Page 469 - Visitor Guides

PLANNING YOUR VISIT Planning Your Visit

Culture Getting to Guam
Our island is a melting pot Before you can begin explor-
of culture comprised of the ing our beautiful island, you
indigenous people of Guam, first need to find a way here.
known as Chamorros, as well A.B. Won Pat Guam Interna-
as a number of Filipinos, tional Airport is Micronesia’s
Koreans, Chinese, and Micro- regional airport serving as the
nesians that have migrated to entry point for the neighbor-
Guam due to our proximity ing islands of the Northern
to Asia and the Philippines. Marianas (Saipan, Rota, and
U.S. military bases on our Tinian), Palau, the Federated
island have also led a number States of Micronesia (Chuuk,
of Americans to our tropical Pohnpei, Yap, and Kosrae),
paradise. and the Marshall Islands. To
see a regional map of Microne-
sia, see page 64.

It also serves as an interna-
tional entry point from a num-
ber of cities in Asia – from
Shanghai to Beijing, Incheon
to Tokyo. Known as the clos-
16 est U.S. destination in Asia, 17
Although differences exist be- Guam hosts about a million
tween our native cultures, the visitors each year.
uam is known as the jewel Climate spirit of Guam can be found
Gof Micronesia. It is located Guam’s beau- in each village and household.
in the Pacific Ocean, about tiful tropical We are all united through the
1,200 miles east of the Philip- weather pro- love of our island and the hos-
pines and 3,500 miles west vides a year- pitality of our people. After
of Hawaii. Being the largest round summer, all, “We Are Guam.”
island in Micronesia, it spans with trade
about 212 square miles (549 winds that
square km), and covers an keep the island
area about 30 miles (48.39 comfortable. The average
km) long and 8.5 miles (13.71 temperature ranges between
km ) wide at the northern tip. 75-86 degrees Fahrenheit
The larger southern half of the (26-30 degrees Celsius), with
island stretches to about 11.5 an annual average rainfall at
miles (18.55 km) wide. The about 80 inches (2,509 milli-
Marianas Trench, the deepest meters) per year. Guam knows
ocean in the world, is about only two seasons – wet and
210 miles southeast of Guam, dry. Rainy season is from June
the westernmost territory of to November, and dry season
the United States. is from December to May.