Talofofo Falls

Carlton actually had an afternoon off last week, so we took advantage of it and explored one of the touristy spots that we have been meaning to go to for awhile now. Talofofo Falls is a large waterfall that you used to be able to hike to but now there is a "park" built around them. So when you get there and pay your entrance fee (of course), there are other things to see and do besides just the waterfall. We were greeted by boonie dogs in the parking lot and of course chickens as we made our way to the entrance.

Entrance

Always chickens around

Kiddie train

The first place we checked out is a little area called Love Land. We have no idea why this garden of statues is in this park or who thought this was a great idea. It is basically a garden area with several sexually explicit statues. They do have it gated with a sign posted that it is for adults only. I have posted a couple pictures here but I have excluded most of the "artwork".

The entrance to the "garden"

I have no idea but there were 2 of these!

Not sexual at all compared to others

The least explicit of the racy statues

After being entertained by Love Land, we made our way to the next spot on our map....the Ghost House. Basically it was a haunted house...and a very cheesy one I might add. 

Next up was the cable car ride to get across the river so we could see the falls better. We did have some lovely views from the cable cars but it was hard to photograph through the plexiglass.

Ghost House entrance

Cable cars

Heading out

Lovely view!!

Part of the falls

Once we got to the other side of the falls we were able to see them much better!! There is a short trail to walk along the river and then a bridge to cross to the other side for a few more items of interest. After we checked out the falls, we crossed the bridge and followed the trail to Yokoi Cave. There is a "monorail" to take as well but it was out of order. Wait until you see the picture of the "monorail"!

Lower part of Talofofo Falls

Lots of little falls off the big one

Showing buildings on either side of the river

Close-up

Another close-up

Selfie!

Bridge to other side

"Monorail" - folding chairs attached to a flatbed on wheels

Pretty!

Path to the Yokoi Cave

After crossing the bridge, we came upon the "monorail". As you saw in the picture above, it is a flatbed on wheels with folding chairs and a canopy attached to it. I am imagining (hoping) it does not move too quickly along the rails when it is operating. I think we would have chosen to walk regardless.

The path took us to Yokoi Cave where a Japanese soldier stayed hidden for 28 years after the Battle of Guam in 1944. This is not the real cave, we were told the real one was much deeper in the jungle and had collapsed years ago. This was a replica but I still could not imagine living in this cave for 28 years!! Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on this soldier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi.

Replica of inside of Yokoi Cave

Many Buddha statues

Description of Soldier

Pics of Shoichi Yokoi

Diagram of Yokoi Cave

Opening of cave replica

View of river from cave replica

Mossy greens on tree trunk

"Monorail" track

Museum

After exploring the area around the cave replica, we made our way back to the buildings we had passed which included a museum. I did not get any pictures inside the museum but it was basically several dioramas depicting the history of Chamorros.

This guy decided to follow us

Area between upper and lower falls

CHEESE!!

From the museum, we made our way to the viewpoint for the upper part of Talofofo Falls. We got plenty of pictures of the falls (although not a good time of day for landscape pics).

Upper Talofofo Falls

This guy again - looking for handouts

Falls with the cable cars

I have a stalker

Handsome!

More Buddhas!

Pretty flowers!

After exploring the upper part of the falls and taking our return trip on the cable cars, we went for one more walk to the viewpoint tower to see the view. We are pretty far inland here, so not too much to see except for jungle!

Jungle, jungle, jungle

More jungle over here

Oh look! Water!!

Thus ends our exciting expedition to Talofofo Falls. It is a great place to take tourists....anyone wanna take me up on it?? :-)