Friday, April 1, 2011

Talofofo Falls

Talofofo Falls Resort Park felt like an abandoned amusement park. Complete with bumper cars and a haunted house. Boar and boonie dogs walk around the park freely. There is an old monorail that consists of a flat bed with folding chairs. You take your own life in your hands riding on it! We opted out of that ride. The main attraction is the waterfalls. We took a cable car down to see them.

Once at the bottom, we hiked around the various falls.
Talofofo Falls is also the site of Sergeant Soichi Yokoi´s cave. Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who hid in the jungles of Guam for 28 years. During World War II the Japanese seized Guam from the U.S. American forces liberated the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with two other Japanese soldiers. He remained in hiding until 1972 when Chamorro hunters discovered him.

The two other soldiers died of either starvation or food positioning while in hiding in 1964. This is a shrine to those soldiers.
Although they call it a "cave", it is more like a hole. This is where Yokoi lived by himself for 28 years.
The park was interesting but really needs a makeover. I was thinking about offering to re-write some of the signs. The falls are beautiful and at one time people spent the day swimming in the waters. To our disappointment they no longer allow this.


1 comment:

  1. Thank you for posting these pictures and comments! I lived on Guam as a child in the late 70's, and vividly remember spending days with my parents, and classmates at Talofofo Falls (a name I've never forgotten). Very fond memories, and yet today was the first day it ever occurred to me to "google images" for the place. I didn't remember anything about the soldiers or cave.... really appreciate it, left Guam in '82 & have not been able to return until now ;.)

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