Last Day in Guam

Guam – Tuesday, February 12

I was at the airport early in the morning to turn in my car, and to have extra time to get my boarding pass and go through security without identification, although at least I had a poor copy of my driver’s license which had been faxed twice!. I had stopped by yesterday to talk with TSA, and I still had the paper with the names of the TSA supervisors who had cleared me in Guam, and they kept that paper and cleared things before I arrived, so it was actually very smooth to get my boarding pass and go through security.

Then I left Saipan behind and made the short flight to Guam for my final day there. It’s funny how my itinerary worked out, with one more day in Guam after my week in Saipan – and it’s exactly what I needed to have time to go get my passport back!

I rented a car for the day, and once I had that, I headed for the town of Dededo to retrieve my passport and license. But the lady wasn’t in! The other people told me she’d been out all morning with the mayor and they weren’t sure when she’d get back. I was a little worried because she does seem to be out of the office a lot. I told them I’d check back in an hour or so. So I decided to use the time to make my final Guam donation, which went to the Alee Shelter – the only women’s shelter on the island. Alee is a nautical word that means ‘shelter from a storm.’ The Alee Shelter is managed by the same Catholic Social Services agency that I had made a food pantry donation to last week – they oversee a number of different support programs. I still had my map, along with the travel directions, so I found my way back and gave them the check – and specified where it should go.

Then I finished knitting the “thank you dishcloth” for the lady in Dededo, and drove back there. She had returned, although was out to lunch now, but had left my purse with one of the other ladies. And sure enough, my passport and drivers license were in there, along with most, but not all, of my credit cards – none of which were good anymore. And my national park pass was there, so that was good. Of course the phone was gone, but they left my iPod in there – it’s so old they didn’t even want it! Not to mention it just has audiobooks on it, not much music. And it was nice to get stuff like my insurance card, and triple A card, and AARP card and everything back. The purse was a little dirty and the wallet had been picked clean – I didn’t want either of them anymore – I just didn’t like the idea of carrying around something that thieves had been pawing through. So I knew I’d have to go to K-Mart to get new ones. Before I left the office, I wrote a thank you note for the lady and left it with the dish cloth (kind of a weird thank you gift, but everyone uses dishcloths, and I happened to have some yarn with me!) And I also left some money for donuts for the maintenance workers who found my things – the office staff assured me they would like that! What a relief to actually have some of these things back!

From there I was able to check into my room – back at the familiar old Days Inn. Then I headed out to do all my walking – I did almost 5 miles along the whole length of the tourist area by the bay and back, and then drove out to the national park place along the ocean to finish it up. I also stopped by the police station to let them know some of my things had indeed been recovered, and went to Kmart for a new purse and wallet. After a bite to eat at the noodle shop, it was time to head back to the hotel and get a little better organized for the long flight to Honolulu tomorrow.

So I wrapped up everything in Guam – all 56 miles of walking (even though a lot of it had been repetitious); and all 7 donations – War in the Pacific National Park, Catholic Social Services food pantry, a meals-on-wheels program, Habitat for Humanity, the Kamalen Karidat soup kitchen, the Rigalu Foundation and the Alee Women’s Shelter.

Once again I learned so much during my time on Guam – an island that now seems familiar despite knowing very little about it when I arrived. I’m not letting the theft color my stay on Guam – I think I found a new strength in myself and I’m glad I was able to carry on! And I met a lot of good people along the way, and all of that leaves good memories.