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Nihi Ta
Bisita centers
on those things that are important to us culturally and
naturally. Through our weekly episodes, we will have a
chance to revisit; to refresh the memory; and, to reunite
with the past. We start with antiquity. We traverse hills
and valleys, and wade in rocks and shoals, that have been
hallowed by sad and happy events long, long ago. We walk
footpaths used by our ancestors, contemplate at places where
they once did, and visit Latte sites deep in the jungle
where they have remained undisturbed at least a thousand
years. We will have a glimpse of the abundance of our land
as it must have been when our ancestors discovered it 3500
years ago. We will trace and cross the four remaining
Spanish bridges that we found along the King's highway from
Umatac to Agana. We will revisit places that are distinctly
identifiable with nations that claimed, possessed and
governed Guam and have left their indelible marks on the
culture and landscape of the island.
Because of our geographic location in the
world, we find ourselves in between everything, it would
seem. We are referred to as being in the South Pacific in
some books when we are actually 13 degrees north of the
equator. We read that we are in the western Pacific but our
longitude is 144 degrees east. And we are continually
bewildered with our ability to leave Guam on a Tuesday night
and arrive in Hawaii in the morning of the same day, being
able to accomplish this miraculous feat by simply crossing
the International Dateline going east.
These contradictions extend to our perception
of ourselves and of others about us. When we describe Guam
this is the picture we project: a world
globe with Guam as its center. Guam is todo el
mundo. On the other
extreme, when a professional bureaucrat talks about our
island, a picture
of a rock with a single tree on it emerges! We are, of course, somewhere in
between.
Our first stop is a very special place which
both legend and logic tell us is hallowed ground. It is
called Two Lovers Point. Legend has it that two young
Chamorros were deeply in love and when the girl's father
refused her permission to marry, she and her boyfriend tied
their long hair together and leapt to their death. From this
lofty
perch, the High
Chiefs could visually survey the horizon for friend or foe, approaching our
shores. They could also enjoy the majesty of the seas from
here, the ruggedness of the shoreline, and the ponderous cliffs just as we
are awed by them today. They also had a commanding view of
the beautiful bay below which they called Tumhom.
One could only imagine a chief looking at Tumon
Bay today and saying to a friend, "Gachong, those are rather
strange looking Lattes down there at Tumhom, they are so
tall and some of them look like pyramids. And why do they
have windows? "Gachong responds: "Chief, they have windows
because they are hotels with plenty of rooms. We have over
one million natives of other islands visiting us every year
now and we have to have a place for them to stay. You have
not been up here for a few hundred years, Chief, and things
have changed. It is called "progress". "I think I like that
word, Gachong, but who is leading this progress procession?"
"Our descendants are" answers Gachong. The Chief smiles and
says, "I want you to get on the alaihai and pass the word, up and down,
across the town - and the word is - make sure that as the
procession moves we do not leave any stragglers behind. I am
very happy that we are entering this century with our own
sons & daughters leading the way."
This spectacular location
has now become a favorite place for young lovers. They use
this location not to tie their hair in death, but to tie a
knot in marriage and a new life. Two
Lovers Point,
Touching base with our past. It is a place to see. It is a
place to be.
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