Island Life In Samoa

Malo from Samoa. This is true island life, sitting in my beach fale, drinking a cold Coke from a glass bottle, watching the waves lap the shore, after all you can eat meals all for less than $30usd a night. Truly the good life.

Apia is the main city on the island of Upolu and is very congested and busy. After arriving and spending one night I knew I needed to get out. So the next morning I found the bus station (with the help of a guy begging money and trying to sell me drugs) and caught a fun ride out to the wharf. For only a few dollars I took a ferry over to the island of Savaii and a local girl helped me get a bus to the north side of the island. Here I found a great resort called Tanu's. Fales were only $60wst (about $20usd) a night and included breakfast and dinner. There was also a store where I could go in, grab what I needed, and then write my name and what I took in a book to be charged latter. Talk about trusting. The first full day at Tanu's I hiked with a German girl to the top of a volcano and met the worlds famous Cr8erman. Mt Matavanu erupted from 1905-1911 and the resulting lava fields can still be seen.

This is a church that was ruined by lava during the eruption of Mt Matavanu. All the rock you see inside the church was at one point hot lava.

My last night at Tanu's there was a Fia Fia or should I say a party with a show. After the show there was music for dancing but nobody wanted to get up in dance. I made a name for Americans as I dragged people onto the dance floor and got the party started. These two people, Patrick and Caroline, are from Germany and I ended up spending a lot of time traveling with them. Can't wait to get copies of their pictures.

I spent the night in this 200 year old banyan tree. Besides mosquitoes, it was a great experience. I'm really lucky and glad that it didn't rain that night but I did see an amazing lightning show. From my tree top I also got to see huge bats, the southern cross, and a spectacular sunrise.

After meeting back up with Patrick and Caroline, we took a bus to see the blowholes. Not as spectacular as those in Tonga, but we heard that if you throw a coconut in as it blows, it will fly into the air and crack open as it lands on the hard rocks. Well, we got brave and tried this stunt but it didn't work. Oh well, I guess we had the wrong tide.

Stayed a couple days in Satuiatua. Cute little village on the south side of Savaii. While I was there I was invited to a families Sunday brunch. This is the weekly meal where the family talks about family and village issues. There is a lot more to it but we sat on the floor of a fale and ate a traditional meal with our hands. It is impolite to point your legs at someone so everyone sits cross legged. This was okay for me for a while, but getting up was hard.

All bus rides in Samoa were interesting. The max capacity of a bus is 33 plus the driver. Usually we had 50+ along with all kinds of supplies. The whole bus system is interesting with people along the routes giving the bus driver money to pick stuff up in town and dropping it off on the way back. If you don't like crowded places with people sitting on your lap, the bus is not for you. However they treat women and Polongy very well.

Buses are also very colorful and usually play very loud music. I was lucky enough on one ride to have the music in English. However when it wasn't in English, I normally could recognize songs, like from the sound of music or other musicals.

I spent a few days at Lalomanu where I ended up seeing 3 other ice people/ Seward people. There was also a pet pig that would lay on the beach and wade in the ocean. It was quite amazing.

Samoa had endless beautiful sunsets. I bet the sunrises were also beautiful but most of the time I wasn't up early enough to see them. After a while I stopped taking pictures because I couldn't tell if they were worth a picture.

At Lalomanu I paid $90 tala for my own fale (in overflow area so ended up having my own security guard as well), all I could eat breakfast, and all I could eat dinner. Dinners had items like lobster, mussels, breadfruit, pasta... Each meal I would eat until I didn't feel well and was stuffed. I was also lucky to see another Fia Fia.

This Fia fia was pretty good and in the middle of it they invited us up and taught us how to do the traditional dances. Once again I had to get people up to participate.

I found a cool cave area on the way home. It cost $2 tala to get into it but nobody was at the gate so I just went in. The fun part is that you have to swim into these caves. There are two major passages that connect with an underwater passage. I was not brave enough to try it but if others were around I was going to give it a shot. Apparently there is a passage that continues deep into the hill and goes under the chapel above. On the way out I asked if these caves were made by lava tubes and was told that they were made by the spirits that live in them. Interesting.

If you ever end up in Samoa, you have to go to the sliding rocks just outside Apia. A series of water falls can be slid down. This one you see me about to smack the water on is about a 5m drop. There are 4 of them that feed you down through the jungle. The rocks are covered with an algae that makes them very slippery. Your butt will hurt at the end, but it's worth it.

That concludes the Samoa adventure, but it was a great source of relaxing fun. Still have Australia to go.