Gef Pa’go Cultural Village is a must visit while here on Guam! Located on the beautiful coast of Inarajan you’ll be transported back in time to the practices of the early Chamorro people. See live demonstrations and learn valuable history during your experience! A great family friendly way to get out and explore the island.
The Gef Pa’go cultural village is open daily from 9 am to Noon, I have seen recommendations on the brochure that you call if planning on taking a group. However we went as 2 adults & 4 kids (6 total) and had no issues paying on the spot and getting a tour. Make sure to bring cash and small bills are nice as they had to run and get change for us.
Parking is free and is right along the right hand side of the road just before the entrance to the gift shop, where you also pay for the tour. The local/military rate is $7 per adult (kids over 12 are adults) and kids $5 for ages 6 and up I believe.
One of the cultural village guides will take you on the tour as well as do the demonstrations for you. Our guide we very knowledgeable and we learned a lot during our tour! You’ll see sea salt, coconut products, rope making, weaving, old stone oven, & a historic home. There are five different huts to experience, the order you see them & what you see will depend on the guide & day.
In Hut #1 the coconut is featured. You’ll get to learn how to husk a coconut using a wooden pole, step back guys this is ladies work, LOL! The guy made it look so easy, and it was not as easy as it looked! We all go a turn trying to husk it, the bonus was wearing a crazy hat while doing it, made for some hilarious pics. He explained how coconut oil is made, they sell it in the gift shop if you’d like to take some home.
Then he told us how to make coconut candy and we all got to sample some. It was good although I was good after eating one.
You also get to drink the coconut water from the coconut and sample the flesh after he shows you they shave it by hand. The kids even got a turn trying and the guide made sure each one got multiple photo opps as well.
Hut #2 is where the sea salt magic happens. When you walk in you’ll see a huge pot of water that they keep boiling for the sea salt production. You’ll learn about how sea salt is made and get to sample it.
I thought it was so neat that the salt is formed in pyramid shapes! They also sell the sea salt at the gift store, we bought some and have been using it at home, yum!
You’ll find coconut weaving & katupat in Hut #3. I think this hut was skipped during our tour as we did not see any coconut weaving, or cooking of Katupat, possibly because there wasn’t enough staff there that day? Not sure why it was skipped.
Hut #4 is where the rope making happens. The rope making process requirers three people so one of the kids got to help with the demo. The rope is quite strong that they make, seem like it would be very hard to break!
Hut #5 is the baking using the Chamorro oven, titiyas making, & weaving. They baking says that it’s available by appointment only. We did not see any titiyas or weaving in action.
Although there were finished woven products on display.
We all also all got a small woven bird decoration to take home with us. We were shown the Chamorro oven and given some history on it.
After visiting the huts we were taken on a short walk to tour one of the historic homes the village. During the walk there are several other historic homes that can be seen from the outside and some great murals that have been painted.
The house we visited was built in 1901 and the family raised 16 kids there! It’s crazy to imagine that they all lived in that small house, as the back part is a later addition. The other interesting thing is that there is a current resident that resides in the home currently, I think it’s great that she graciously allows people to come visit the home.
We learned some great historic info about the home and it’s contents! The 16 kids slept on mats on the floor in this one room. The parents had a separate tiny bedroom.
There are even holes still in the floors when from the Japanese planes invaded and shot into the village, that had to be an incredibly scary experience!
Overall this was a fantastic way to spend a few hours (our tour lasted around 1.5 hours) and to learn so much about the Chamorro culture! All the kids enjoyed it, even the ones that were not so thrilled to be going 😉 I highly recommend getting out there to check it out and even taking your family & friends when they visit.
Know Before You Go
What: Gef Pa’s Cultural Village in Inarajan, Guam
How To Get There: Approx. 55 mins from Andersen, approx. 37 mins from Naval Base Guam. It’s in Inarajan, you can use this map, it’s from Andersen but you can change the starting point on the left.
When: Open daily from 9 am – Noon
Bring: Water & small backpack to carry water & items around is handy.
Parking: Free parking on the side of the road just before the building on the right hand side of the street.
Cost: $7 per adult & $5 for child for military/local rate.
Adventuring with little kids: Baby wearing is probably best as you have to visit several huts and they are not super large. You also walk across grassy areas. The historic house is not stroller friendly. If your in a small group an all terrain stroller could be doable if really needed.
How long: Plan on at least 1-2 hours, maybe more depending on your group size.
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