The Mom Adventure: Back to the City (Written 5/8/07)

So the stay at Virgin Cove wasn't exactly the best – first of all, neither one of us could get a good nights sleep because the pillows were not fluffy at all. They were just kind of two flat stabs stuck between a pillow case and it did not make for a very restful evening. Also, during the night a tree branch fell onto our fale – fortunately, it didn't come through the fale but it just kind of encapsulated our entire experience at this beach resort: full of discomfort. So it was with great pleasure that we got up around 7:30am and packed up the car in order to leave this mirage called paradise, but before we could do that we had to find out if this place could make up lost ground by having a good breakfast. Let's just say the ground fell from underneath them at this point. In total we got a banana, a starfruit, a slice of coconut, a slice of pineapple, a slice of papya and some bread – the best part of the meal was the bread. At this point we just about had it with this beach resort and bolted out of there by 9am.

Instead of driving along the western part of the island (which I have never seen and didn't want to risk getting lost in), I backtracked to the cross island road and took that back to Apia. This is the same road that Bryan, John H and I biked when we biked from Josh's place – let me tell you, it's a lot easier in a car then it is on a bike. If mom wasn't impressed by my biking skills at this point, doing the cross island road put me over the top. When we got to the top of the cross island road I took her to the Papapapai-tai Waterfall which was the very first waterfall we as Group 75 saw in Samoa (there's a group picture of us at this very waterfall, with the trainers). The pictures were once again coming to life for her! Once we got to the very top of the cross island road, mom noticed how much cooler it was up there compared to down near sea level and I told her that this was the type of environment that Josh and I spent Christmas in – so there's definitely a cool spot in Samoa, you just have to be willing to climb to the top of mountains in order to reach it.

The drive back down the mountain back into Apia was pretty fun and a lot easier to control in a car compared to doing it by bike. We dropped by the Peace Corps office because I had to pick something up and there we ran into Kim (our Country Director) and Kevin (the only American Citizen trainer we have, who was also a Peace Corps Samoa Volunteer) – and thus completed mom's introduction to everyone in Peace Corps Samoa (at least staff wise). She also met Meghan (Group 77) so I think we're about halfway through all the volunteers in Peace Corps Samoa – we'll see how many more we run into along this little journey. 

After the Peace Corps office, we went back to my place to get a few things arranged (and recharge all the necessary electronics). After that we rolled into Apia Central – the first hotel I stayed in when we arrived in country. It was like a flash from the past and the best part was that the staff remembered me even though I don't stop by there to often, now that was a pleasant surprise (and just goes to show how memorable I am!). While mom was getting refreshed, I went to the fish market to buy us some fish and chips/french fries. For only $6WST, I believe the fish market has the best fish and chips on the island – you get a lot for what you pay for and it's extremely juicy. Now it's high in cholesterol and all that bad stuff but for a once in a while type meal it's not bad. Once we had lunch, we went around to do a little more gift shopping – thus showing we put a lot of effort in getting gifts for the folks back home.

After the shopping, we went to the movie theaters to see Spiderman 3 (yes, even in a 3^rd world country – Spiderman is out in theaters). While I don't think it was as good as the second one, I do think it was a good movie and did the comic justice. And really, when it comes to comic book based movies, that's the best we cane hope for. After the movie, we went to the yacht club for dinner. Now I was really excited about showing mom this place, because there's a spot in the restaurant where you can actually sit on the shore and watch the Apia shoreline – it's quite beautiful at night. Unfortunately, almost as soon as we got there it decided to start raining so we were unable to do that. Also, when we arrived at the yacht club, Chris (Group 77) was there with some Peace Corps Volunteers from Tonga – so Samoa's got all sorts of American volunteers here at this time. The meal at the yacht club was good – and filling – making it so much better then Virgin Cove! 

But now, the next big leg of our adventure begins. Tomorrow we head off to the big island for a few days of rest and relaxation. Will the rain follow us there? Will the next beach fale be so much better then Virgin Cove? All these questions answered AND MORE on the next edition of 'The Mom Adventure'!.....

……'Nuff said!