Samoa

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

We arrived in Samoa well after dark to the most welcoming arrival of our trip ... thus far!!  After the short ride from the airport (5 minutes), our bus was greeting by a fire warrior who ran barefoot ahead of us, twirling his fiery baton, leading the way to the hotel while chanting greetings and announcing our arrival.  Once there, we were welcomed by the entire staff of the hotel.  They were all singing, clapping and greeting us with smiles and handshakes.  Don't know when I've ever been made to feel so welcome!  Well, there was this time recently, in Kansas City, where Sharon's family invited us for a Chief's football game.  They were incredibly hospitable. That was pretty spectacular!  Still reeling from the Kansas City experience!!!  But the Samoan greeting was a close second.

After our exuberant greeting, things went south in a hurry.  I was given a room key and pointed in the direction of my room ...  down the walkway - in the dark - to the second building and up the stairs.  What?  No escort?  No one to help me with my bag??  Nobody to light the way??  Nobody to go fetch ice??  

Walkway to my building.  This photo was obviously taken during daylight.  It's dark and scary at night.  And a LONG way from the lobby.

Well, I fumbled around and finally found my room, which turned out to be a "typical Sheraton Hotel room."  Oh my gosh!  I can't believe I just wrote that!!  There was a time in my life when I would have thought the Sheraton was the nicest place I'd ever seen.  Amazing how a few years and a few bucks can change one's perspective.  The room was simple and bare with LED lights that made the stark whiteness of the room even more sterile looking.  But it was clean.  Probably what one could expect from a third world country, right?  OK, Jefferson.  I know you traveled the world and perhaps this was nicer than some of your hostels in Europe.  But I'm older, more experienced and probably a bit spoiled.  However, I was so tired, I just opened my bottle of water, pulled the wrapping paper off of my plastic cup, brushed my teeth and collapsed into bed. 

The hotel hosted a craft show especially for our group, so I felt compelled to check it out.  I found a Samoan gent sitting on the floor behind the display table hand carving wooden fish.  They were beautiful. 

 

Samoan Artist carving fish.

I didn't buy the fish, but I did buy an oblong bowl that sits on 12 round legs.  It's hand carved and then decorated with additional carvings around the edge of the bowl.  I don't know why I didn't take a photo of it before I had it packed away.  I think it will be beautiful on the kitchen counter holding citrus.  Or corks.  Or apples.  

The next morning, we set out to dive in SAMoa.  Somebody on this trip told me that the diving here would be better than the Great Barrier Reef.  Could this be possible??  Well in short - HELL NO!! The reef in Samoa is bleached.  DEAD!  A few fish, refreshing water AND the calories I burned while snorkeling kept it from being a total waste of time.  A side note here, I probably should snorkel all the way to Australia to burn the number of calories I've consumed while on this trip!!  Even though the reef was a disappointment, it was great being out on the water.  I took photographs, but none are noteworthy enough to post.  

I know I sound like a broken record when I say this, but the wifi has been so difficult to deal with on this trip!  I try to write while on the plane (which by the way, has NO wifi), and then when I get to a hotel with wifi, I download the photos and post my blog.  Today, my goal is to catch up on the writing portion and then I'll find wifi to post the photos as soon as I can.   Right now, we're cruising along at about 30,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean.  I have my Bose Sound Reducing Earphones blasting my favorite tunes and the flight attendant is keeping my glass full of wine.  So if my writing style changes, attribute it to the wine.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

Sorry!  Back to the SAMoa story.  After snorkeling, we had lunch at the Sheraton followed by a really great Samoan dance show.  Felt like the "Las Vegas" of Samoa.  The dancers were really entertaining, but the leader of the group was captivating.  Tattooed from head to toe, this Samoan was incredibly enthusiastic about his show. 

 

Pat, Gail and I meet the tribal leader.

I didn't now it, but "The Rock", Dwayne Johnson, is 1/2 Samoan, which was pointed out to us by the tribal leader.   As he introduced the dancers, I could almost close my eyes and imagine an announcer from a WWE wrestling match shouting, "Ladies and Gentlemen.  Please welcome The Rock of Samoa."

  

The dancers put on a great show.

Then the drums revved up, pounding loudly and the dancers began pounding equally as loud.  What's with these natives and their fertility dances?  All of the gay guys on the trip were drooling, while most of the women and I were riveted to the stage, or should I say to the dancers!!  The show concluded with fire dancers.  Always a fun way to end lunch.

Fire Dancers closed the show.

As abruptly as it began, the show ended.  Time to head to the airplane for our longest trek yet.  Almost 10 hours on the plane heading to Australia.  

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the flight attendants on this flight.  What a sense of humor they have.  During the pre-flight safety talk, one of the male flight attendants dressed up as a woman, complete with fully enhanced boobs.  

Male Flight attendant dresses as woman for flight briefing.  Hilarious!

He reviewed the safety procedures with us.  The entire plane erupted in laughter.  It's the first time I've ever actually paid attention during the safely briefing.

The rest of the flight was quite relaxing with a couple of lectures from national Geographic Explorers and one from the photographer on digital photography.  It's really fun hearing from these experts.  Especially the photographer.  I have finally learned what an "F" stop and shutter speeds mean. Hopefully, I'll see the results in my photographs.  If not, I'll just "borrow" the shots from the slide show on the plane.

By the way, I failed to mention that we lost a day today.  We crossed the International Date Line and jumped from Sunday to Tuesday.  We'll get that day back as we work our way around the globe.

Next Stop  ...  Australia - the land Down Under!