February 14 and 16 Samoa

February 14 and 16 Pago Pago, American Samoa and Apia, Samoa

We lost February 15 to the international date line.  Some people lost their birthdays!

Pronounced Pango Pango, there being no "n" in the Samoan alphabet, according to our lecturer.  I do note some names with n's on the map. Hmmmmmm

This group of 16 islands is in the center of the South  Pacific.  American Samoa consist of 7 and Samoa of  9.  Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa and is on the island of Tutuila, 18 miles long and 6 across at its widest. Apia is the capital of Samoa.  They are  volcanic islands and the and harbor of Pango Pango is a collapsed crater...very dramatic entrance.  The landscape...broken, toothy mountains range, verdant steep hillsides with dense vegetation.  It is hot and humid with an annual 200 inches of rainfall.  Much of two of the islands of American Samoa and a good bit of northern Tutuila is American Samoa National Park and there is a national marine sanctuary....and Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medicine Center.



I took a short tour around the east side of the island Tutuila on a very colorful little bus with small hard seats on a very windy and bumpy road.  Oh did I ache when I got back!!  We went through the town, passing the local fish cannery.  Yikes what a pong!  Tuna fishing....boats go out with helicopters on board to locate the tuna.  Captain does not think it is very sporting! There were some pretty little bays with beautiful tuff islands shaped by the wind and the waves.  Very few beaches.  Lots of dogs who approach for a pet, but are very fearful.  This always bothers me.  There are many churches as there are on just about every Pacific island. The missionaries made their mark here all right, especially the Mormons.  Houses vary from those of the chiefs, which are splendid, through pretty colored bungalows, each with a colonnaded open meeting area to very run down dwellings.  There are many abandoned buildings...no one demolishes them.  Of course recent cyclones wreaked havoc in both Samoas.  (This was particularly evident in Apia where entire areas of the mountains have been stripped of vegetation.). There is a once grand hotel just rotting away.  One gets the feeling that this outpost of 19th century American colonialism is not thriving.  Unemployment is very high and the  US government supports this territory.  I am not sure American Samoa has any strategic value any more.  It once was a coaling station for US vessels.  I did  not find it as attractive as some of the other islands I've seen.  It reminded me of Tonga.

The people are very friendly.  They are related to the other Polynesians and this is evident, not only in their appearance, but also in their language, songs and dances.  They speak their own language, but most learn English.  I had a hard time understanding our guide.

We made a stop on the way back at Two Dollar Beach...a tiny sandy beach with chaises, sheltered tables  and chairs and a little bar.  Apparently you can go there and have a good time for $2.00!  We were treated to some Samoan dances which were very nice and very similar to the other island dances.

Anyone remember the film with Rita Hayworth, "Miss Sadie Thompson"?  Somerset Maugham wrote the story here on which the film was based.  It was called "Rain".  And with reason.  We had two showers....during one of which we went out to take photos.  Lovely cooling rain that dries immediately.  The mountain called "Rainmaker" lives up to its reputation.


Samoa, pronounced with the accent on the  "a" is an independent state, having belonged briefly to the Germans until 1914 and then coming under the auspices of New Zealand as a UN trust until independence in 1962.  It is better developed, though the traditions, language and people are the same.  One wonders why they can't be one nation. The Chinese influence is evident here.  They have built some government buildings and are "helping" Samoa.  It would seem that they are buying up land.





In Apia,  were greeted at the wharf with  troupe of singers and dancers.   A very colorful welcome. We took a trip around Apia, which is larger and more developed than Pango Pango.  This time the bus was much more comfortable and the roads recently paved.  Unfortunately, it was rainy and misty all day.  Well, this is the rainy season.  The scenery was the same as American Samoa: lush, green, mountainous, churches, houses with open meeting halls or fales, some hotels this time, a large covered market place, graves in front of the houses, so that ancestors stay with the families.  We visited a Catholic Church overlooking the harbor.  Very pretty...blue and white with lovely stained glass windows.  Samoans believe that they are God's people.  There are signs on some of the buses: Samoa is God.  Sunday really is. Day of rest and worship here.

The main event of the tour was the visit to Robert Louis Stevenson's house which he built three years before he died here of TB.  He is buried on the mountain above his home.  It is an interesting house and we learned the story of his life there with his American wife and her two children and his mother.   While he lived in Samoa, he wrote thirteen novels...a prolific output in only three years.  He was extremely popular, intervening on Samoa's behalf when colonial powers wanted to take over the islands.  Two of the guides sang one of his poems which ends "Home is the sailor, home from the sea/ Home is the hunter.........".  Delightful!

Unfortunately, we did not see the western part if the island which, according to James Michener is "the most beautiful drive in the South Pacific."  Although, "South Pacific", based on his tales, was filmed in Bora Bora, French Polynesia, the real "Bali Ha'i" is Manono, a tiny island of Samoa.

A few photos