own till I find a house we can stay in. There are a lot of houses for rent off base but we decided to buy. If you are going to do this make sure you get prequalified early and start looking because the process can take a few months. My first impression of Guam is that it is a tropical paradise very similar to going to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. Right now I am on my house hunting days so I am going around with the realtor and spend the rest of the day exploring the Island. It feels like a vacation I am taking alone. If I could choose, I would rather be working and have my wife and boy with me.
 |
| At the airport about to leave |
As soon as you leave the Guam airport you feel the humidity just like any tropical area. The one thing I don't like is when you are inside with air conditioning and you go outside your sunglasses (and anything glass for example camera lenses) instantly fog up. You have to wait a minute for them to warm up and the condensation to evaporate. Another thing with the humidity is that things dry very slowly. Coming from Edwards AFB (the high desert) I am use to things almost drying instantly. The good thing about the humidity is that I feel like I have put lotion on me everyday and I stopped getting dry mouth at night. Hopefully my boy will stop having dry skin once he gets here and my wife can stop putting lotion on him twice a day.
 |
| My boy |
I am staying at the Bayview Hotel which is in Tamuning. This area has a lot of tourist many from Japan and China. You will see some European tourist but not many. The signs here are written in english and what looks like chinese and japanese. There are many high end shops like Coach, Micheal Kors, Lois Vutton and Gucci just to name a few. The area has lots of gun clubs, places to eat and massage parlors. I have been told to stay away from most of the massage parlors which is OK with me since I don't get massages.
 |
| View from my balcony |
I started working out, manly cardio at the beach. I did a two mile run with my Vibrams. I would say if you are going to run on the beach to wear some type of foot protection since there are rocks and coral in the sand. The sand is also really fine and compacts tight near the waters edge so it is more like running on a dirt trail. I also did a half mile ocean swim. The water right in front of the hotels at this part of the island is really calm. The waves break around 200 yards from the shore. You can just walk in and start swimming. No more fighting through the waves before starting your workout. I did see some trigger fish (Picasso triggers), the exact ones you see in salt water aquariums in the states. The one thing I didn't expect is that I got bit a couple of times by them. Nothing bad and it did not break skin just nips at my leg. During the low tide you can walk all the way to the reef which us around 200 yards away.
 |
| 40 yards out and I can still stand |
