Life and Travels in Retirement

SAMOA (Pronounced "SAM WA")

Located in the French Polynesian Triangle, drawn by connecting the points of Hawaii, New Zealand and Easter Island, the other islands are Samoa, Tonga, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia. There's a quick geography lesson for you!

In 1962 Samoa was the first Polynesian island to reestablish its independence as Western Samoa. In 1997 it dropped the Western and now is just Samoa, not to be confused with American Samoa.

With the motto "Samoa was founded on God", the three very strong tenants in this otherwise quiet tropical island are:

Devotion to the Mati (Chiefs) of the villages, Family and various forms of the Christian religion.

Small 10 house villages would have two maybe three good sized churches. The Mormons and Seventh Day Adventist churches were prolific. It was frowned upon to wear a bathing suit on Sundays and one small resort asked that you not swim in the ocean on Sunday. Almost all grocery stores and restaurants were closed on Sunday as well.

Peter and I went to a full on church service one Sunday morning. Two and a half hours of gospel, sermons and upbeat music. People came dribbling in, dressed in their Sunday best. From the little ones to the elderly, everyone was dressed in their finest. The congregants all came up to us, the only very obvious visitors, and extended their hands to welcome us. All the congregants had a bible and as the pastor spoke, they wrote in the margins of their bibles and highlighted passages. The 4 person Gospel choir and drum guitar band added to the moment. Toward the end of the second hour, Bibles were put away and the waving of arms, wailing and genuflecting in the isles began.

While we declined to return from 4-7 that evening, the community turned out in full force.

There are two major islands that comprise Samoa. Each island is dotted with villages mostly around the perimeter of each island. Villages look basically the same. There are maybe 8-12 houses set back from the road with a "fale" (pavilion) in front that serves as the daytime gathering space for community meetings, weaving mats and just relaxing.

The differentiation between the similar architecture was the various colors the posts were painted. There was care taken to line the side of the street as you entered the village using some natural painted product. Being a very religious culture, often the deceased were buried in large monuments, loaded with fake floral wreaths just outside the main door of the house.

Most properties had large front yards. The soil is not great anywhere but some front yards were totally volcanic rock. The women would be out early in the morning before the temperatures soared and would pull tiny weeds from the rock or soil. It was the woman's job to present a well manicured front yard!

As for natural wonders, there are places, particularly where the volcanic activity created blow holes, craters and fresh water pools. Many understated "sites" are on land owned by someone. The owners would be ready to accept a small fee to show you that particular site. We were told that you can not buy land in Samoa. You can't sell land either. The biggest eyesore was the abundant amount of litter along the roads.

What was seen as an act of God to keep this side of the church standing after the volcano.

Ocean in the background but a deep fresh water pool after navigating the ladder!

Gender roles are very prescribed. Women are responsible for tending the gardens, child rearing and doing the laundry.

Tattoos are very prevalent and spiritual for the Samoan people.

Women tend to have tattoos covering the top part of the legs. It is quite a painful and lengthy process.

Men tend to have complete tattoos from their knees, sometimes up to their breast bone. It takes place over several days with the tattoo person, the cleanser and one to keep the spirits away. It is considered manly to endure the pain. It means this man can protect his family.

The man's gender role is to cook for the family, provide for them and work tending the fields and gathering forest edibles.

It wasn't long ago that refrigeration came to the island. Maybe 8 years. Before that, food was buried underground.

Biking Savai'i

For four days we took a ferry boat to the less developed island of Savai'i and biked around the perimeter of the island with a guide to carry the luggage and point out things. The pigs were everywhere, horses in front of houses were lawnmowers and the accommodations were the very rustic Fales!

Staying in a Fale was an experience for the books. These are the famous Samoan accommodations for locals and tourists. It is a wooden platform on stilts with a thatched roof, open to the elements. Our fale had a beautiful setting and although there was nothing but a thin mattress and sheet plus two pillows, we enjoyed the afternoon and evening, tucking in early. At 2:30 am, a heavy wind and rain storm came through. We had not put down the plastic side sheets before retiring as it was hot. Well, scrambling to try and find the ropes to lower the sheets in the dark took long enough for our mattress, sheets and pillows to be soaked. While we wouldn't want to spend another night like that, it will never be forgotten!

I would say this country is between a third and second world country.

Note the date on the Samoan travel brochure below. We went to the Tourist Bureau in the capital city, Apia, to see what sights we should see. It went something like this, "You could go to this pretty island but the ferry is not running. You might like to do the canopy tour but it is closed down because the fellow that ran it died and now it is condemned. You might go to the cultural center but it's raining and it is closed because it is slippery. This statue at the Cultural Center of a boy pooping was unique!