During the rainy season, which runs roughly from May through September, jungle hiking is not a pleasant experience. Everything is soaking wet, and the humidity is oppressive. During this time of the year, I really only focused on maintenance of my Beverage receive antennas – a “necessary evil” so to speak.
Now that it’s December and we’re into the dry season, I’ve started poking around back in the jungle, working down the list of places I’ve scoped out on Google Maps as potential places where I might find stuff.
If you read back, I gave away my secret to find stuff in the jungle. Coconuts don’t roll uphill. On the northern plateau of Guam, coconut trees in the middle of the jungle, away from modern civilization, were planted there by humans at some point in the past. Find coconut trees in the middle of the jungle with Google Earth, and you’ve located a part of Guam where humans have once settled – either 50 years ago or longer.
Last week I explored one such site. My focus is on WW2 history, but in this case what I found was much earlier.
This is a Lusong, an ancient grinding stone. Rice would be placed into the round hold, and pounded (like a mortar and pestle) to mill and de-husk the rice kernels. This might be 200 years old, or 1000 years old. So, it is apparent that this site was one occupied long before the Second World War. Since it does not fit the genre of my interest – I cross this location off my list and move on.
