Bleed to love you

Slang for the boondocks or jungle is the "Boonies." Many things on Guam get the prefix "boonie. For example: boonie dogs (a wild or abandoned dog), boonie bees (strain of the African Killer bees that never stop stinging you --they never die-- you just have to outrun them), boonie cars (cars that are so rusted and encrusted with red dirt you wonder how they still work) and boonie stompin (hiking through the overgrown jungle). And Boonie stompin is where our story begins....

This is my good friend Nan Osborne. She has the body and energy of a 15 year old, and she makes everything that much more enjoyable. (Don't you love her soccer socks?! She used these to keep from getting cut by sword grass).

One morning at 6 am, Nan decides we should climb Mt. Lam Lam before all the Catholics on Guam climb it for Good Friday. So we get the kids out the door for school and climb in her Expedition and head South. It is not hard to find the tallest Mountain on the island for it rises 1,334 feet above sea level, but to find the entrance to the hike takes a super sleuth or the willingness to stop and ask a few locals on the way, where the trailhead begins. (School kids all over the island like to tell visitors that Mt. Lam Lam is actually the tallest mountain in the world, taller than even Mt. Everest (29, 035 ft), if you take into account the Marianas trench that sits right off the shore of Guam, which makes Mt. Lam Lam 37, 820 feet)
Nan, her new friend Lori Boss from Japan, and I finally find the trailhead, after circling around a bit. (The trailhead moved from when I was last here 4 years ago.) We couldn't have know that this would be the pattern for the whole day, chronically lost syndrome.... There is always something so thrilling about the beginning of a journey, the anticipation of adventure is a natural high. When we came to our first clearing, I couldn't help but be grateful for the cool breeze and sky so blue and endless that it seemed like a glimpse of eternity. It was one of those moments as a woman when you feel so happy that you can't contain it, and the joy leaks out your eyes in the form of tears.

After drinking in the view, and we headed back into the jungle to finish the climb.
This grass is razor sharp. You have to walk with your hands in front of your face at times so it doesn't cut you.

We came across the Madonna of LamLam hidden in a small limestone forest
Many people climb here to lay rosaries on the crosses, light candles and pray to Mary and ask for blessings of health. On an island where diabetes is rampant and exercise is neglected, the climb probably does as much good as the prayer. But usually it is family members climbing to pray for family members who have had both feet or legs amputated by the disease.
Despite large spiders and mosquitos, this is a nice quiet grove to lay out all your troubles and worries to God.
After we cleared the limestone forest we headed up again to climb to another plateau covered with crosses. The crosses are so unexpected, and that coupled with the climb takes your breath away.
Down below, we could see Fena Lake Reservoir. It covers 200 surface acres and is filled with Bass, Tilapia, catfish and mosquito fish keep it healthy and a fresh source of water for the island.
No one is allowed to fish or swim at Fena as the Navy protects it.

Why are there so many crosses here on the mountain? Local families from numerous villages climb LamLam every year to do the "14 Stations of the Cross" (a pilgrimage that originated in Jerusalem to follow the footsteps of Christ to the cross ). Individuals and families repeat this trek -- many on their knees, in wheelchairs, or on crutches to get a better feel of the pain and sacrifice of Jesus. There is one family, the Cruz's, who built a 500 pound cross that is 11 feet high and spans six feet in width (made out of Aga wood, known for its strength and durability), and they carry it up the mountain every Good Friday.

After walking up the sharp limestone and being cut with cane grass, I was feeling grateful that all we have to do as members of the church is kneel down to pray by our bed, in our closets or in our heart to invoke the ear of Heavenly Father. Our sacrifices aren't bloody knees, but time, talents and means (At times, painful sacrifices if you consider a week of KP & bathroom duty at girls camp, eating bugs at Fear Factor Youth conference, and chaperoning LOUD Stake dances until midnight)
On the way down, I noticed the pretty, wild ground orchids that dotted the trail and wondered if they sprung up where someone stopped and shed tears or bled along the way.

Well if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, after we descended, we decided to go onto Sella Bay to the ocean.

It was only supposed to be a 1.5 mile hike (each way) and we thought, easy enough.... famous last words....
We got off the trail accidentally and wandered down unmarked hills and waded down streams, when we were only supposed to cross them. At one point we thought we could just follow the Sella river to the ocean, until we came across a waterfall that was too steep to climb down.
We looked around and realized we were REALLY lost, and it would get dark in a couple hours and our husbands were off island, and we had no one to come rescue us or GPS to guide us back and we were out of water. If you haven't been been in the jungles of Guam, it seems funny that you could get lost, but tourists and residents have to be rescued quite frequently. (A Japanese soldier named Sgt. Yoki actually lived in the jungle on Guam for 28 years after WWII, and no one found him)
It came to me that we needed to pray. I knew that we weren't too lost for God, and that I didn't need to bleed for him to hear me (though I already had a huge lump on my shin from falling).

We bowed our heads and I prayed for peace to replace panic, for a clear mind, for safety and most of all for us to be able to know which way to go to find the trail again.

We closed the prayer and Lori said "look up, you can just barely see the crosses at Mt Lam Lam." We knew that was the direction we needed to be headed. We slid down one mountain on our backsides, so we wouldn't Jack and Jill tumble to our death to get to the river below. Nan had removed her soccer socks after the LamLam hike, but she laid down razor grass for us and was bleeding all over the place on her hands and knees. When we got to the river we tried several times to find a place to climb out but everything was so overgrown I was afraid we would get turned around again. I said a prayer inside to ask for guidance once again, and I felt a prompting to go right through this one overgrown area. Well, wouldn't you know it, we had to climb a bit on our knees because it was so steep. Then, even worse it led us into these massive web of giant banana spiders. Lori is deathly afraid of spiders so we searched for a stick, and I wound up the webs as best I could and moved the spiders and plowed through. When I felt the residual of sticky web hit my face, I wanted to turn around and give up, but I took a deep breath and kept pressing forward. At one point when my face was getting really scratched up, I turned my back and pressed forward (backwards). I was basically flopping myself onto razor grass so dense and high (several feet over my head) in order to lay it down so we could move forward. The church song "Press forward Saints, with steadfast faith in Christ" never had more meaning to me. When we finally got to a clearing, we celebrated because right there before us was the red dirt trail!

We arrived back to Nan's Expedition, bruised, cut up and bleeding, not too unlike those on a pilgrimage to Mt.Lam Lam. While we went to work using Nan the Nurse's first Aid Kit, I couldn't help but think about God hearing our prayers-- not because we were bleeding-- but because we prayed in faith. I sent a silent heartfelt prayer heavenward. The story ended well for these chronically lost Boonie Gals. And we thought, well maybe we should have just climbed Mt. Lam Lam on our knees-- might have been easier!

Next boonie adventure: kayaking to CoCo's Island. This time though, we are getting a guide!