Guam Day 91 - Guam Bus Stops

 5/24/2022 - Bus Stops here have become so common of what we see daily, I forget the way these are implemented is unique to Guam. Just like any other neighborhood in the USA, there are kids that ride the bus to get to school daily. Maybe less during covid, based on traffic is seems like kids are in about every other day, a 3 on 2 off kind of thing. Never the less with bus routes comes bus stops. 

For the most part the physical design is the same for each of these shelters, likely built from a standard concrete pre fab. The half latte stone that you see acting as a pillar on either side is what makes these true to the heritage of Guam. I think some time back I talked about these stones, prior to colonization of Guam, the latte stone was a symbol of wealth. The larger the stone the more prevalence you had in society, and these stones were used to build the major pillars of your house. The stones would have been put on full display to your community and the social status would have been evident to all those that visited the home. This is a funny thing in my mind, the latte stone in some ways was a currency, but what prevented a person from carving their own? More research to do... For the bus stop, these are symbolic of the latte stone, by no means originals. It is nice nod to where the people now see the wealth should go, to the education and shelter of the next generation. Pretty cool how historic symbols can be used in a simple way. 

As you can see, many of these stops begin to collect graffiti, a simple place for either youth or young adults to capture their need for making it their own, or making a statement. What I find really cool though is even as these get defaced, the people in the community end up caring for them as their own. Many times you pass one of these bus stops and its being repainted in the color of the house next door to it, like they had an extra gallon of paint. Local businesses even take on the care at times, Home Depot Orange is a common one, tagged with the logo. Or the Guam logo is applied to a fresh coat of bright color. These stops are some how both a place to do basic advertising as well as capturing the artistic elements of what the community is. 

All that in just a bus stop.....