Living the Life I've Dreamed Of: September 2014

The last week of my break was spent in American Samoa. The purpose of the trip was to ship a suitcase home. You may recall in my last blog post mentioning how expensive it is to ship packages from Samoa to America, so going to American Samoa ended up being the cheaper alternative.

In my opinion, Samoan tala wins the beauty contest. But--I was excited to use USD! It's been nearly two years (I used my bank card when I was home for Christmas last year).

A fellow PCV in my group named Millie joined me on the trip. The scenery from the plane was absolutely breathtaking. What’s even more impressive is that it’s just a 35-minute flight!

Smallest airplane I've ever flown with

I felt like I was a co-pilot

Absolutely breathtaking!

Once we arrived on the main island of Tutuila, we went through customs and waited for our suitcases. Unfortunately, our bags never made it on the flight to American Samoa. It was a bit frustrating because as I explained to a Polynesian Airlines staff, the whole purpose of the trip was to ship the suitcase, so I needed to have it in my possession. A worker made a call to the Samoa office and requested that the suitcases be put on the next flight. I’ve read that this is a common practice of Polynesian Airlines: to ship the heavier suitcases on later flights, even as late as the following day. Luckily our suitcases were on the next flight, with a “Rush” tag attached. What a relief!

Hello, American Samoa!

My friend Matt, who’s a PCV in the new group, had been in American Samoa for a week, so he met us at the airport. He has a friend named Bill who lives on Tutuila and was kind enough to drive us around the island that day, giving a mini tour. One of the stops was in the village of Vaitogi to see a turtle and shark/blowholes. Neither the turtle nor shark arrived. Legend has it that they’ll arrive when sung to. We didn’t know the song, so maybe that’s why they didn’t arrive! Ha. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place to see.

After this, Bill took us to Cost-U-Less, which is a wholesale store, similar to Costco and Sam’s Club. At first I felt a bit overwhelmed with so many options, but this only lasted a short while and then I went into shopping mode!

A bit overwhelming and then so exciting!

Then we went to Carl’s Jr.! I don’t have access to any fast food in Samoa, besides McDonalds, so this was quite exciting! I never eat Carl’s Jr. in America, so was pleasantly surprised to learn that Carl’s Jr. has Mexican food!! I found out about this a few months ago when a friend who was visiting American Samoa brought Carl’s Jr. to Samoa. I definitely took advantage of having access to Mexican food, eating it several times throughout my trip.

My eyes were bigger than my stomach! Ha

After an amazing and filling lunch, Bill drove us to the post office. I shipped 45lbs home, costing just $79USD! It would’ve cost me about $1,000USD to ship from Samoa to America, so I couldn’t be more thrilled with my savings! A couple of weeks earlier, I ordered my Halloween costume on Amazon.com and shipped it to the main post office in American Samoa. I picked the costume up and was expecting another package from my family. The package was supposed to arrive two days prior, but when I tracked it, it was still in Honolulu! This was problematic because I was planning on being in American Samoa for just one day. I explained this to a worker who told me that flights arrive just once a week, on Fridays, and packages aren’t ready until Saturday! This was upsetting because the package was a camera. Bill was kind enough to offer to pick it up on Saturday and ship to Samoa. I was lucky to have that option!

At this time, Bill drove us around Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, and then we headed east to the village of Alega. We stayed there, at an awesome place called Tisa’s Barefoot Bar. It is predominantly a bar and restaurant, but can accommodate a few guests at a time with their two ocean front beach fales. The three of us booked out the resort, which was nice because it felt like our own private beach, and for the most part it was! If you’re ever in American Samoa, I recommend staying there. The beach is gorgeous, surrounded by jungle-filled cliffs, the food is AMAZING, and the owners are so welcoming and hospitable. Oh and they have FREE WiFi! On the beach! Hallelujah!

With the owners, Tisa and Candyman

If you don't mind showering in the open, with no walls and privacy, then this is the place for you!

You can't go wrong with a shower view like this!

Our cute room

It is hard to see, but the room has an ocean front view

How to "lock" the room: With these two sticks pushed against the door. Ha

A feast for dinner!

Delicious breakfast, topped with fresh coconut jam

It's the little things in life!

Gorgeous scenery

We had such an amazing time that we decided to stay an extra day. We didn’t think about calling the airline to confirm flight ability and thought that it would be simple to change flights. Our original flight was scheduled for 4:30 pm. We arrived at the airport around 4:00 pm to request a flight change. Turns out all flights out were booked for several days due to a conference held in Pago Pago. All our belongings were at the resort, which was a one hour bus ride, so it was impossible to make the original flight. We found the situation humorous and weren’t upset because well… American Samoa is a BEAUTIFUL country! The trip was meant to last one day, but quickly turned into four days. While I loved every moment I was there, I was relieved that a flight was available because I didn’t want to miss my Close-of-Service (COS) conference with the Peace Corps.

The rest of our time was spent eating amazing food, hanging out on the beach, and touring the east side of Tutuila. The final night was spent at a Samoan family’s home in Pago Pago. Also, since my new flight didn’t leave until Saturday afternoon, I was able to get my package. I arrived at the post office early that morning and quickly left disappointed. I was told that the truck was still being unloaded and probably won’t be sorted that day, but to try back before they closed. I went back a few minutes before the post office closed and guess what? My package was there! I was so excited. Special thanks to my family who shipped the camera, and included a beautiful dress inside!

Some PCVs in my group jokingly said that I was cruel for the food photos I was posting to Facebook, so I thought it would be nice to surprise them with soft tacos from Carl’s Jr. Millie and I bought the food about an hour before the flight left, and we gave it to them this week during our COS conference. They loved the food, didn't mind that it wasn't fresh, and were thankful for the gesture.

Internationally traveled, Date Line hoppin' fast food is oh so good!

The trip to American Samoa ended up being longer than originally planned, but I can’t complain about it one bit. The country is beautiful and the people are kind. It was a breath of fresh air to walk the streets and not deal with catcalls and other things I've had problems with in Samoa. It was nice to feel like a normal person and like I don’t walk on water because I’m palagi (white). One thing I found interesting is that some American Samoans look down upon Western Samoans. I've heard Western Samoans referred to as, “Uneducated people who beat their kids and women.” I got the sense that since American Samoa is American territory, the people feel superior to their neighboring country, and one woman confirmed my suspicion. She told me that American Samoa is the better Samoa because it is America and Samoa all wrapped into one, and Western Samoans are jealous by all the money American Samoa has. I wasn’t expecting to hear such a big divide between Samoans in the two countries.

Overall, I loved American Samoa so was a bit sad to leave and go back to reality. But I was fortunate enough that my reality consisted of a week-long Close-of-Service (COS) Conference with the Peace Corps, located at a 5 star resort. I’ll talk about the COS Conference on my next post.

Below you’ll find photos from my trip… Enjoy!