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.
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| 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!
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| Smallest airplane I've ever flown with |
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| I felt like I was a co-pilot |
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| 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!
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| 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!
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| With the owners, Tisa and Candyman |
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| If you don't mind showering in the open, with no walls and privacy, then this is the place for you! |
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| You can't go wrong with a shower view like this! |
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| Our cute room |
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| It is hard to see, but the room has an ocean front view |
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| How to "lock" the room: With these two sticks pushed against the door. Ha |
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| A feast for dinner! |
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| Delicious breakfast, topped with fresh coconut jam |
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| It's the little things in life! |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| I was most amused by the tiny buses called "aiga buses." They're so cute! |
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| This made me happy! The sinking Titanic bus did not. |
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| Flags at half post in remembrance of September 11th |
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| The Pago Pago marina |
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| The market. This was taken near closing, otherwise it would've been boomin' |
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| I'd never seen orange bananas before |
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| Most homes are western-sytle |
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| I couldn't believe my eyes: A bus stop in the village! This does NOT exist in Samoa |
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| Beautiful Tula beach |
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| Picture perfect |
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| Mountains surround Tutuila |
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| Other homes have the open fale-syle |
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| The streets of Pago Pago |
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| The Samoan family we stayed with on our final night in American Samoa |
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| This little beauty was so excited with the Barbie I gave her, courtesy of a McDonald's happy meal |
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| Free WiFi at the laundromat! What a magical land! |
