SAMOA

I'm sorry for not being able to keep the blog updated this year but I had very limited acess to Internet and it was just not possible. And... I've been VERY busy enjoying life and having fun while hippy-gypsy touring in a campervan around the South island in New Zealand and couchsurfing in Samoa (Thank you Pietro for hosting me!!)  

I hope you don't mind if I decided to write about Samoa first even if I have to post something about Sidney and New Zealand, that happened before. I'm just too excited about it and wanted to share some emotions and insights.

Samoa....unexpectedly beautiful, gentle, romantic. This is definitely the nicest place I've visited on my tour. It was love at first sight.

I landed at the international airport Apia-Faleolo, about 45 minutes drive from Apia. The first thing you see from the aircraft are palms and blue water. Just beautiful. Like in the pictures. It is hot and humid (around 30°C) but you get used to the climate immediately. Everything is nice and gentle. Even the taxi drivers offer fair prices but you can take a bus for a much cheaper price and it takes you wherever you want. I was alone in my bus (it cost me about 8€) and I got a lot of information from the bus driver and even a banana (the have the best bananas I ever had. just amazing!! and many different kinds). The first thing he said is: "Samoa is a romantic place. You should not be here on your own!". And I took his advise seriously ;-). He also said I have to go to church on Sunday but, even if I tried to, it just didn't happen. You just can't do everything they tell you to. Right? ;-)

the main church in Apia (but they are all that big and even more)

This is the most religious country that I've ever seen. They live in big groups in poor houses and fales (the house with just a floor, pales and a roof), with usually the toilets outside and a lot of nice grass and flowers around the houses (they keep their gardens really in order), but they have big churches everywhere. This is one of the first things that you notice since you see one every couple of kilometers. Tents of churches and hundreds of young playing cricket, volleyball and rugby outside. Sundays are completely dedicated to the church and they go to the function (even twice) all dressed in white. Everybody has to be quiet that day and alcohol is prohibited (so no Vailima for the boys ;-) - the only Samoan beer and the most common drink here ).

you can have this in your fridge only in Samoa!! ;-)

They have big family meals with oka (my favourite Samoan food: pieces of row fish with cucumber, lemon and I don't know what else in coconut cream. delicious!!!), chicken, tuna, taro (like a big potato, a bit sweet)....


this is the huge plate of food that we received from a family on Sunday. 3 of us ate and didn't finish it

 Another great food is palusami (baby taro leafs - similar to spinach but different taste - in coconut cream, baked in vulcanic rocks). You can buy it in restaurants and at the food market and eat it with bread fruit. Soooo good.

the food market in Apia

The first thing you need to buy when you get to Samoa is a lavalava (a squared shape piece of coloured clothes that you wear and use in every occasion). You can do everything in your lavalava and even go out for dinner. Both man and woman use it and it is really handy. You don't need really much clothes in Samoa and definitely nothing fancy (and everything get quite ruined by the humidity and the washing). Life is very laid back here and nobody cares about fashion. All you need is a lavalava and a flower for your hair which serves also the purpose of communicating to the man if you're available or already married (on the left side for the singles and right for the married ladies).

me in my lavalava (actually Pietro's, later I bought one)

Everything is clean and nice. If you don't find the garbage bin someone will come to you and take your garbage. If you ask for a toilet, if there is no public toilet available somewhere close, they will offer you their private one. Samoans are so nice that is hard not to feel welcome.
I based myself in Apia and stayed there much more than I planned before coming. At the end I felt at home there and it was great fun. 

Apia's waterfront



The watch tower in the center of Apia

The first week-end we went in a big group, all people working like Pietro in international organizations, at Sa'moana, a very nice resort in the south if the island. It was beautiful and even the weather was nice (you have to consider that it's the rainy season). Great people, nice fales, golden sand, black lava rocks, huge waves breaking on the coral reef not far from the coast line, crystal clear and warm water, coconut trees for the shade, hammacs to relax and read a book, a natural infinity pool to chill out and party (can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it, was too busy using it probaby), great food (I had pankaces for breakfast - yummi), canoes for a bit of fun and surfing the waves (almost got smashed on the rocks but was great fun).... It was just perfect :-)

The rocks are amazing and it is possible to recognize the lava flow in many places. The contrast between the colours make this place even more beautiful. The waves breaks on the coral reef so the oceans calms down before reaching the shores. You can take really nice long swims or snorkle and find beautiful stones, corals and shells on the beach.

　
Another great trip was the one in Sawaii, the big island. It is less inhabited and more wild then Upulu (the smaller but main island) and we (some new american friends and I) toured the island all around, on the only road, in a van that I drove since I was the only one to have the temporary Samoan driving licence. A really nice adventure. We went first to the dwarf's cave, through a path in the rain forest and explored it with a local guide and  just the light of our torces. There was water everywhere.

Then we decided to visit a friend, a peace corps guy that teaches in a village and has hosted us for the night (thank yo again!) and shown us the school.

With him we went around all together the 4 of us, and a nice thing we've done was the conupia tree walk: a huge tree that is higher then the rest of the rainforest and has a small wooden house, roofless, in which you can sleep. You reach it by steps and bridges. Very nice and exciting.

Another amazing experience was to visit the village destroyed by a cyclone in 1990. It was an apocalyptic scenery. This is what is left of the church, the most solid building...

To make my stay in Samoa even more exciting, cyclone Wilma decided to head directly here and in the last moment it just started changing direction and went around the island creating just limited damage. We were really lucky even if I have to say that we were quite excited about the idea of experiencing a cyclone. We bought some cans of food, water and prepared our basic needs in case of urgent evacuation but at the end everything was ok and there was no need to move from our place uphill. We flooded twice but that was quite interesting, too. The good thing is that thanx to the cyclone we had a great cyclone party at a friend's house uphill (and ended up to spread in another friend's house just next door). We were recommended to stay all together (by "we" I mean the people working for international organizations that I met and since I was a guest of one of them they have been so nice to include me, too) and we decided to do what the bosses said ;-). Was great fun. And I got an extra day in Samoa as my flight was cancelled and I left one day later (plus I got an extra day when I arrived as I crossed the line of date change so I arrived one day before I departed from NZ. All this with just 3 hours and a half of travelling and it is one extra day in your life in a Pacific island! that's quite a gift)

This is just a short story about Samoa. It was sooooo amazing that I could talk for days about it. I think you should go and check it out yourself one day :-)