Saying goodbye to Samoa

Saturday, October 24, 2015

We awoke early, even though we had a leisurely day ahead of us, not going to the airport till noon.  We finally had time to take a walk, that sounding like a better option than going to their small gym.  We walked across the street and a park, which was a short distance to the sea wall where there is a path all along the beach.  We were able to see the beautiful sunrise, met people along the way, and enjoyed the views.  We saw a memorial for a shipwreck in 1955, and another memorial in German or some other language that we couldn’t read.  It had two dates on the plaque: 1900 and 1913.

 

Sunrise along the beach walkway outside our hotel. 

We returned to our hotel and got ready for our day and went to breakfast, packed up all our stuff.  It has been a useful trip and we learned a great deal and solved some problems.  It reminds us again how important it is to go and look ourselves instead of just seeing pictures and/or descriptions of what a project will consist of.

These are boats they use for racing.  They are really heavy—it takes 40 men on each side to get them into the water.

Jim down by the water, all lined with rocks.   He found one way down a cemented path.  We also saw a break in the wall where they could launch boats.

Although we occasionally see where people have left their containers and trash wherever they want, for the most part this is a clean land and a washed people.  We saw a man cleaning the gutter at the street as we walked by.  We are just used to the mounds of trash that we see in many parts of Africa, so this has been nice.

I remember years ago when my younger sister had cancer and she went to Tahiti and drank what she named ‘jungle juice’.  She left bent over, and came back straightened up; unfortunately you can’t get that good stuff over to the USA.  It occurred to me and her at the time, that they have everything they need here to eat and that it is so healthy, but Western foods have ruined their bodies, and probably many have developed diabetes.  Their natural diets are healthy.  There is a chart at the office showing some foods; underneath are spoons full of fat.  It shows how much fat is in each item of food—two spoons is pretty good, but many had 10 spoons or more under it. 

There are a lot of solar systems here, some by the government, and some by private businesses.  The hotel we are staying at is run by solar, or at least we see many panels.  There is a huge government project near the airport where they are going to construct a large solar plant.  The government is also widening the road to the airport and ferry so that it will be 4 lanes.  A portion of it is completed.  They are constructing things properly here.  This island is definitely more advanced than where we usually travel to. 

I remember years ago when we went to Hawaii the first time how much the tropical climate seemed to agree with my hair and skin.  Yes, it is humid but in a tropical way, which seemed to make all the difference.  I have found that here on the islands I do not have any ‘bad hair days’.  Auckland was a different story—it was humid and cool, but my hair was always electrified and I couldn’t figure out why. 

E/S Winters are picking us up this evening at the airport and delivering us to the Spencer Hotel.  I have found that the luxury of having a washer and dryer has been very useful.  We have so little time here that I am looking forward to washing all my clothes at once when we get back.  I will never complain about that luxury again…

Love, from us, and farewell to Samoa.

The NZ All Blacks.  Next to it was the sign for the Aussie’s. 

There was also a sign across a fence that said that Samoa was founded on God the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. 

Poles at our hotel, etched with Samoan symbols of all kinds along the walkways.   We see the same around ankles especially.