Celebrating culture

Jaybyrd Castro 0:10

Hafa adai todu hamyu, i na'an hu si Jay Castro . Guahu si Jaybyrd . And this is the Red Rice and Fina'denne' podcast . I'm pulling up to the Latte fest 2024 right now . It's a celebration of our vibrant CHamoru/Chamorro culture held outside the YMCA on Treasure Island in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area my backyard and it's hosted in collaboration by the Guamanian Community Club of Sacramento , Northern California Chamorro Club and an organization named Inafa'maolek . It's been raining all week , but the Saina has blessed us with clear blue skies . But I'm just getting here and I'm riding solo and I want to stand out in the crowd , so folks will want to come up and talk to me . You know I got my microphone out . Maybe they want to get up on the podcast . I'm rocking my blue hafa adai , all day t-shirt . I'm also wearing three sinahis around my neck and probably breaking all the rules by doing it . I'm not tripping , because I got one for each of my kids and another one on for my dad . I'm also wearing this dope woven hat that Alana Abbey in Hawaii helped me make last time I was there in North Oahu .

Jaybyrd Castro 1:31

The hat definitely makes me stand out . People are already looking at me . They're right over there . These folks are looking at me . Yeah , yeah , oh , she's laughing at me . She called me a chaud . You're jealous ! Don't be jealous . Oh man , I haven't been called a chaud since the last time I hung out with my cousin , Jenni Manibusan . Cruz's Kitchen is out of Sacramento , they're hustling behind their tent pumping out smacking fiesta plates, corn soup , ube flan , the works . Ooh , what's that ? Ooh , I'm jealous of that plate that you have , hey .

Jaybyrd Castro 2:18

I didn't know you were out here what you making . Chef Shawn Naputi from Pubechu in San Francisco is here testing out a new casual concept that they call "chagi chicken . He's serving these kebabs of chicken and peppers and onions over a mound of red rice , which is so red that I can smell the achiote just by looking at it . The kebab smells sweet and the rice savory . Oh look , it's Tony from the Hoffa Brown Company . It's cool running into all the folks here because we follow each other on Instagram , we support each other's work and then we finally get to see each other in person at these events .

Lenny Indalecio from Bay Chiefin Clothing Line 3:03

Yeah , yeah , definitely . Hey , what's going on ? Y'allall , my name is Lenny Indalecio , familiar in Kabayu , uh , going by Wix1 SJ on Instagram . You know we're here at 2024 Latte Fest , you know , supporting the culture . You know I'm here as a volunteer , uh , because I want to show my kids what Chenchule really is , coming in helping out . If you can't help out monetary , you help out with your hands , and that's what the culture's about . So we're here to spread that Shout out to Jaybyr d and his family , everybody you know and what they're doing , and we look forward to seeing everybody at the 50th anniversary of San Roque . So again , Lenny Indalecia familian , Kabayu , Wix1 on Instagram . Holla at your boy .

Guam Style

Jaybyrd Castro 3:39

Like the O'Mallon brothers who run Calibus and Guam Style out of their shop in Roseville , California , just outside Sacramento .

Lenny Indalecio from Bay Chiefin Clothing Line 3:46

Push love baby . Yes , sir , how are you doing ?

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian Community Club of Sacramento 3:49

Good , how are you ?

Jaybyrd Castro 3:49

Doing Good Stuff looks good man .

A.J. O'Mallan from Guam Style 3:54

What's up everybody . This is AJ from Guam Style . We're out here with the Guam Style brand and we aim to just protect , preserve, and unite the culture , make sure everybody's doing their part to keep our culture alive and still living . So glad to be out here , oh , my brother Tomas . He's my partner in everything . So , yeah , we're out here , brothers , nice .

Jaybyrd Castro 4:17

I respected that because I have my brother Jeremy , we always out here hustlin' too

A.J. O'Mallan from Guam Style 4:23

He's Chamorro . Yeah , his name is Ronnie and he hit me up on the email saying that he's coming with his Caltrans tow truck and he wants to get barbecue . So he's just strolling by . He's going to come and get it , that's for sure .

Jaybyrd Castro 4:38

That's cool , and just like a family

Metgot Creations

Jaybyrd Castro 4:41

party or really any other cultural event that you might go to . You can't go 10 feet without seeing someone and saying what's up ? They're like look , it's your par , it's your pari , it's a che'lu , it's your cousin , maybe it's even your auntie . Hey , look , there goes the Munoz family behind Metgot Creations . They do dope carvings and I got a few in my house .

Byron from Metgot Creations 5:09

Hafa adai . This is Byron Metgot Creations . This is my wife , Gina, Metgo t Chamorrita . Together we are Metg ot Creations . We came out here to the Latte Fest to hang out and chill . We're not vending . We're out here to say hafa adai to everybody and spread the love . Yeah , so what we do is we do wood carvings . We try to keep the tradition and culture together . What inspires us actually is not the money , it's more of when my kids , family , friends , they go to other people's houses and they see my artwork on their walls .

Gina from Metgot Creations 5:41

That goes the same way with me . I try bring um our culture back to the main land . It's not about the money , it's about the love spreading the our culture and our heritage forward to our young kids not only my kids , but the younger generations moving forward . We want to keep our our island on the map and not be forgotten .

Jaybyrd Castro 6:03

I can relate to that . Oh

Cece Lozoya

Jaybyrd Castro 6:05

wait , look there goes someone from the organizing crew . Let me go talk to them real quick .

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian Community Club of Sacramento 6:09

Hi , my name is Cece LaZoya . I'm the secretary of the Guamanian Community Club of Sacramento . I am first generation born stateside . My family is from Agat and Hagaña and today we are celebrating the Latte Fest . We have plenty of Chamorro food , CHamoru dancing , vendors and , yeah , I'm here just to spread the culture such as hafa adai spirit and , you know , teach the younger generation about what it is to be Chamorro .

What it is to be CHamoru

Jaybyrd Castro 6:33

What it is to be Chamoru/Chamorro . That's deep , the way that I think about it . It's not a matter of how much Chamorro I am , although there have been times when I had to prove my percentage . It's about how much I live by the Chamorro values . It means you learn great respect and how to earn it . It means Latte stones , which signify strength , resiliency and admiration of our women .

CHamoru chant

Cece Lozoya from Guamanian Community Club of Sacramento 8:02

Give it up for Kutturan Chamorro Foundation . Thank you , Heidi , and thank you Saina Eric Reyes si Yu'us ma'åse . Wow , what a show so far . Are you guys enjoying yourselves ?

Jaybyrd Castro 8:18

I really am enjoying myself . I'm really having a good time catching up with folks , but everyone keeps telling me I gotta go talk to two people , Vic Pangilinan and Verna Castro . So I found them and they shared some more backstory on this Latte Fest .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 8:35

So

Victor Pangelinan

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 8:36

Victor Pangilinan , my parents are Jesus and Lucille Pangilinan . My dad's from Palantet grew up in Maina and my mom's from Hagana Heights .

Jaybyrd Castro 8:46

This is hella funny , where folks who are from the islands will give you geographic and structural waypoints and features to describe where they're from . Where's Palantin ?

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 8:55

Right Yona , Ah , the backside . So if you go up the hill and you go , you'd pick Carabao and Yona right ?

Jaybyrd Castro 9:01

I have never . You see , you go up the hill and you take the Carabao in Yona . You haven't taken the carabao in Yona yet ? Shame . Straight up , mamåhlao .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 9:11

Go past the big carabao and you follow the trail in the back of Palantas , so you start entering that way .

Jaybyrd Castro 9:17

You live here now I take it right ?

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 9:19

We moved . Dad was in the Navy , so we traveled around and ended up , say , in American Canyon in 1975 . And grew up out here , from elementary all the way to high school in the Napa area . My Dad was a machinist submarine .

Jaybyrd Castro 9:36

And so , as we got talking , he started to tell me a bit about the organization that he's from and how the Latte fest came about .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 9:42

So the mission of the Northern California Chamorro Club is bringing our people back home , showing them the culture , having the kids come up and understand the culture , cause you know , right now , as they grow up , no one's really a hundred percent Chamorro right , we're , we're , you know , we're out in , out in the States , so it's a little mix-match . So we bring them the culture . We have our kids event , we have our Easter event and we have our dinner dance for us to provide to the community . So you know , we're all about bringing the community , the Chamorros , all together and enjoy themselves . I love it .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 10:13

Actually , our parents my dad and mom was involved with the Vallejo Chamorro Club and some of our members are from Fairfield , Vacaville Chamorro Club , so as kids we would meet together . So , as you know , the go . We kind of talked because they kind of went away , the clubs went away , the scenes went away . We wanted to bring that back . So everybody from the Fairfield Chamorro Club and the Vallejo Chamorro Club , the kids , we had a meeting . We brought it back In 2016, . We created the Northern California Chamorro Club and we've been going strong as of that , having our community together , showing them the culture , show them the food , show them what it takes , put the roots in the ground of where we come from . I love that props to that .

Jaybyrd Castro 10:58

Yes , my grandparents . They also , when they moved here , started the, well , I don't know if they started , but were main contributors to the Alameda Guam Club . Okay , and so , and so that's how I met the Duenas family . It's how I met all the Tenorio family and how we just started spreading in the east bay , you know , not as far east as y'all . But so that means that , like your parents and all of them , they knew of my grandparents for sure . Yes , and I bet that you and my dad at some point were running around the same hall or the same church at one point in life .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 11:24

Yes , because they would travel .

Victor Pangelinan from Northern California Chamorro Club 11:32

You know , the kids came up , they cleaned up you know , pick up all the trash , the um , two , three clubs that we have . We talked , we got in a meeting and we were like talking about putting in a M tomorrow , you know , for the month of march and uh , 30 days this whole thing got put together and , you know , od is good . We thought it was gonna rain . The sun's been out all day , everybody's having a great time . I've got no complaints or anything like that , you know . So I think it's just showing our roots , our respect to the culture .

Verna Castro

Verna Castro from Inafamaolek.us 12:07

Hafa Adai Toto hamchoo . Hello to everybody . This is Verna Castro , the Executive Director of anafamalikus , a Chamorro-based Bay Area organization . My family is Castro , from Chala . It's my father . My mother is Nandes . Jantan agwan , from Agatna . Anafamalik means to restore harmony , to make good for self , for community and for the environment . What a beautiful central concept .

How Latte Fest started

Verna Castro from Inafamaolek.us 12:33

The Latte Fest began with a conversation with Delfina Palomo , the president of the Guam Community Club of Sacramento . We brought in Vic P , North Cal Chamorro Club president , out of Vacaville . Together , we brought in our team . We decided what better way to celebrate Mez Chamorro than to have this in Northern California ? Southern California has lots of festivals and clubs , so we wanted to start it in this manner , Also to bring the Monunkuls , our elders , our wise elders and our young people . We're real good with social media and other things like that , so we did that . What a great event . We had four to 500 people attend for our first go around at Treasure Island , the YMCA . Everybody had a good time . It was free vendors , entertainment , et cetera . Some key players are Tina Tomas , AJ , Shana Mary Lane .

Jaybyrd Castro 13:25

Shout out to everyone who was there , to everyone who contributed , to all those people that I got interviews from Latfest 2024 . It was dope . I'll see you next year on Treasure Island . No-transcript .