Standing on the Largest Polynesian MoundThis past weekend there was an election held in Samoa, so on Friday we
had the day off (for their election day, which happens every 5 years,
it's declared a public holiday). So since I was really in need of a
change of scenery, I decided this would be a good time to go visit
Josh in Savai'i. My adventure began on Friday when I biked from my
house to the Peace Corps Office to drop off my bike and catch the boat
bus. There were absolutely no cars on the road and while the buses
were running they had no passengers on them. This made me realize that
it could be possible that the boat buses were not running and I
wouldn't be able to get to Savaii. So I walked over to the Vegetable
market and I beheld 3 buses – all boat buses – sitting in the parking
lot. So the first part of my journey was covered – the bus to the
boat. I got to the wharf well before 10am which is when one of the
boat's usually leaves. Well 10am went pass and soon 11am went with it,
I was getting a little bit worried – were the bus boat's running but
the boat itself was not? So I asked one of the workers what time the
boat was suppose to leave and they said 2pm – I would have to wait
there another 4 hours before the boat left! I was not a happy
traveler. But apparently the guy was wrong because the ticket booth
opened up at 11:15am and it only opens up 45 mins before a boat is
suppose to leave – which means I got on the 12pm boat instead of the
2pm boat (BIG difference). The boat ride over was nice and there
weren't a lot of people on it which was great. I finally arrived over
at Salelologa (the wharf on Savaii) around 1pm and Josh was there
waiting for me. Apparently he was told that the boats weren't running
until 2pm like I was told – so there was some break down in
communication there.
We caught a taxi ride to his place (the buses were not running at all
on Savaii – it was like a Taxi derby at the wharf) and hooked up with
Bob there. It was great seeing these two guys again outside of a Peace
Corps function and in their normal environment. The Savaii people come
over to Apia quite often, so it feels good to return the favor to them
and see them on their home turf. After a bit of catching up and
relaxing, we three walked to Ananoa Beach which is only a few villages
down from Josh's house and had us a little relax time in the warm
water. It's only the second time that I have been in warm water here
in Samoa and it feels great – because of the elections, no one else
was out on the beach so it was also a nice, quiet relaxful time of
just hanging out. We stayed out there for like an hour and then headed
back to Josh, where he and Bob made some great chilli (my attempt at
making chilli a few days back was quite unsuccessful, so it was good
to get some advice from chilli experts).
On Saturday we got up early and prepared for a day of hiking through
the Tafua Peninsula Rainforest Preserve (another one of my personal
goals). For this adventure, Julya and Laura (a group 73er) joined us.
So we took a taxi to the entrance of the Rainforest and hiked it the
rest of the way. We hiked for a good 25-30 minutes (with little
getting loss) before we came to the highlight of the Rainforest: the
extinct Tafua Savai'I crater. It was a beautiful sight of trees just
springing out of a very deep crater – we hiked almost as high as you
could go on the created path and could easily see the southeastern
coastline of Savai'i. We worked up quite a sweat doing the trek, but
it was a great experience and a great view. Once we got back to Josh's
place, we rested for a bit and then we decided….to hike some more!
Only this time it was just Bob, Josh and myself. The last time I was
here we tried to find the Pulemelei Mound (close to the Olemoe Falls)
and were unsuccessful, so I wanted to try for it again. So we went to
the same place we went to last time I was here and instead of going
right we went left (thank you Lonely Planet!) and after quite a long
hike (long but not hard) we finally found the Pulemelei Mound (which
is Polynesia's largest ancient structure – no one really knows what it
was once used for). It was quite an impressive structure, unlike
anything I was expecting and from the top of it we could see the
Savai'I coastline and Bob's school. So it was great to see that the
Mound actually exists and the next time I come to visit Josh we're
going to have to find something else to explore. On the way back down,
Bob got himself a new pet in the form of a Flat-Billed Kingfisher
(Titola) a bird that was injured on the ground – it was kind of young
so we thought that it might have fallen out of its nest and couldn't
fly away. It will be interesting to see what has happened to his new
pet – preliminary name is Willis – the next time I visit him. Anyway,
basically on Saturday we did quite a bit of hiking which was
definitely a different type of exercise from the one I'm use to
(Biking) but it was great to see the different sites of Savaii and
learn to appreciate the differences in both islands. While Upolu is
great, Savaii just offers a peace and quiet that's kind of hard to
find on Upolu.
We tried leaving early this morning (Sunday) by bus but we soon found
out that all the buses running back and forth on the road are meant
for people going to church and it's not until church service starts
(9am) that the buses go back to picking people up for the boat. So I
got to the boat just in time and made it safely back in time to enjoy
one of my few rare and enjoyable phone conversations from home. That's
my weekend in a nutshell – action packed and sore-inducing, but a lot
of fun. It's back to work tomorrow! Yay!
BTW, just in case you didn't realize Daylights Saving Time was on
Saturday and what that means is that you are now one hour further away
from me (7 hours ahead = EST / 6 hours ahead = CST / 5 hours ahead =
MST / 4 hours ahead = PST). But don't worry, in a few months time
we'll be closer together again, just you wait. L8r.
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