Samoa (Sa-forbidden moa-chicken) has such a unique, and defined culture with gorgeous landscapes and beaches ta boot! My parents and Ali and I flew into Apia, (Western) Samoa around midnight Tuesday and stayed until midnight Sunday. The airport has one gate, and flights arrive and depart once a week. We stayed our first and final nights at a place called “Bertie’s B &B.” According to the website, it seemed the most reliable as far as taxiing us in from the airport. Here are our friends Mark and Marietta.
Samoa (pronounced “Saw”moa) is not tourist friendly at all. Just how I like it :) The country/island felt untouched, it was so primitive and so honest. The people and the land. Our rental car came in the morning and we were off! Dodging pigs, wild (SCARY) dogs, chicken, and all sorts of other animals in the street, we were back to driving on the right side of the road. (The big controversy in Samoa right now is about changing driving to the left side.) We drove through the poorest places I’d ever seen. Families (like, entire families) dwelled in their individual fale’s and then the extended family had a big, central gathering place. A fale consists of sticks in the ground with leaves on top.
Samoa is not a well-mapped country. Because of this slight dilemma, we ended up asking several people for directions. They were kind to try, but in broken English, our help sounded sort of like this: “Just go up here a ways, turn left and then go a while longer and turn left again,” or “Come up the street by the sea, and then go this way (waving their arm who knows what direction) until you see a blue fale.” Every fale is blue. Anway, with no street names and locals who couldn’t verbalize their knowledge, we had quite the time…
It was SUCH a surprise to come upon the Apia, Samoa temple our first day. After driving through such primitive living conditions, it was amazing to round a bend and find the beautiful temple. Due to my mom’s geniusness, we were able to go into the baptistery even though the temple was closed. We spent the rest of the day touring the island and landed at the Litia Sini resort in a village called Lalomanu. Ali and I shared fale number 7 mosquito net and all, and my parents were right next door. Our porches were very conducive to card playing, and we even had a water bucket in the fale to rinse our feet of the sand before getting in bed. Well, getting “on” bed… our beds were a ½ inch mattress and a mosquito net.
Here are directly quoted conversations with a lady at the Litia Sini resort:
Mom: Do you know the name of this flower?
Samoan: Yes.
Mom: What is it?
Samoan: I don’t know. Please ask the manager.
Mom: How late is this fale open tonight?
Samoan: 95 Kilometers.
It then became the joke to just reply whatever you want if you don’t actually know the answer to a question :) We spent the Thursday, Friday and Saturday enjoying the warm water and fine sand at the primarily vacated paradise. Our resort (don’t be confused, it cost something like $6 U.S. per night) provided breakfast and dinner, which were our only commitments each day! It was great!!! We played cards, went swimming, enjoyed INCREDIBLE snorkeling just 20ft. from shore, and went on a cultural hike/tour which was most definitely my highlight. Actually, I don’t know, snorkeling was REALLY awesome! Mom brought 4 sets of snorkel gear so we could go out whenever we wanted without rental fees or time limits!
Aleki (suspicion: German escapee claiming Samoan heritage) brings in some extra Tala for his (adoptive) family by giving visitors a tour of the family land and answering questions on Samoan culture. We went to his family fale where sisters and kids were squeezing coconut cream, the boys gambling and making brick, and the kids practicing their fire dancing and knocking coconuts out of trees. I LOVED being with the people and observing true daily life. We watched them and talked for a while before climbing a mountain to a taro (like potato, kind of…) plantation. Throughout the entire walk, Aleki pointed out all the plants and their purposes. His major emphasis was that you can get everything you need from the land. Here are some uses of leaves and plant juices that I remember:
-Mosquito repellant and anti-itch cream
-Hair shampoo and conditioner (out of a pine cone type thing…)
-Toilet paper
-Large leaves for bedding and shelter
-Cold sore remedies
-Leaves to rub on your temples for headaches
-Extra strong tree branches and trunks for spears, walking sticks, and carvings
-They recently found a substance anticipated to cure aids! UC Berkely is working on it…
We went to 2 Fia-Fia’s which are basically family cultural shows. The fire dancing was my favorite part- they had 4 year old out there whizzing these flaming sticks past their faces, around their bodies, through their legs, and even balanced them on their feet. I’d seen fire dancers before, but these kids were just so young!
To my dismay, we went to the English branch for church Sunday. I go to church in English every week and was looking forward to feeling the spirit and enjoying the cultural and language differences. “I like church better in Latin, it’s nicer when you don’t know what they’re saying!” - Name that movie! Anyway, it was a MERCY we didn’t because we met so many great people and made social lives for ourselves for the next 2 days. We joined a senior missionary couple for dinner in the mission complex (nice!) and went to a missionary fireside that night.
The next day, mom and dad dropped us off at the mission home when they left for Australia. Ali and I spent the day with President Price’s family in a village in the mountains called Sauniatu. It is a sacred, highly spiritual village that was dedicated years ago by President McKay. He was the first general authority to visit Samoa and blessed the village with some really special things and started traditions that they still continue. It was REALLY neat to see how the LDS people combined their faith with their Samoan culture. The primary kids did a song and dance presentation for us, and the missionary prep class did the Haka and sang their village song for us. We met up with 7 LDS dentists for the events in Sauniatu so it was neat to promote oral health and pass out new dresses there. I LOVE Samoa!
I went to the mission home’s FHE that night where we had a great testimony meeting and heard Rebecca Whale (with BYU Singers) perform. It was so cool to be included in that and feel so at home while so far away. President Price talked with the baggage man at the airport and got a weight exception for my bag worked out… I don’t know what I would have done without that! If I learned one thing about traveling, it is: PACK LIGHT. Baggage is just a hassle and you don’t need to use half the things you pack anyway. I absolutely loved spending time in the villages and with the people of Samoa. What a grateful and giving people they are. They have so little, yet so much. I loved watching how they work together so well to provide for everyone’s needs. I gained a special appreciation for the voices of the Samoan people as well. There is something about their voices and their spirits that make their music special. I feel so blessed to have been exposed to the Samoan way and will always cherish my memories from that awesome week!
