There and Back 2005

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February 11, 2005

Gimme Samoa!

After staying in Apia for two days, we split a taxi with an Aussie family and a British girl to a place called Lalumanu in the south east corner of Upolo. The Aussies were Max, Leo and their mother Amy. Max and Leo were 18 and 16 respectively and Amy appeared to be in here 50's. They had been just about everywhere in the world and were great traveling companions. The British girl was Ingrid and she was doing a solo trip around the world for 8 months which is really impressive considering she is only 18.

As an aside, Max demonstrated perfectly the Aussie wit and humor that I enjoy so much. We were all talking and getting to know each other in the taxi and I was asking him about Bundaberg Rum and Cola's, a favorite of mine and an Australia specialty. We talked a bit about the various domestic Australian beers and which ones he liked. Then me mentioned boxed wine and that it was quite popular with people his age. He said boxed wine is great because "At the end of the night, you just plop the box on your head for a helmut, and you have the bag for a pillow when you need pass out."

The drive took us along the coast at times and through some rather steep and jagged volcanic mountains. The coast was as you might expect, palm fringed white sand beaches dotted with fishermans fale's and canoes. The interior near the mountains was less populated. There were a few cattle ranches but most of the land was either rain forest or coconut plantations. In the coconut plantations there are usually two other crops that grow beneath the coconut trees, bananas and tarro root.

About an hour after leaving Apia, we arrived at Lalumanu's Taufua Beach Fales. An audible thud was heard as I stepped out of the taxi. It was my jaw hitting the white sand as I gazed out on an absolutely perfect tropical beach. Coconut trees lazily swayed in the cool ocean breeze, and small waves gently rolled in from the tourquoise waters behind the barrier reef.

Standing on the beach and looking off to the left is one of the 7 smaller islands that make up the Samoan island group which totals 9 when you include Upolo and Savai'i, the two largest islands. It was uninhabited and looked like it could have easily been the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Stevenson spent his last years in Samoa.

We spent two days in Lalumanu snorkling, swimming, enjoying our new found friends, and feasting on the most wonderful meals. Our accomodations came with two meals per day which I assumed would be uninspired and less than filling. How wrong I was! The meals, breakfast and dinner, were huge. Breakfast was fresh eggs, pancakes, dumplings, fresh fruit, coffee, tea, toast, jam, coco rice (rice cooked in coco and milk with a lemon leaf in it), and lots of ther goodies. Dinner was no less impressive, fresh tuna, sushi, pasta salad, potato salad, papaya, vegetable stir fry, all washed down with Vailima, the domestic beer of Samoa (a very nice beer).

The fale and meals cost 50 Samoan Tala a day, which worked out to be $17 US per day. It must be one of the best bargans going in the world.

After Lalumanu, we took a taxi up to the ferry on the oposite end of the island. This ferry would take us to Savai'i. The drive took about 2 hours and 15 minutes, which is a bit longer than it should have. This was due in part to a bit of a communication problem and I realized this when we turned onto the road to Apia.

In Apia we explained that we wanted the Ferry and feeling confident that our destination was know we were off again. But the next stop was the airport. At first I thought "Oh, the airport, they must have the ferry at the airport", but that notion faded fast as we pulled up to the section of the airport labeled "Departures". I tried again to explain our desired destination through a serious of hand gestures and about every English word I know that describes boats. I was relieved when we finally pulled up to the warf.

At last we made it to the ferry and crammed our way aboard a big old ferry. In Samoa there is not such thing as lines. If you stand in a line, you'll be standing there for ever as everyone simple pushes you aside and steps in front of you. This was made evident at the ferry ticket office and the boarding process. I know I should be more culturally sensitive but lines to me seem so basic and should be cross culturally accepted. Oh well, on the boat we were and after an hour and half we arrived on Savai'i and were immediated ushered into a van for the trip to Tanu Beach Fales.

Savai'i was described to us as more beautiful and more like the heart of Samoa. In fact the word Savai'i means homeland and each polynesian island has a place with a similar name. The name you might be most familiar with is Hawaii, which is spelled and pronounced differently becuase of the difference in the two languages, but you can see the similarity.

The drive went by quickly and we made aquatences with two Kiwi women and one of the many family members that run Tanu Beach. Tanu Beach was less dramatic than Lalumanu but had larger more spacious and more comfortable fales.

We spent a total of four days there of which three were spent fealing rather uncomfortable from a stomach problem I'd picked up.

On the third day we took a tour of the island with a company called Green Turtle Tours. It was great. First we stopped at a cave that was actually an old lava flow tube.

Next we visited a series of blowholes along the coast. They too were created during a lava flow and were quite a site to see. As the waves came in the water would accelerate through the tubes which were back from the waters edge about 100 feet, then shoot out of the holes. The noise was very loud and you could feel it in your core like the finale at a fireworks display.

Our guide would nimbly run up to the hole and drop a coconut in just as the water was about to errupt. The coconut would be launched at least a hundred feet into the air. It was really incredible. We were told by one of the other passengers, a very funny Korean guy named Troy (very thick accent), that these were the largest blowholes in the world.

As we walked back to the van Troy muttered to himself, but loud enough so that we all could hear, "Thanks for risking your life to show us the trick with the coconuts".

From the blow holes we ventured on to a giant banyan tree with a canopy walk. The canopy walked turned out to be less exciting than as described in the Lonley Planet guide. The banyan tree was, however, very cool. At its base it was no less than 15 feet in diameter with hundreds of airial roots extending down from all levels of the tree to the forest floor.

Next, it was onto a much needed swim under a water fall. At this point we had sweated it out in the van and a bunch of small stops for long enough and the cool fresh water was heavenly.

At each stop, a local family was paid a certain amount of money, all of the land with these attractions is owned by the residents and they seem to rely partially on the tourist dollars.

Well, by this point your probably sick of reading so I'll wrap it up. We left Tanu Beach Fales on Tuesday at 10:30 am for the ferry at 2 pm, and ultimately the plane for Auckland at 3:30 am. We met a great German couple before leaving Tanu Beach who had the same flight as us, so once back on Upolo we split a cab back to Apia where we ate and drank beer until around 11 pm. Then back to the airport for our flight. At the airport we waited in the longest line in the world for checkin, and didn't actually check in for our 3:30 flight until about 3:29. I was loosing it a bit at that point but we made it aboard and safely to Auckland. The flight was miserable though as my stomach "issues" had not yet gone away. "Where will you be?". On a friggin' jet 30,000 feet in the air damn it!

Despite the Kiwi's warning that Auckland wasn't a nice city we are finding it to be quite nice and relaxing. I'm only now recovering from my intestinal problems so it has been a bit easier walking around the city today.

We're going to attempt to post some pictures so check that out when you get a chance.

Oh and one last thing, for those interested, there is a Dunkin Donuts in Auckland.

Update: Uploading the pictures is taking way too long, it must be a very slow connection here so we'll have to resume uploading later.

Posted by Andy at February 11, 2005 12:24 AM

Comments

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