The weather on Upolu has been interesting to say the least. Almost since the moment mom set foot on this island it has done nothing but be gray and rainy. Hopefully we would have better luck with the weather on Savaii – as I said before, just because it's raining on Upolu doesn't mean Savaii has rain. So after being served a tropical breakfast at Apia Central (which meant bananas and toast) we headed for the Mulifanua Wharf at about 8:15am.
Before moving on from Apia Central, I just have to say it was quite an interesting experience to be staying in a room there again. I can remember when we first arrived in country how this place didn't seem all that great but after being here for 18 months, Apia Central feels like a palace! Plus the women that work there remember me and my Samoan name – so it kind of felt like coming home again. Ah, the memories.
It took us about 50 minutes to get from Apia to the wharf and I got to show mom how we buy tickets to get onto the boat. We had about an hour's wait before the 10am boat arrived – it was the small boat. This was my first time taking a car onto the boat so I had to turn the car around and drive backwards onto the ramp leading into the boat. The most nerve-wrecking part came when I had to actually park on the boat – I know how to parallel park, but I've never done it while having a person direct me from the front of the car – it's very difficult to do because you want to see where you're going. But all the vehicles made it safely onto the boat without incident or damage.
The first thing we noticed once we started to leave Upolu is how clear it looked over on Savaii. There was nothing but blue skies and water, while on Upolu a gray rain cloud just hung over the entire island – it was literally like night and day weather. It took us about an hour and a half to pull into the main wharf on Savaii – Salelologa. As soon as we hit the wharf vicinity, mom burst with happiness because she finally saw the picturesque blue water you see in all the postcards from a tropical island. So if this weather keeps up, mom is going to like Savaii more than Upolu.
Once we drove off the boat, I had to make a stop at the Peace Corps Savaii office and of course we ran into some Peace Corps Volunteers – Sarah S, Janet and Lillian (all from Group 76). They were at the office working on some APS (Animal Protection Society) stuff but we were just in and out quickly and on our way to Manase which is located on the northern shore of Savaii. The drive to Manase was quite beautiful (for a good portion of it you are driving along the eastern shoreline) and had fewer pothole incidents in comparison to Upolu (Savaii has fewer cars and thus their roads last longer and have fewer potholes). Once we arrived at Manase, we stayed at Regina's Beach Fales (Regina is my mom's middle name, so it had to be good – right?). As soon as we pulled in – it felt better then Virgin Cove. We arrived a little past 1pm and they served us lunch (which is included in the price of the fale) and within 15 minutes our beach fale was ready to go with an awesome view of the ocean literally right outside our front porch. There were only 4 other people staying at this fale (A couple from England, 1 guy from New Zealand and 1 guy from Switzerland – all over 25 years old) so it had a very quiet and relaxing atmosphere. For only $50WST, you get breakfast, lunch, dinner and an Oceanside fale – not a bad deal at all! So the bitter taste left in our mouths after Virgin Cove has been replaced by the beauty of Savaii/Manase. Now if we can get a clear night sky mom will finally get her first view of the stars and the moon in the southern hermisphere! L8r.
Addendum: While we were just sitting around relaxing, mom actually almost got into the water. She went about ankle deep before retreating back to the shore – so we're definitely making progress. Deciding that a dip in the ocean wasn't for her, she took a stroll along the beach while I took a dip in the ocean. The sea floor at Manase is a lot more sandy then Lalomanu which meant that while I was snorkeling the water was kind of cloudy. I still saw a lot of colorful fishes which is always nice. When we got back to our fale, mom had a long conversation with the matai (head chief) of the family that owns Regina's – his name was Na'ono (Nah-own-o). He was an older guy (kind of reminded me of my grandpa) and they talked about family, politics, the US and Samoan culture and about life – I think this was the first conversation mom has had with a village based Samoan, so it was quite insightful for her.
A few hours later, we had dinner with the 4 other guests staying here and we were served buffet style like at Taufua. I actually got full here which was a nice surprise and while the food was Samoan based (meaning taro, palusami, breadfruit) there was still a lot of variety to the food offered. So we had a good meal followed by good conversation with the other quests – the 2 from the UK are doing an around the world trip (they're only 7 weeks into their journey) and the Swedish and NZ guy are just traveling on holiday. So our stay so far has been leaps and bounds better then Virgin Cove. Now if only the moons and stars would cooperate!
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