Guam, another day

The most prominent religion here Catholicism but it seems that everybody else is here too, Christian Science, Baptist, Mormon (Matt Romney was here the other day.  That's right, Mitt's son.) but, I've not seen and sign of Judaism or Islam.  So, in the mornings we don't get Allah Hu Asbat (Indonesian for Allah Akbar), rather a few Catholic church bells and a chorus of roosters.  You'll hear them in this clip.

The location is down the road from my sister Val's.  You may have noticed a few building cranes in the distance; they are at the Navy Hospital building a new wing.  And, there was a glimpse of Pat at the end.

Here's one of the noisy critters.  But it really is a pleasant experience hearing them crowing from all directions, coaxing the sunrise.

Guam

Jet lag is about over and we're doing a little sight seeing around the island.

Guam is famous not only as a tropical paridise, a lot hillier than it loooked like on Google Earth,

and beautiful turquois water (this shot includes some Spanish cannons),

but for its place in World War II history, once controlled by the Japanese and then retaken by the US.
   
Guam's people maintain a special pride for their island, the Marianas Islands, and especially for the stone relics known as Latte that predate the arrival of Magellan.  The shape is iconized all over the place - salt and pepper shakers, bus stops, water fountains, you name it.

This particular set of two columns of four is located near the center of Hagatña. They are about 7' tall and no one has yet to determine their purpose, except they were thought to elevate personal dwellings of early residents.  Here's a scholarly paper on the latte stones.

We've found some interesting local vegetation.

Flights MCO to NRT

MCO to DFW was uneventful, food was fine, and no photos taken.
Now DFW to NRT was something to write home about.  I selected the one Japanese meal available (one should typically order two days in advance), Pat had the Western menu.

I thought after reading the menu that the Western Dish was not part of the Appetiser Tray.  It wasn't until the Main Tray was served that I realised that the Western Dish was one of the items I had eaten on the Appetiser Tray. 

OK.  So then later, Death Valley was a sight to see.  I was guessing our current location was over Southern CA, and well, a big desert like this,

well it must be Death Valley.  I turned to the monitor showing our current location, and when it displayed the zoomed in view, sure enough, Death Valley.

About half way across the Pacific Pat was having irregular heart beats, extra strong, with associated shortness of breath, and chest pains.  Wow! Heart attack?  Her cardiologist had told us prior to departure that if we wanted to buy travel insurance "don't do it because of your heart" - a clean bill, right?  So we're really surprised at having any kind of episode.  The captain called for a doctor on board, a Japanese paediatrician was located and upgraded, along with a nurse, from coach to first-class.  They, along with a steward fluent in Japanese and English were very helpful, and approached the situation with utmost caution.  That's the Doc wearing glasses.  He had kind of a mohawk haircut - very cool.

 Pat got a heart monitor attached, and a bottle of O2 every 45 minutes, and doctor checkup every 15, for the remainder of the flight. The O2 really helped. She was convinced to take a nitro pill which had immediate effectiveness. A second incident and a second nitro pill had the same positive results.  American Air arranged for an ambulance to take us directly to an emergency room with a cardiologist on staff.  The ambulance workers called local emergency rooms to ensure the one selected would have the necessary skills and equipment.  We arrived with luggage, accompanied by a Japanese AA representative fluent in English, and AA invisibly handled our visa.  All ambulance personnel, hospital personnel, and anyone anywhere sick wore masks.  Pat was hooked up with various monitors, and we bumped along, GPS guided, to the appropriate facility, arriving to what seemed like a ghost-town of an emergency room.  No other patients at all.  Where's all the coughing sneezing indigents?  Single Payor Health Care. 

Pat got immediate attention from a six member team of doctors and nurses, X-Ray, EKG's, and prep work for an angiogram, which turned out unnecessary.  Thank goodness!  A clean bill of health and a brisk test walk, cardiologist leading, down a 50 yard corridor and back, with saline IV drip in tow, and we're on to the billing window.  Worried about the size of the bill we handed them our Visa card with the largest limit but, two days later we check on the web and the charge is $1300 USD.  SINGLE PAYOR HEALTH CARE. 

Our AA rep, who studied at Marshall University, West Virginia, (they beat UCF while he was there, but the UCF marching band recieved a standing ovation from the Marshall fans), accompanied us in a taxi to our hotel, paid the taxi, and bid us farewell.  AA will get a thankyou letter from me, naming names.  We cannot thank them all enough.

Here's the hotel room (International Garden Hotel) and the place across the street.

Next post from Guam.

krw