YOU CAN TAKE ME OUT OF GUAM, BUT YOU CAN'T TAKE THE GUAM OUT OF ME

She's been living in the US mainland for fifty years or so, but this Chamorro lady gets her pugua' stash by mail from family still on Guam.

Thanks to modern technology, they now come vacuum packed in small pouches so not too many are opened and exposed to the air and become hard as marbles.  When I was living in the US mainland in the 1980s, I'd have to soak the pugua' in water to soften it a little, and that method didn't really work all that much.

I remember my grandmother sending her oldest son in San Diego pugua' every so often in old Foremost milk cartons, wrapped in brown paper bag and stringed.  She'd have to peel as much as possible before packing the pugua'.

flickr.com

CHAMORRO PUGUA' MAILING CONTAINER