Samoa

March, 2013
Hi Everyone,

My wife Evelyn and I have set off on our first long trip together as a married couple - a six week trip to Samoa and New Zealand.  I am writing this from the New Zealand, while sitting in the kitchen of the very hospitable Ally and Richard Commins, the parents of our good friend Anna.  We arrived here yesterday after spending a week in Samoa.

The trip from Canada was quite long.  We left Toronto at noon on Saturday, and finally arrived in Samoa at 6 PM on Monday.  Of that, 17 hours was time difference, and about 21 hours was spent in the air.  Samoa was HOT.  It was not so great to arrive wearing our hiking boots, jeans, and sweaters.  

We spent a couple days in Apia, Samoa's capital and largest city.  Largest city is a relative term, however, as the whole population of Samoa, predominantly located on the island Upulo, is less than 200,000.  Apia is also where Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde, spent his final years before dying at 46 of tuberculosis.  We went to visit his mansion, and met an older couple there visiting from London.  They were members of "the R.L.S. appreciation society", and based their vacations around travelling to sites where Stevenson lived or worked.  We didn't have the heart to tell them we didn't even know who he was before we did the tour, and just came because we heard the grounds were beautiful.

Unfortunately, there was a cyclone in Samoa in December 2012.  Happily, there was minimal loss of life, but the cyclone damaged a lot of the tourist infrastructure, so most of the activities we were hoping to do were not possible.  So as a result, we left Apia and spent the rest of our stay in Samoa more or less lying on a beach.

The 2 hour drive across the Island was one of the trip highlights.  It was great to see the stunning beaches, the tropical vegetation, and the Samoan style of houses.  Because it is so hot, a lot of people live in houses without walls.  When you pass by, you can see people watching TV and setting up mosquito nets over the beds.

One reason the ride was so great was due to our taxi driver, Viala.  He was just so happy to be Samoan!  He kept stopping the cab at places he thought would make good photos.  While we were shooting, he would exclaim "this is my life! I thank Jesus that my grandparents and parents were born on this Island!"

The beach we stayed it was amazing.  Furthermore, because it was low season, we lierally had the beach to ourselves for the first day we were there, and only one other foreign tourist stayed at our hotel for the four days we were there.  Hotel is not actually the right word, though.  We stayed in "fales" on the beach.  Fales are huts right on the beach with a mattress in them.  It was a very relaxing and surprisingly comfortable place to spend half a week.

We also got to meet a bunch of locals.  The hotel we were staying at was hosting a government meeting  of the disaster response coordinators of various government departments.  It was interesting hearing about some of the work they are doing in response to the 2009 tsunami which killed a large number of Samoans.  Hopefully their work will help mitigate the damage from any future disasters.

Time to go to bed.  Tomorrow morning, we leave for a 3 day hike in Kahurangi National Park on the North of South Island in New Zealand.