The grind of the engine is loud, but not quite deafening as we idle in the harbour of Mulifanua on board our ferry to Savai'i for stage two of our "Shannon & Romey do Samoa on a Jandal Strap" adventure.
The unexpected taxi ride to the wharf was tense as we didn't know whether we would make it in time for the last ferry of the day. On the 50 something minute trip I was having visions of Shannon and I having to sleep on a beach on Upolu and having to ask the beach owners if that was okay. Imagining little Samoan kids prodding two sleeping Maori girls with sticks and then running away giggling and screaming with glee to tell their parents that they had found some sleeping strangers by the sea.
As it turns out, I'm writing this aboard the Ferry, so that chapter of this story had a happy ending.
But I'm going to take the time now to relax and journal about one of the most relaxing times of my life...
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We arrived at Faleolo International Airport, Samoa earlier than scheduled and caught a hard case shuttle into the capital, Apia. The trip took approximately 60 minutes but it was hard to say exactly how long because the moment my feet hit the tarmac my head went straight into "Island Time" where everything takes a really long time and a really short time, at the SAME time. It is very similar to Maori Time.. Which basically means things will happen when they happen... and when exactly that is won't be determined by the human instrument of time.
His sporadic commentary peppered our trip from Faleolo into Apia. It was amazing to see all of the communal fale along the road. It appears as though each fanau live together in a cluster of houses with at least one open aired fale in the middle for hui and ceremonies in between them all. The houses and villages around the airport & Apia seem to be in good condition, some I would go so far as to say are "flash".
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| An open aired fale - meeting central |
We got off our shuttle at the bus stop in Apia and we got to take in a great sight - dozens of Aiga buses parked up waiting for their passengers. These buses are beautiful! They are vibrant, colourful and all distinctly decorated in their own unique way. They show the driver's taste, that's for sure. Shan and I renamed these the "Boom Boom Buses" because each one of them had the most maddest speakers and loud booming sounds.
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| Aiga Buses in the Apia main bus stop |
Our first objective, off our shuttle, was to check out the flea market and to get us something to eat and drink. We spotted giant clear plastic containers of orange cordial looking drink (which by the way turned out to be Thiftee), so we made a bee line for that and grabbed us a couple of large cups. It wasn't long before our noses were drawn to the most amazing, most delectable deep fried mutton buns. A much unhealthier, much more calorie and fat laden cousin to the steamed pork bun. Aaaaah delicious fried balls of scrumptiousness. Shannon and I promptly renamed them "THE PIE BUN" as they were a hybrid of a hot bread roll complete with a hot gravy covered surprise of succulent meat inside. My mouth waters as I write about them...
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| The Pie-Bun |
Mmmm Mmmm!
Shan and I shared the first one between us but it wasn't long before my good friend went back and got us one more each. Whilst we were marveling at the Pie Bun's deliciousness and the injustice of having not discovered them earlier in our lives, a youngish Samoan guy came over to talk to us.
I guess that as fair skinned Maori girls we managed to stick out like sore thumbs. He introduced himself and we chatted for a while. He asked where were headed and gave us directions there - which was super helpful because we didn't really have a clue. Then he offered to be our tour guide. When we politely declined he made out like he was only joking around, but I'm pretty sure that if we had said yes he would have told us quick smart how much his tour guide services would cost us. Oh well, I guess everyone has to try and make a living aye? After he bid us farewell we scoffed down the last of our Pie Buns and downed our Thriftee drink.
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| We also rediscovered the banana pancake. I had had these before as a little Samoan woman used to sell them at our local market in Whanganui. They are tiny little balls of deep fried banana cake. Yumbos! |
I guess that as fair skinned Maori girls we managed to stick out like sore thumbs. He introduced himself and we chatted for a while. He asked where were headed and gave us directions there - which was super helpful because we didn't really have a clue. Then he offered to be our tour guide. When we politely declined he made out like he was only joking around, but I'm pretty sure that if we had said yes he would have told us quick smart how much his tour guide services would cost us. Oh well, I guess everyone has to try and make a living aye? After he bid us farewell we scoffed down the last of our Pie Buns and downed our Thriftee drink.
(note to self: I haven't drunk Thriftee in like 17 years! Even our marae have stepped up their A-game and don't serve it anymore!!!)
After that we cruised off from the flea market and attempted to have a look around Apia - What a mission though! It was way too hot and sticky and carrying our backpacks just made us feel like ladened camels in the Sahara Desert. It was just not happening!
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| Our view from the grass at the bus stop. |
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| Playing around with my camera |
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| One of the many beautiful flowers I saw |
So we made our hot, sweaty way back to the bus stop and sat under a tree on the grass to await the next bus to Lalomanu. A gang of stray dogs circled expectantly around a fanau enjoying a picnic nearby and I realised that the dogs here are like the seagulls back in NZ.
A young boy approached us selling ice cold cans of coca cola stood in ice in a cardboard box. They were $2ST each which wasn't too bad. I brought one from him just to be polite mainly as I wasn't even really thirsty as the Thriftee had burnt my thirst receptors on the way down. Not long after he wandered off a big white modern bus pulled up and we discovered that it was our ride to Lalomanu.
Shan and I clambered aboard and grabbed the front seat, squashed into it with our luggage on our laps - it was quite fortunate that we got on when we did as a whole lot more people got on after us with all manner of items. About 10 minutes into our trip the driver pulled into a service station and filled the bus up - something us Kiwis were completely unaccustomed to. I mean you wouldn't see a bus driver doing that in NZ. He also had a helping/runner person that got in and out lifting items aboard for their owners and helping to fit passengers in snugly. Now when I say snugly, I mean snugly. Shan and I would periodically turn around and then catch each other's eye - in awe of the sight behind us. There were people on top of people on top of people. And I'm not 100% convinced that these people knew who was sitting on top of their laps... anyway, it's the fa'a Samoa and we would never question that. We were however glad that we had our backpacks to take up any real estate on our laps! (Okay so the last "On top of people" was slightly exaggerated, but I'm trying to paint a picture here seeing as I didn't want to appear to snap happy with my camera on the bus)
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| Some of the buildings in Central Apia |
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| The Iconic Clock Tower |
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| I love the look of this building |
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| If you look carefully here you can see that this is a black list of people who didn't pay their bills (lol) |
After another 10 minutes of the bus meandering its way through Apia it pulled over at a small petrol station/grocery store. Everybody then proceeded to pile off the bus. Shan and I saw this as an opportunity to score a seat each but we quickly noticed that everybody's belongings were still onboard. We looked to see what our fellow passengers were up to and saw some of them heading back towards the bus with huge ice creams, large glass bottles of Coca Cola and bags of bright orange cheese flavoured snacks.
Having just eaten we weren't really after another kai and we were also a bit too hesitant to get off in case we lost our seat (or worse, it drove off without us!) so we stayed put. We had no idea of the duration of our journey thinking we were only "going up the road" and then endured another 1.5 hours of travel, weaving around the windy but beautiful roads of Samoa. What an experience!
I thoroughly recommend taking the bus to anyone considering a gaunt to Samoa, as you really get to experience the real Samoa.
The people are so quiet, kind and respectful. I couldn't help but wonder if they were just putting it on in front of "us foreigners" or whether they actually do behave that way 24/7. It's quite beautiful. The majority of the passengers got on in and around the outskirts of Apia and then we all journeyed over the rest of the hike together. Once we made it over the Le Mala Pass people started to alight the bus and new ones would get on just to ride it a few stops.
We made it to Lalomanu at around 3pm in the afternoon but it felt more like 7pm. We were so hot and bothered and it felt like we had just sustained a huge trek across the world.
Litia Sini Fales were to be our home away from home for the next three nights. What a lovely Oasis. Our hosts name was Lydia and she is the quintessential Pacific Island woman. She spoke with a bit of an Australian twang mixed with Kiwi overtones and she was a beautiful Samoan woman.
The moment we stepped off the bus we were met by two big strapping Samoan men. One put Shannon's backpack on and I was initially taken aback. But as it turns out he was just doing his job of being a really amazing Samoan host. Manaakitanga was definitely a quality that all of the Samoans we encountered demonstrated beautifully.
Lydia beckoned us into her office and she proceeded to give us a whole lot of really useful information commencing with the kai times - she knew with us Maori girls that was like First things First - lol!
She had a very jovial, friendly tone to all of her information and then suddenly a darkness came over her face, she clasped her hands together and motioned for us to come closer. We looked at each other with bewilderment and then leaned in. "There is one more thing that I must tell you about, one thing that you must watch out for when you are in the water" We both motioned for her to go on... "It is the CROWN OF THORNS..." on our behalf Shannon asked "The Crown of What?"
Lydia then went straight into her very fluent explanation of the subaquatic CROWN OF THORNS and that we needed to steer very clear of it in the water. Both Shan and I felt an overwhelming sense of doom about this underwater creature that invoked thoughts of both the Loch Ness Monster and Jesus being crucified on the cross. Lydia said that it was like a starfish shaped kina (Sea Urchin), I just couldn't imagine how that could be so deadly? Turns out, they are really poisonous and not wanting to ruin our holidays, Shan and I paid heed to the Crown of Thorns for the entirety of our stay there.
After our slightly doom inducing orientation session, we were shown to our fale by the two SSL's (strapping Samoan Lads) who spoke so quietly we could hardly hear what they said. Our room was a beachfront fale and it was magical. It had a queen size bed and a single bed both covered with crisp white sheets and pillows and a beautiful blue throw which matched the curtains. Over each one was a really funky mosquito net that made the room look very romantic and whimsical.
All of the fale at Litia Sini have electricity and our one had two power outlets and lights. We also had a fabulous porch/deck area and there was a bowl of fresh water on the deck for us to clean the sand from our feet before we entered our fale.
Not long after we got our bearings around Litia Sini, we had the most magical first swim in Samoa. What a refreshing experience! Having been so hot and tired and sweaty after our adventure to get there, it was the best thing we could have done. We enjoyed the beach for an hour or so and then went and had a nana-nap in our fale.
When the evening rolled around, we were roused from our slumber by one of the SSL's and told that it was dinner time (just FYI he stood down on the sand and called out very gently to us) We were both like YUS! We were really hungry and hadn't eaten anything substantial since the delectable pie buns some eight hours ago.
Dinner was served in the main dining area and was a eclectic smorgasbord of yummy Samoan and Western kai.
The entree was a really light but tasty noodle soup followed by banana pancakes, which by the way accompanied all of our meals at Litia Sini. The main consisted of spaghetti bolognese, vegetable curry, coleslaw and fresh raw fish.
Both of us went back up to the buffet several times as were were both very concerned that we would miss out on something and also to prepare our bodies for the ensuing 8 hours of no food.
During dinner we spotted some loan books so I went and checked out the titles and selected "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy. I'd never been compelled to read anything by the Irish novelist, but thought "what the heck, I'm in Samoa, I can give it a go" And I'm really glad that I did because it was a great read. I finished it by the end of the day two! I don't know what it is about Samoa, but I had really great levels of concentration. I mean, I can just stare and stare at something endlessly for hours on end, and not be distracted by anything. I think it definitely had a lot to do with the heat and the general laid-back vibe of the place and the people.
Wednesday 22 June 2011 - Day two
It was so divine waking up and realising that I was in Samoa, a little slice of tropical paradise. I snoozed off and on for an hour or so and then we both went and had a morning swim (it had already reached 20 degrees and it wasn't even 8am!!!) after our swim we had a fabulous tropical breakfast.
The main players in the breakfast were more banana pancakes, pawpaw, papaya, banana, pineapple, and heaps of other fruit of the land. They were also accompanied by an omelette, baked beans, toast, and other such deliciousness.
Shan and I in true form, shared about 8 plates of kai between us. In our defense, however, I will say that they were bread plates. We returned to our fale and chilled some more. Reading, swimming and tanning in a pretty consistent cycle for the next few hours.
At around lunch time we decided to go for a walk to find some more food, well aware that we wouldn't be able to last from 8am to 6.30pm when our next meal was due.
We shuffled our way to Lalomanu, literally 500 metres up the road, but it took us approximately 17 years to get there. FYI Both Shan and I had developed a deliberate and languid slowness to our walk, even if we wanted to move faster, we just couldn't. We renamed our new gait the Samoan Shuffle. The weather god also decided to treat us to little, how you say, torrential down pour in the middle of it all so we had to go and seek out some shelter. Imagine if you will, two Maori girls hovering under a leaf on the side of the road. Albeit it was a large leaf, it was still crack up as!
After the rain subsided we continued with our Samoan Shuttle to the north, in search of food. We knew that there would be a shop real soon because on our bus trip from Apia I counted 3,200,341 shops a long the way. Each one no further than 50 metres from the next (Okay maybe that number was a slight exageration, but you get my drift right?) So anyway my point is that it wasn't long until we came across a local village store.
Drawing up to the store we noticed that it was just a large window cut out of the side of the building. You just kinda stood outside and asked for what you wanted. When we got to the counter, which was literally at our necks, we felt like little kids once again at the corner dairy. Unable to just go in and have a browse, we had to ask what everything was in the shop, and not being used to that, we felt like we were being a hoha to the shop keeper. in some cases we had to ask her twice and then we took forever to make minds up about what we were going to purchase. The Samoan Shuffle had not only taken over our bodies but our brains too. The lady was kind of patient with us, offering to open our Vailima which we politely declined as we weren't sure whether we were allowed to drink it while walking through the village. I guess we could have just asked the lady, but we felt like we had already taken up too much of her time.
We gathered up all of our snacks from the counter and then descended the huge hill (actually it was only a slight decline) and then it decided to pour down on us once again. We ran for the nearest tree to shelter from the rain, wedging ourselves between a couple of trees to attempt to keep ourselves dry. Once we caught our breath we looked around and found ourselves right next to a bashed up S.U.V that I guess was part of the 2009 tsunami devastation.
It was really sad actually, looking around it became pretty obvious that the place where we were standing would have been completely engulfed in water - terrible! It would have filled up like a swimming pool as it was surrounded with hills on either side of the beach and a lot of the houses were at sea level.
The locals have done really well to rebuild their homes, their schools, their villages. There were only a few places we had seen that hadn't been rebuilt. I have a great admiration for the people of Samoa. They have maintained their unique nature throughout what I can only imagine is a tragedy of epic proportions.
After the rain stopped falling we carried on our shuffle back to Litia Sini where we collapsed into the ocean and then lounged upon the each for the rest of the day. Later on that evening after our beautiful dinner we were able to go next door to the Beach fales there and attend their Fiafia night. It was great. the dancers were very talented and lifted the energy of the audience effortlessly.
We left pretty much straight afterwards but not fast enough to stop one of the dancers asking us for a dance. Well actually, he asked Shan and when she said no he then asked me for a dance. The poor guy took the double whammy rejection quite well, bouncing back within milliseconds and moving on to his next target.
We went back to our fale and both read well into the night - aaah what a relaxing holi-hola-day.
Thursday 23 June 2011 - Day three
The following morning we both got up super duper early and went for a swim. Delicious cool ocean water. Following that we had a yummy breakfast and lots of coffee. I selected myself another book from the mini-library and got stuck in. This day pretty much followed the same format as the day before except this day we managed to walk for two villages distance. We had actually planned to go for four but unfortunately our brains were being, how you say?, Stupid. When we decided that as it was so ridiculously hot and awful. As soon as we found another shop past the one we visited the day before we we turned on our heels and shuffled back to Litia Sini but not before we purchased an ice cold coke and some taro chips.
On our way home we did manage to stop at "our" local shop to stocked up on what was now a habitual array of bright orange cheese snacks, cold beer and even colder fizzy drinks!
This time we hung out at the shop for a bit longer as the shop keeper was really happy to see us again and was being very friendly today. After I purchased my selection of prawn chips, fanta and Vailima. An Asian guy and a Samoan guy pulled up in a van filled to overflowing with a whole lot of wares for the lady shop keeper to look over. I imagine that the asian guy has a very nice comfortable life peddling his crappy stuff all over Samoa.
When we arrived back at Litia Sini we collapsed into the ocean once again and then lay upon the beach. At some point we made it into our fale where we had our afternoon nap. (This quickly became a regular fixture in our lifestyle - the afternoon siesta) The dinner bell rang and woke us both up. We ambled over to have another serving of Litia Sini's fine offerings and once again we completely overate.
Tonight Shannon shouted us both a really yummy cocktail as it was to be our last night on Upolu. We enjoyed our ambrosial banana daiquiri and sat talking to Lydia for several hours. She told us all about the tsunami and where she was at the time. Thankfully none of her immediate family perished and neither did any of the guests that were staying at Litia Sini. Luckily the guests and workers had made it safely up the bank before the wave came in and smashed the buildings and the island. It completely flattened the place. There were photos in the office of the devastation.
Good things come to good people. Lydia and her whanau had a lot of support from many past and regular long standing guests. One in particular was a civil engineer who would come over religiously once per year with his wife to holiday at Litia. When news of the tsunami reached him he swung into gear, and with the help of his wife he got the wheels of rebuilding in motion for Lydia's whanau.
If I could borrow a line from one of my all time favourite musicals (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) it would be this: "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success" and no other place that I've seen has proven this more than at Litia Sini.
The outcome of that was that Litia Sini is even more beautiful and upmarket than it once was. And with the addition of a very robust wall, it is a lot safer should another tsunami hit.
One thing that I have forgotten to mention up until this point is that we found that the people are outlandish flirts! If it's not the men and also the married men, flirting their way around you, the woman were trying to fix us up with some cousin, brother, uncle, nephew. It also seemed to be a little bit "no-holds-barred" too. It didn't matter if you were married single or not. But as a bit of a caveat, we kinda figured that it was more of a front. Like if you were to actually call them on it, they would probably go "Oh... um... awkward" and high tail it with their lavalava between their legs.
Anyways, so back to the conversation we were having with Lydia. She started to tell us abou her boy cousins, the ones who took us to our room ont he first day. She said that they love to hang around all of the single girls (and by the way that means "without a man right there next to you" It reminded me of our first night there when we were getting accustomed to our fale I looked behind and there were three pakeha New Zealand girls who were flirting it up with the two men. Shan and I were both having a crack up at it and enjoyed commentating on the dynamics at play. Later that night, whilst on a wharepaku mission, Shannon saw one of the "Strapping Samoan Men" holding hands with one of the pakeha girls. She was so busting to tell me that as soon as I opened my eyes the night morning she filled me in. We laughed and laughed!
Friday 24 June 2011 - Day Four
The night day after our "Cocktail Night" we awoke, had a few more last swims in the ocean, had one last delicious smorgasbord and then I got my read on. I had some serious reading to do as I was only half way through this really enthralling book and we were leaving on a 12pm bus that day. So I pretty much got on my perch and started reading. While I was doing that Shan was exploring the reef at Lalomanu with some the snorkel and goggles that she had hired from Litia Sini.
I made it as far as the second to last chapter and I probably could have kept going but my mind was distracted with thoughts of the upcoming mission ahead. My mind kept drifting to thoughts of bus catching, pie bun buying (and eating), ferry catching, more bus catching, finding our next roost for the second leg of our adventure. So I returned the book to the lending library and went about organising ourselves for our day.
We squared everything up with Lydia and bid our farewells, got some conflicting advice from the staff about the bus from Apia to the Ferry terminal and then went and waited outside the front doors for our bus to take us to the capital city.
We didn't have to wait for very long at all when a tiny little bus turned drove past us, then turned around down at the beach and came back our way to pick us up.
My final words on Litia Sini - Four out of Five Jandals - if you ever get the opportunity to stay there, STAY THERE. It is awesome Check out their website here
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| Weaving upwards through Le Mala Pass |
We made it to Lalomanu at around 3pm in the afternoon but it felt more like 7pm. We were so hot and bothered and it felt like we had just sustained a huge trek across the world.
Litia Sini Fales were to be our home away from home for the next three nights. What a lovely Oasis. Our hosts name was Lydia and she is the quintessential Pacific Island woman. She spoke with a bit of an Australian twang mixed with Kiwi overtones and she was a beautiful Samoan woman.
The moment we stepped off the bus we were met by two big strapping Samoan men. One put Shannon's backpack on and I was initially taken aback. But as it turns out he was just doing his job of being a really amazing Samoan host. Manaakitanga was definitely a quality that all of the Samoans we encountered demonstrated beautifully.
Lydia beckoned us into her office and she proceeded to give us a whole lot of really useful information commencing with the kai times - she knew with us Maori girls that was like First things First - lol!
She had a very jovial, friendly tone to all of her information and then suddenly a darkness came over her face, she clasped her hands together and motioned for us to come closer. We looked at each other with bewilderment and then leaned in. "There is one more thing that I must tell you about, one thing that you must watch out for when you are in the water" We both motioned for her to go on... "It is the CROWN OF THORNS..." on our behalf Shannon asked "The Crown of What?"
Lydia then went straight into her very fluent explanation of the subaquatic CROWN OF THORNS and that we needed to steer very clear of it in the water. Both Shan and I felt an overwhelming sense of doom about this underwater creature that invoked thoughts of both the Loch Ness Monster and Jesus being crucified on the cross. Lydia said that it was like a starfish shaped kina (Sea Urchin), I just couldn't imagine how that could be so deadly? Turns out, they are really poisonous and not wanting to ruin our holidays, Shan and I paid heed to the Crown of Thorns for the entirety of our stay there.
After our slightly doom inducing orientation session, we were shown to our fale by the two SSL's (strapping Samoan Lads) who spoke so quietly we could hardly hear what they said. Our room was a beachfront fale and it was magical. It had a queen size bed and a single bed both covered with crisp white sheets and pillows and a beautiful blue throw which matched the curtains. Over each one was a really funky mosquito net that made the room look very romantic and whimsical.
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| Our tropical fruit platter, awaiting us in our room |
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| Our poor withered welcome flowers |
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| "Enjoy your stay" just one of the wonderful finishing touches that make a stay at Litia Sini that little bit more special |
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| The back of our beautiful fale |
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| Entrance way |
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| The line up |
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| Our view |
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| Nu'utele Island in our sights |
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| The dining/bar area next to our fale |
All of the fale at Litia Sini have electricity and our one had two power outlets and lights. We also had a fabulous porch/deck area and there was a bowl of fresh water on the deck for us to clean the sand from our feet before we entered our fale.
Not long after we got our bearings around Litia Sini, we had the most magical first swim in Samoa. What a refreshing experience! Having been so hot and tired and sweaty after our adventure to get there, it was the best thing we could have done. We enjoyed the beach for an hour or so and then went and had a nana-nap in our fale.
When the evening rolled around, we were roused from our slumber by one of the SSL's and told that it was dinner time (just FYI he stood down on the sand and called out very gently to us) We were both like YUS! We were really hungry and hadn't eaten anything substantial since the delectable pie buns some eight hours ago.
Dinner was served in the main dining area and was a eclectic smorgasbord of yummy Samoan and Western kai.
The entree was a really light but tasty noodle soup followed by banana pancakes, which by the way accompanied all of our meals at Litia Sini. The main consisted of spaghetti bolognese, vegetable curry, coleslaw and fresh raw fish.
Both of us went back up to the buffet several times as were were both very concerned that we would miss out on something and also to prepare our bodies for the ensuing 8 hours of no food.
During dinner we spotted some loan books so I went and checked out the titles and selected "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy. I'd never been compelled to read anything by the Irish novelist, but thought "what the heck, I'm in Samoa, I can give it a go" And I'm really glad that I did because it was a great read. I finished it by the end of the day two! I don't know what it is about Samoa, but I had really great levels of concentration. I mean, I can just stare and stare at something endlessly for hours on end, and not be distracted by anything. I think it definitely had a lot to do with the heat and the general laid-back vibe of the place and the people.
Wednesday 22 June 2011 - Day two
It was so divine waking up and realising that I was in Samoa, a little slice of tropical paradise. I snoozed off and on for an hour or so and then we both went and had a morning swim (it had already reached 20 degrees and it wasn't even 8am!!!) after our swim we had a fabulous tropical breakfast.
The main players in the breakfast were more banana pancakes, pawpaw, papaya, banana, pineapple, and heaps of other fruit of the land. They were also accompanied by an omelette, baked beans, toast, and other such deliciousness.
Shan and I in true form, shared about 8 plates of kai between us. In our defense, however, I will say that they were bread plates. We returned to our fale and chilled some more. Reading, swimming and tanning in a pretty consistent cycle for the next few hours.
At around lunch time we decided to go for a walk to find some more food, well aware that we wouldn't be able to last from 8am to 6.30pm when our next meal was due.
We shuffled our way to Lalomanu, literally 500 metres up the road, but it took us approximately 17 years to get there. FYI Both Shan and I had developed a deliberate and languid slowness to our walk, even if we wanted to move faster, we just couldn't. We renamed our new gait the Samoan Shuffle. The weather god also decided to treat us to little, how you say, torrential down pour in the middle of it all so we had to go and seek out some shelter. Imagine if you will, two Maori girls hovering under a leaf on the side of the road. Albeit it was a large leaf, it was still crack up as!
After the rain subsided we continued with our Samoan Shuttle to the north, in search of food. We knew that there would be a shop real soon because on our bus trip from Apia I counted 3,200,341 shops a long the way. Each one no further than 50 metres from the next (Okay maybe that number was a slight exageration, but you get my drift right?) So anyway my point is that it wasn't long until we came across a local village store.
Drawing up to the store we noticed that it was just a large window cut out of the side of the building. You just kinda stood outside and asked for what you wanted. When we got to the counter, which was literally at our necks, we felt like little kids once again at the corner dairy. Unable to just go in and have a browse, we had to ask what everything was in the shop, and not being used to that, we felt like we were being a hoha to the shop keeper. in some cases we had to ask her twice and then we took forever to make minds up about what we were going to purchase. The Samoan Shuffle had not only taken over our bodies but our brains too. The lady was kind of patient with us, offering to open our Vailima which we politely declined as we weren't sure whether we were allowed to drink it while walking through the village. I guess we could have just asked the lady, but we felt like we had already taken up too much of her time.
We gathered up all of our snacks from the counter and then descended the huge hill (actually it was only a slight decline) and then it decided to pour down on us once again. We ran for the nearest tree to shelter from the rain, wedging ourselves between a couple of trees to attempt to keep ourselves dry. Once we caught our breath we looked around and found ourselves right next to a bashed up S.U.V that I guess was part of the 2009 tsunami devastation.
It was really sad actually, looking around it became pretty obvious that the place where we were standing would have been completely engulfed in water - terrible! It would have filled up like a swimming pool as it was surrounded with hills on either side of the beach and a lot of the houses were at sea level.
The locals have done really well to rebuild their homes, their schools, their villages. There were only a few places we had seen that hadn't been rebuilt. I have a great admiration for the people of Samoa. They have maintained their unique nature throughout what I can only imagine is a tragedy of epic proportions.
After the rain stopped falling we carried on our shuffle back to Litia Sini where we collapsed into the ocean and then lounged upon the each for the rest of the day. Later on that evening after our beautiful dinner we were able to go next door to the Beach fales there and attend their Fiafia night. It was great. the dancers were very talented and lifted the energy of the audience effortlessly.
We left pretty much straight afterwards but not fast enough to stop one of the dancers asking us for a dance. Well actually, he asked Shan and when she said no he then asked me for a dance. The poor guy took the double whammy rejection quite well, bouncing back within milliseconds and moving on to his next target.
We went back to our fale and both read well into the night - aaah what a relaxing holi-hola-day.
Thursday 23 June 2011 - Day three
The following morning we both got up super duper early and went for a swim. Delicious cool ocean water. Following that we had a yummy breakfast and lots of coffee. I selected myself another book from the mini-library and got stuck in. This day pretty much followed the same format as the day before except this day we managed to walk for two villages distance. We had actually planned to go for four but unfortunately our brains were being, how you say?, Stupid. When we decided that as it was so ridiculously hot and awful. As soon as we found another shop past the one we visited the day before we we turned on our heels and shuffled back to Litia Sini but not before we purchased an ice cold coke and some taro chips.
On our way home we did manage to stop at "our" local shop to stocked up on what was now a habitual array of bright orange cheese snacks, cold beer and even colder fizzy drinks!
This time we hung out at the shop for a bit longer as the shop keeper was really happy to see us again and was being very friendly today. After I purchased my selection of prawn chips, fanta and Vailima. An Asian guy and a Samoan guy pulled up in a van filled to overflowing with a whole lot of wares for the lady shop keeper to look over. I imagine that the asian guy has a very nice comfortable life peddling his crappy stuff all over Samoa.
When we arrived back at Litia Sini we collapsed into the ocean once again and then lay upon the beach. At some point we made it into our fale where we had our afternoon nap. (This quickly became a regular fixture in our lifestyle - the afternoon siesta) The dinner bell rang and woke us both up. We ambled over to have another serving of Litia Sini's fine offerings and once again we completely overate.
Tonight Shannon shouted us both a really yummy cocktail as it was to be our last night on Upolu. We enjoyed our ambrosial banana daiquiri and sat talking to Lydia for several hours. She told us all about the tsunami and where she was at the time. Thankfully none of her immediate family perished and neither did any of the guests that were staying at Litia Sini. Luckily the guests and workers had made it safely up the bank before the wave came in and smashed the buildings and the island. It completely flattened the place. There were photos in the office of the devastation.
If I could borrow a line from one of my all time favourite musicals (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) it would be this: "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success" and no other place that I've seen has proven this more than at Litia Sini.
The outcome of that was that Litia Sini is even more beautiful and upmarket than it once was. And with the addition of a very robust wall, it is a lot safer should another tsunami hit.
One thing that I have forgotten to mention up until this point is that we found that the people are outlandish flirts! If it's not the men and also the married men, flirting their way around you, the woman were trying to fix us up with some cousin, brother, uncle, nephew. It also seemed to be a little bit "no-holds-barred" too. It didn't matter if you were married single or not. But as a bit of a caveat, we kinda figured that it was more of a front. Like if you were to actually call them on it, they would probably go "Oh... um... awkward" and high tail it with their lavalava between their legs.
Anyways, so back to the conversation we were having with Lydia. She started to tell us abou her boy cousins, the ones who took us to our room ont he first day. She said that they love to hang around all of the single girls (and by the way that means "without a man right there next to you" It reminded me of our first night there when we were getting accustomed to our fale I looked behind and there were three pakeha New Zealand girls who were flirting it up with the two men. Shan and I were both having a crack up at it and enjoyed commentating on the dynamics at play. Later that night, whilst on a wharepaku mission, Shannon saw one of the "Strapping Samoan Men" holding hands with one of the pakeha girls. She was so busting to tell me that as soon as I opened my eyes the night morning she filled me in. We laughed and laughed!
Friday 24 June 2011 - Day Four
The night day after our "Cocktail Night" we awoke, had a few more last swims in the ocean, had one last delicious smorgasbord and then I got my read on. I had some serious reading to do as I was only half way through this really enthralling book and we were leaving on a 12pm bus that day. So I pretty much got on my perch and started reading. While I was doing that Shan was exploring the reef at Lalomanu with some the snorkel and goggles that she had hired from Litia Sini.
I made it as far as the second to last chapter and I probably could have kept going but my mind was distracted with thoughts of the upcoming mission ahead. My mind kept drifting to thoughts of bus catching, pie bun buying (and eating), ferry catching, more bus catching, finding our next roost for the second leg of our adventure. So I returned the book to the lending library and went about organising ourselves for our day.
We squared everything up with Lydia and bid our farewells, got some conflicting advice from the staff about the bus from Apia to the Ferry terminal and then went and waited outside the front doors for our bus to take us to the capital city.
We didn't have to wait for very long at all when a tiny little bus turned drove past us, then turned around down at the beach and came back our way to pick us up.
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| While we waited for our bus, I took some snap shots |
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| The cliff that we were instructed to climb up should a tsunami hit |
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| The road from Lalomanu to Apia |
Stay tuned for the next installment in "Shannon and Romey do Samoa on a Jandal Strap" ( I had to break it up into smaller chunks because it's just too big for one!)
