March 2006 - Manono Island
It seems boring to simply say it was beautiful. But it was. Like so much of Samoa. I can't believe I still get surprised and overwhelmed about how beautiful it is here.
We stayed at a newer 'tourist' fale place with a lovely family headed up by Leota and Sau. I particularly fell in love with their gorgeous young son Aneti (5) who was so friendly and fun. We hiked around the island, had an umu feast (including the preparation of the pig - burning the hair off, removing the guts and sticking hot rocks inside) and even went to church with our host family.
On our hike we went up to the 'star mound' which is meant to be one of the most important historical sites in Samoa. However, it was covered in vines and other growth and had a great big bloody telco tower and equiment shelter bang on top of it! I knew of its existence but had been assured that it was to have been taken down by now as they did not get the appropriate permissions from the planning agency. The upside was that we could climb up the tower for an amazing view of the two big islands of Samoa and the beautiful colour contrast of the reef and ocean beyond. Photos to come very soon!
March 2006 - Local Bus Adventure
It has come down to my final few weeks in Samoa so I am attempting to cram in all the places I have yet to visit. One of which was the island of Manono, a small, traditional island in between the two main islands of Upolu and Savaii.
The Bus RideGetting there was a mad local bus adventure, which was worth experiencing but certainly not something i'd want to do on a regular basis. It started with a long wait at the bus terminal as the bus we hoped to catch didn't turn up (or so we thought). Another bus we could have taken was so jammed packed full we wouldn't have been able to breathe so we ended up catching a third, slightly less full bus. As 'palagi' (foreigner) we were given a seat when a guy who seemed to be some kind of self appointed conductor made some other people move. That's one wooden seat between two of us, with our knees jammed against the seat in front and our thighs going numb. They then proceeded to jam in as many as possible, with up to three stacked high at the back and the entire walkway full of standing passengers getting to know each other intimately. For over an hour. Once we finally got going (about an hour after we expected to leave) we were then pulled over by the police who wrote a ticket to the driver for overcrowding. Several people got off the bus to appease the policeman, but most of them then got back on once the ticket was sorted. So apart from the fine, what exactly is the deterrant to the driver?
A little later the bus pulled over once again and most of the passengers got out. They were not at their destination though. We sat outside a shop for 20 minutes wondering how all those people plus their shopping would fit on the bus! Somehow they managed and our squashed bus adventure continued for another hour till we arrived at Manono-Uta to catch the 'ferry'.
