Sliding Rock - American Samoa Style

This Saturday's adventure took us to an area called Sliding Rock. It is a large lava field right on the ocean. Nature carved out some pools where you can swim and look at the fish. I am told that the pools are normally protected by the crashing waves, but we went during high tide and at the start of a storm. No protection, but some neat views of nature.

The pool is located on the right side of the photo and the waves would crash in front of the large lava mound in the center of the photo.
We did go swimming in the pool. Stupid palagis. A wave would crash over into the far end of the pool and the current would really push you. It was cool feeling, but one that we only did a few times - some of the waves got really big, and none of us wanted to be taken out to sea.

Unlike the sliding rock area in Indy Samoa, I didn't really figure out why it was called sliding rock. However, after both Sean and I fell on the slippery algae covered rocks, I figured out the full name of the place - sliding (onto your butt) rocks. I now have matching bruises on my bottom from the two Samoan sliding rock places, thanks Samoa! Of course, the day ended with dollar ice cream. Might be the best part of the day.

Jessi dreaming the day away as the waves crash.

Disclaimer: I forgot my camera, so all photos taken by Coletti clan. No reproduction of images without express written permission from Coletti clan. All rights reserved.

HA-HA

I thought it would be important to take the time to mock my friends back in Chicago. I noticed that Chicago got its first snow fall of the year! Ha-Ha! And the weather in American Samoa? Sunny high of 85, with a slight breeze. I said Ha-Ha!

Holiday in the Other Samoa

We did not have to work on Columbus Day - yes Samoans celebrate Columbus Day, not sure why, but I don't ask these kinds of questions - in fact, Samoans celebrate most holidays. I get a total of 13 paid holidays in addition to the 24 vacation days. nice, huh. Anyway, due to the long weekend a group of us decided to go to Independent Samoa. Independent Samoa, or Indy Samoa, is a 35 minute plane ride from American Samoa. It has the same cultural heritage as Am. Sam. but thanks to the wonderful system of colonialism, the island chain was divided between the Germans and the United States. good times.

The final head count was 14 people - I guess palagis like to travel in packs.

The Palagi Crew - Back Row: Sharon, Ben, Gonzolo, Nate, Maximo, Jonas & Niki. Front Row: Jeff & Meredith, and Sebastian (seabass). Not pictured: Fred, Steve, Taylor and me.

We all arrived on Friday - most in the morning, but I got a late afternoon flight. I am still adjusting to flight travel in Samoa. I only had one bag, which is rare for Samoan travel, most families take the maximum amount of luggage and it is normally at the maximum weight. It is also necessary to get weighed, so they can evenly place the weight on the plane. Security is also fun, we walked around the X-ray machine and after a quick glance at my bag, I got on the plane.

My usual nickname of Weaver or Weave has been quickly adopted by my friends here, but in Samoa - it is THE Weave. I guess cause I am a "High Clerk" I get an article in front of my name. I mention this because as soon as I got out of customs, I heard shouts of THE Weave through out the terminal. Most everyone at the airport turned to look at the celebrity - me. The group picked me up at the airport in the taxi van we had rented for the weekend. There is no greater ride in Samoa then a 14 person taxi van.

Maximo drove the entire weekend, god bless him

Ben waiting at the local 7-11 for supplies - mainly Vailima Beer. We made regular stops.

After the airport pickup, we headed to Papasee'a Sliding Rock. It is an old lava field where one can slide down different parts of the lava rock into a fresh water pool. Very refreshing and a ton of fun. The slide does have a bit of a bump - I now have a large bruise on my bottom. ouch. The walk back up the 200 steps, not as fun.

We next headed into Apia, the capital city. After living in Pago, Apia looked like a huge metropolis. It had a traffic circle, multi-lane traffic and even stop lights. crazy. We stayed at the Pasifika Inn and went to dinner at a Italian restaurant - really good pizza. I miss pizza. Am. Sam. does have a Pizza Hut, but it is just not the same. After dinner we went to a couple of bars including one that looked like it was someone house. Fun had by all.

The next day we left Apia and went to the Piula Cave Pools. Formed by lava, it is a fresh water pool, that is super clear and filled with fish. I had a total deja vu moment, because I had been to the Cave Pools ten years before when I did the Semester at Sea South Pacific program. Two caves are connected by an underwater passage near the back of the cave, spooky. The water is so clear and my legs are so white that while in the water it looked like my legs were radioactive. It is fun to be a circus freak. An old church above the cave pool.
After a nice swim, we went to Coconut Beach Resort for lunch. A fancy resort, and we were anything but fancy. oh well, no one cares in Samoa. We spent about three hours at the Resort, no rush to do anything. We then drove to the far southeast part of the island - Lalomanu Village. On the Road in Indy Samoa:

At Lalomanu, we stayed in mini-fales right on the beach. The fale was a little hut wrapped with plastic sheeting and a mattress for each person. The beach was beautiful. Very sandy and deep water, so you could actually swim, unlike most places in Am. Sam. We stayed for two nights. The first night was a full moon. It was clear as day, I could have read a book, I didn't, but you could. Due to a little mix up in our group (too many chiefs, not enough communication), Sharon, Ben and I had been bumped from our fale. Ben found room with the Argentines, and Sharon and I bunked with Jeff & Meredith. Four people and two twin mattresses does not make a restful night sleep, we were literally sleep on each other, at one point, I kicked Sharon off our shared mattress - oops sorry. The highlight was the ghost stories told by Jeff. Does anyone remember the man with the gold arm ghost story? Jeff and I could not remember it. If anyone remembers, please post it as a comment - thanks. The second night, Ben, Sharon and I got our own fale. Pretty sweet waking up and looking out onto the beach and the ocean.

Lalomanu Beach
Our Fale

Sunday morning we spent at the Lalomanu beach-a lazy morning for us. We snorkeled, swam, enjoyed paradise. We next went to Le Pupu-pue National Park. The park has a bunch of waterfalls with deep fresh water pools. So deep that you could jump off the ledges into the pools. The highest jump was about 25-30 feet. At first, my legs would not move, but when are you going to have the opportunity to jump into a fresh water pool at the base of a waterfall? So I jumped, sorry mom. We also crawled under one of the waterfalls into a little cave behind it. I had another little scare - got stuck in a downpour of water and had a little trouble getting out. Not has bad as the ava at Ofu, but I am sticking with a theme of near death experiences when I travel. good times. I can visualize the gray hair growing on my mom's head. again, sorry mom.

The Path to the Waterfalls Looking down from the ledge and Jeff taking the plunge. Steve jumps, Sharon jumps, I jump.
After the waterfalls, we went to another resort - Sinalei Reef Resort - for lunch. We spent most of the day at the resort - partially because Fred dropped the keys to the other car in the water. A bunch of people snorkeled for about an hour looking for them. In the end, Ben found them.

Enjoying a cocktail at Sinalei The view from Sinalei

The next morning we went to the Black Sand beach. The beach was one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The sand was really smooth and the water was great. We body surfed for a while. I realized why the beach was still so nice and underdeveloped. The road to the beach was one step above a dirt track. We went through deep water and at one point had to get out of the van in order for the van to get up a hill. good times. It was well worth the bumpy ride.

The "road" to the black sand beach.

We had to head back to the airport because some had an early flight. A slight delay when the car overheated, but we made it. The rest of us on the later flight went to another resort - Aggie's by the Sea for a late lunch. Then off the airport. I felt bad for the other passengers on the flight, because I stunk. I realized that I had not used a cleaning product on my skin since early Saturday morning. oh well. At least I looked better then the inside of our van. yuck.

Your Local News, Later

While I realize that this blog keeps the reader up to date on events in my life in American Samoa, I am sure you are constantly asking yourself - what else is going on in American Samoa? You are in luck my friend. We have a daily paper that provides all the local coverage that you demand - The Samoa News. Perfect. Even better, you can get the Samoan News on-line at http://www.samoanews.com/. I should warn you, that the Samoan News On-Line is on a bit of a delay and the articles are from two weeks earlier, but sometimes it feels like the entire island is on a two week delay, so it doesn't really matter.

So what kind of coverage can you expect from Samoa News? Only the best, the hard hitting in-depth reporting you expect from newspapers like the New York Times or the Washington Post. For example, actual headlines for today, Wednesday, October 4, 2006:

"Public Works crew looking for huge boulders and rocks to complete Leloaloa seawall project"

"Play McDonald's 2006 MONOPOLY for a change to win $5 million!"

Please contact the Public Works crew if know of any huge rocks available. The other big headlines of today, beyond the Election Office being open on Columbus Day, is that the Governor's mansion was vandalized. It appears that vandals broke into the empty mansion (currently being renovated) and smeared banana sap through out the house. It appears banana sap is the Samoan equivalent to spray paint on the mainland. No worries, a five-member special board as been appointed to investigate and the evil-doer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

And finally, a gem from Samoa News, Friday, September 29, 2006, Sports Section -

In an article about the Rotary Club's annual golf tournament to help for the construction of a community swimming pool, and the need for Samoa to have a pool, the Club President states "Over the past years, more than 100 people have drowned in American Samoa. The territory could really use a swimming pool." Huh?

Say Good Bye to Mr. Cracky

Got my windshield fixed on Monday. The kind people at Haleck Island Motors fixed up my Nissan. I still have not named my car yet, can't rush these things, but I did name the large hole in my windshield - Mr Cracky. Okay, perhaps not a very original or even good name, but it made me laugh. But now, Mr. Cracky is gone. I am still pursuing the little rascal that threw the rock into my windshield, but it is a slow process.

I dropped off my car in the morning and the repair guy asked me if I wanted to wait or if they would call me when it was done. I told them to call me, but I asked if it would be done today. They said they would try. what? What happens if I decided to wait. Do they provide a cot and dinner? perhaps breakfast the next morning. Luckily, it was done that day.

Sean and I took the bus from work to home, so Jessi could drive us to Haleck Motors. Thanks Jessi. Sean had taken the bus many times before when he didn't have a car the first two weeks. However, it was my first time on a bus. It was amazing.

The local buses are owned by the driver. The rides can range from 25 cents to a whole dollar. ouch. The structure of the bus is what makes it fun. Most of the buses are converted trucks where a wooden frame is placed on top of the back. It is then covered with sheet metal. To signal your stop, you knock on the wood frame. You need to duck down to enter and then walk up to get to the seating area. The passenger seats are higher then the driver. It looks like the driver is seating on the floor, but he is simply seating where you would be if this was a normal truck. It is hard to describe. As private buses, the owners take pride in their bus and really decorate and paint it up nice.

The bus above, is more of a modern bus because it was actually built as a bus. Many of the others are smaller, and simply have a wood frame (covered by sheet metal) for the passenger compartment.

The highlight of the ride is the audio system on each bus. The buses are hooked up for sound. I am not sure why, but the drivers play really loud music on the bus, normally some sort of fast tempo Samoan music or rap music and with the bass or treble really high. It can make your ears bleed. A fellow passenger brought along ear plugs - a smart move. It is also fun to watch the driver change the compact disk, while driving on the really curvy roads - safety first!

I can't wait for my next bus ride.

Coconut Point

Our (the coletti family and me) regular Saturday beach adventure took us to Coconut Point. We had only heard rumors of Coconut Point mainly from a 13 year old Samoan kid, but what the heck. We made the turn off the main road and the road quickly became very narrow. As we drove, we were lucky to pass another car. We asked the driver who we should ask to get permission to swim in the area because we were right next to a Samoan village and you should always asked permission (it is just the polite thing to do). Well, the driver actually called the guy we needed to talk to and asked for us. It was granted. We parked on the side and walked through a small path in the jungle to get to the beach. Like most Samoan beaches - it was tiny, had a lot of trash and basically disappeared at high tide. However, it was still wonderful. The water was really clear. It was more like a river because the current ran from left to right and could really move you along. It was nothing like Ofu's ava, so it was enjoyable and not life threatening swimming. I finally bought my own snorkel gear (I had been borrowing others) and spent a lot of time looking at the fish. The water was only about waist deep, so you could just bend over with your gear and look at the fish. I am still impressed with the amount of fish so close to the shore. They are mainly tiny little guys - like pet size, but they vary in color and shape. At Coconut Point, I mainly saw "Zebra" fish - not sure if that is the proper name, but they look like zebras with gills. I also saw some "dinner size" fish that were all white. After snorkeling, Jaydn and I started to build some sand castles. I must admit I am sorely out of practice and my castles looked more like mounds of sand with shells, but what the heck, it was still a ton of fun.

Rainmaker Mountain and me.

After Coconut Point, we headed to a local gas station because rumor had it that they had the best ice cream on the island. I realize that gas station and amazing ice cream are not normally associated with each other, but this is Samoa. Regardless of the location, the rumors were true. They had twelve flavors - amazing in the first place and then it tasted soo good. I had a hazelnut type chocolate. good times. Oh, and a big scope and cone - only a dollar. that is just crazy.

I PASSED!

I passed! I passed! I passed! I passed! I passed! I passed! I passed!
What did I pass? The Illinois State Bar Exam. Thank goodness. Looks like I am real lawyer now (at least in Illinois). The state examiners posted the results on-line around midnight of Sept. 30/Oct. 1 Chicago time - which was 6 pm local Samoan time. It was perfect, because I found out my results and then had all night to celebrate. Fortunately, the local Yacht Club held a "Latino Celebration" the same night - so I was able to hang out and dance all night. good times.