Scott and Jenni's Journals

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Samoa

Savai'i |

From one extreme to the other...
Samoa really is a tropical island paradise. Coming straight from L.A. was a nice change as you can't imagine anywhere more relaxing and peaceful. We spent five days on the larger, less populated island of Savai'i, and even getting there was fun! We landed on the main island (Upolu) and caught the ferry across to get a bus to our beach fale in the North of the island. The buses in Samoa are a real experience - they cram as many people on as possible, and when it gets really full, everyone sits on each others laps. Our bags were taken away from us(!) and we were shown on to an already crowded bus where a big Samoan woman offered Jenni her lap! The buses are really colourful and we had Christmas tunes in a reggae stylee pumping our of ours!! That was one bus ride I don't think we will ever forget!
We were welcomed at our fale by members of the family who own them, and they greeted us with coconuts and bananas which were growing everywhere. Our fale was right on the beach, literally 12 steps from the sea! Even though you only have a matress on the floor staying in a fale is surprisingly comfortable.
We got breakfast and dinner every day, and the food was really good. It included a lot of the fruit that came straight off of the trees around us.
The only setback we've encountered in Samoa is how difficult it is to get around. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see everything that we wanted to on Savai'i, as getting the bus is very hit and miss! Sometimes you can catch one to a place of interest, but there's no guarantee they will go back! Also, all the places to see tend to be about two hours drive and hiring a car is actually really expensive and something we didn't really budget for!
But to be honest, Savai'i is so beautiful that we have just enjoyed the experience of being here. The people are amazingly friendly and incredibly huge! Staying where we did we really got to experience the way that the people live.
We managed to go swimming with turtles one day which was brilliant, and we've met some really cool people already. We also got to experience a Samoan Fia-Fia night which involves traditional dancing, fire dancing and singing. It was so good. There was a 12 year old boy who did the fire dancing and he was amazing! There was also a school from New Zealand there that performed the Haka which was quite amusing but cool to watch. We also went to the Sunday morning church service as religion is such a huge part of the Samoan culture. Everyone dresses really smartly and mainly all in white but the best part was the singing. Everyone in Samoa seems to be able to sing really well and it's quite common for people to break into song at any given moment. In the church, it sounded like a professional choir!Savai'i really is quite an amazing place, with nothing but picture-perfect beaches, one road (!), and beautiful untouched rainforest. Paradise.

Locations Visited: Manase


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