Perhaps nothing best symbolizes, in a unique way, our Mariana Islands as the Latte Stone. While any tropical island can boast of palm trees and sandy beaches, the Latte Stone can only be found in the Marianas.
You can read more about them at
http://ns.gov.gu/latte.html or
http://guampedia.com/latte/ or
http://www.bisitaguam.com/episodes/06/
But I wanted to share this photo of some of the smallest latte stones I have ever seen with my own eyes. This latte stone is just one of several at my uncle's property at Urunao. The stones there are slender slabs, no more than three feet high. Although they could still conceivably have been used to support floorings or roofing for canoe sheds and other small structures, these small lattes may have had more to do with the burial sites often found wherever lattes are found on the shoreline.
With the passage of time, the tåsa (capstone) fell from the haligi (post) as you can see. I wonder if "tasa" comes from the Spanish word for "cup." It does resemble one, no?
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