As in much of the Pacific, Sunday is a day of rest, relaxation, worship, and feast. Many businesses are closed, save for a few roadside shops. Over breakfast I was thinking of what I should do today. I’m too restless to ever have a full day of R&R so I decided to put my thumb out, and wherever that person was going is where I’d end up and explore. Marie and Lucy are two really cute Czech girls, and with Marie I gave a demonstration of my special hug. With some gear packed, Marie, Lucy, and I set out. A guy in a ute picked us up; they were going to To-Sua Trench and I was going as far as the ute was going. Many locals were out and about on their way to or from church. Churches of all shapes, sizes, and colours are scattered all around the country. Samoa has the world’s second highest proportion of LDS followers; Tonga is first at 59% with of the population being LDS followers and Samoa is second at 39%. I was dropped at Maninoa, about 40 minutes west of Saleapaga. A local family invited me in for my first experience with a local family. Grilled fish, palusami (coconut cream and taro leaves), breadfruit, and oka were all handed to me on a large plate, and I could barely eat half of it. My favourite offering today was koko samoa; a chocolate drink very similar to the cacao drink I had in El Salvador. It helped wash down the aftertaste of turkey tail loaded with grease an inch thick. An absolutely lovely experience, but I will say I’ll never touch another turkey tail again! It’s nothing but fat and the aftertaste really hurts. After we sat for more than an hour, I thanked them for their hospitality and I hitchhiked east, being picked up by a young Kiwi couple working here for a few months. They were headed to the beach at Vavau so I followed along, opting for a swim and some photos even though I felt tired and wobbly. Samoan heat can really make you tired, and it’s one of those rare places where I’ve been having a midday nap. Another colourful shot!
How is one half blue and the other isn't? The water is shallow enough that I waded out for a bit even with my camera, though I have to be careful. I don't think Samoan girls are all that beautiful but these three gorgeous girls were doing a photoshoot.
After hitchhiking home I was ready for a lengthy nap, so I was in dreamland for a while before going for a swim. The tsunami in 2009 destroyed much of the coral reef on the south coast so there’s very little to see when snorkelling. Dinner tonight was a tasty one, with my favourite dish being eggplant and chicken…certainly better than turkey tails. Fish was on the menu tonight as well, and over a glass of wine I chatted anagrams with Ingrid, a pretty lady working at the hospital in Apia who is staying at Faofao for a few days. "Riding" and "I grind" are anagrams of "Ingrid" but it wasn’t received very well by some people. I don’t have a mission of offending, and I don’t like many jokes for that reason, particularly jokes about blacks and Jews. A more feasible anagram is "conversation" and "conservation"…the longest anagrams in the English language. Better yet, how about "Tokyo" and "Kyoto?" I wasn’t tired even after a few glasses of wine and I was offered some strong Samoan coffee loaded with sugar. I took the plunge but then I was up all night. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but all night I couldn’t sleep. Ahhhhh, these balmy evenings…
