My Guam

Jungle River Boat Cruise

Most of our Guam adventures began with a ride around the island with no place in mind, always finding something of interest. While driving in the Talafofo area of Guam, we came across a small sign on the side of the road. It read Jungle River Boat Cruise. Sounds interesting. We stopped. No boat in sight, however, a woman sat behind a make-shift kiosk close to the river. She explained the itinerary and pricing for this river cruise.

“There are two times for the cruise on a medium sized, canopied and motorized flatboat,” she said. “Call for reservations. The boats fill up quickly from all the tourists at the hotels in Tumon.”

The boat captain unfastened the rope from his gang way and allowed each person with a ticket to enter. Joel and I sat in the back of the boat. Big mistake. Although the guide spoke as loud as he could and in English, we heard little. The tourists talked  in their loud rather chopped languages. This shouldn’t bother me, but it did. I wanted to hear what the guide was saying.

As the captain took the boat out along the Talafofo River toward the junction of the Ugum River, I joined the crowd with excited talk. “Look,” I pointed toward the front of the boat. It looks just like the scene of the River Boat Queen with Katherine Hepburn and What’s his name.”

“Humphrey Bogart,” Joel said. “The African Queen.” 

“Yeah, that one. My, it is beautiful. It’s just as if we are in a real jungle.”

“We are,” Joel mumbled.

I watched small, green florescent fish swim along the bottom of the clear water while listening to the faint sounds of birds and crickets with an occasional splash.  The breeze rustled through the leaves on trees, the air smelled clean and pleasant this morning. Too soon, the temperature rose and our captain pulled the boat to shore. We docked beside a wooden stick constructed home. A stocky Chamorro woman wearing the local mestiza dress escorted us to another dock where she offered water.

Proa Boats

At this point, another man entered the scene carrying a large round breadfruit and a platter of smaller fruits easily gathered in the forest. “The Chamorro were a fishing, gathering group of people. They ate what they could find. Breadfruit, coconut, wild yam, arrowroot, taro, ginger, and Federica nuts. The men fished while the woman cooked sea cucumber, shrimp, eels, and crabs. The only mammal indigenous to Guam prior to the Spanish was the fruit bat which became a delicacy.”

The guide cut open the breadfruit and passed it around for us. “Breadfruit was our stable,” he said. “We ate it with coconut milk, mashed, or sauteed in garlic and oil. We had no matches, so creating fire became important. We used a branch or stalk from the white hibiscus tree, and coconut husk to make fire.”

He gave me a fan made of pandamus, followed by a hair piece and a little bag to carry food. I laughed and we had a ball, until he brought out two coconut shells. Oh, no. I giggled. Those are not going to fit me. The group started laughing while he played around a little  and then put the shells down and took out a long and wide woven pandamus halter and fastened it over my blouse while I cringed every time someone snapped a photograph. But we had lots of fun.

We then hiked a short distance to the latte stone site of this original settlement. We saw a few unearthed latte stones among the jungle foliage.