Saturday Hike to Pagat with We Are Guahan

The We Are Guahan Coalition is organizing a hike to Pagat Caves this Saturday, January 2nd.

Pagat Caves is a beautiful location which was once an Ancient Chamorro village. Numerous artifacts and latte can still be found there in the pristine limestone jungle. It is considered by many today to be a sacred site.
The proposed military buildup of Guam would block off public access to this location amongst others on the Eastern coast of Guam, in order to build a live-fire training range for Marines being transferred from Okinawa.
For those interested in joining the hike, we'll be meeting first at Winchell's in Mangilao at 9 am. If you come bring lots of water, hiking shoes, mosquito repellent, sun screen and wear hiking or tennis shoes.

I last went to Pagat a few years back, when I was in poor physical shape and the hike down was fun, but the hike back up felt like I was getting a badly done bone biopsy with every step. I'll be going on this hike, and don't look forward to it, since graduate school and my general ginagu has put me in even worse shape today. If Pagat is indeed a sacred place, I hope and pray that the spirits of my ancestors will infuse some strength into my legs and back to help me make it back up that hill.
Here are some photos of Pagat, taken from different websites. It truly is un gefpago na lugat, and regardless of where you stand in terms of the military buildup, to lose public access to that site would be very tragic.

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