Little Adventures: Strangers and Turtles

I'm not sure what this place is called, but it basically overlooks Talofofo Bay (Maybe it's called Talofofo Bay Overlook? Ha.) I had a little adventure there yesterday afternoon just before sunset that I thought I'd share with you guys.

That morning I'd just finished rereading the Harry Potter series (Don't lie, you do it too.), and that afternoon, I worked down on the southeastern side of the island. Whenever I read fiction, I always feel like writing some of my own (which is why I sometimes avoid reading fiction, because writing takes my mind away from business...which is bad for business), so I made the decision to spend some downtime at the beach. First Beach, my first choice (haha), was already a bit crowded, so instead I pulled over at the Talofofo Bay overlook, brought a notebook and pen with me to the precipice (I like that word), and sat down on the barrier, ready to enjoy the view and write a few pages of what might just turn out to be a load of useless fiction (Not everything I write is genius, I admit.)

I was not alone. There was a man there who seemed to be surveying the area. I'd noticed the name of some sort of company on the side of his truck (can't remember the name), so I decided not to mind his presence and get on with what I wanted to do. He was about to leave, however, when he called out to me: "Would you like me to take a picture of you? That looks like a great picture."

In my head I was like, "Crap, he thinks I'm a tourist." But then, I decided to take advantage of his offer and gave him my phone. When he finished taking the picture, he introduced himself, shook my hand, and left.

After writing a bit, I got up to take some pictures of the misty look that was settling over the mountains. The mountains through which Cross-Island Road cuts always start to look kind of misty around 6:00-7:30 PM, and it always looks awesome. I got up and walked to the opposite side of the overlook and started taking pictures, but, as I did so, I was interrupted from my nature excursion by yet another stranger.

"Do you want to see sea turtles? Here, look!" Another man had appeared and was making his way toward me. He joined me at the very end of the barrier, climbed and stood on top of it and, holding onto a metal pole that stood near him, told me to do the same. Naturally, I thought he was going to lure me onto the barrier and push me over the edge, where I would meet my untimely and totally unsought death. That didn't happen, though.

I climbed up and stood next to him on the barrier. "I'm Apache. I'm from Tali," he said. Name and residence: two important elements to social introductions on Guam. I said, "I'm Jess. I'm from Agat." I also had to explain that, no, I'm not military. Some of you can relate. 

Anyway, this interesting being pointed down into the water, which was yards and yards below us, and showed me how to spot the sea turtles that were beginning to come to the surface. They were hard to see at first, but after a minute, it became easier to spot the dark outlines of the green sea turtles swimming against the current, out into the open ocean. We saw three of them! Apache explained that he was a hunter and a fisher: I knew he wasn't watching turtules for fun--But it was fun for me! And when I'd had my fill, I thanked him for the experience and went on my way, feeling very, very glad that I'd pulled over to do some writing at Talofofo Bay instead of speeding past it, like I usually do, on my way home.

Take advantage of little adventures!