My first day in "town"..

31/07/2012

So this is the main city?

Today I got a lift into town with Dave Parker's wife Malama, we departed the lodge at 7:30am and head to "town". I have decided to at least get driven around is a car and get a sim card that works before just hopping on my bicycle and getting lost. (or something weird happening to me like usual)

My first impressions of the main city is that it looks typical to that of every third-world city. The roads are uneven, the paint on the buildings are peeling off. The "traffic" (meaning just a light hand full of cars, trucks and buses) are mostly scrappy and dirty looking, most people are on foot either barefoot or in flip-flops.

In the morning the sides of the streets swell with "crowds" of school kids, they all wear tidy uniforms and actually seem very orderly. There's also a large Mormon school complex that looks nearly like a palace from the outside,  undoubtedly money for this palace is sourced from overseas Mormon churches donating theirs hearts and lungs out.

It seems "foreigners" like myself get up later than that rest of the folk here, when I got in town in the morning I could not spot any other European around and I guess I'm standing out with my "new" clothes, back pack and sunglasses, cause I felt a lot of eyes on me haha. I believe none of the eyes were that of trouble as people were very friendly and quick to say hello to me :-)

I found out a little secret getting through the streets the "smoothest" way, walk pretty fast so the old bum asking for a cigaret can't keep up, and if you see another group of tourists simply merge into their group and walk with them like you belong there. (not only do you get a fee tour but it seems foreigners in numbers are intimidating and keeps the street merchants away.

I also noticed that public transport is readily available, there is a fairly large "bus/taxi" stop in Apia. I'm not sure yet if I'll actually use it, but I might... I just need to get use to the idea... the buses look rather a lot like a large chicken coop on wheels, but there's loads of people using it on a daily basis... So, I guess they must be ok despite the first impression :-)

A lot of what I'm seeing and experiencing so far feels very similar to South Africa, the difference is just that in SA I would not risk going into the dodgy looking bust stops or crowdy markets by myself.

I must say, only being here for my second day now, I already miss some of the luxuries we take for granted in our everyday life Mostly, "home" a place of peace and rest and readily availible "internet", other things like easy food and familiarity of course up there too, but those are things one can "develop" here over time.

My first day..

30/07/2013

So it's my first day here...

This morning I was pleasantly awaken by the song of several happy birds outside. The bush comes up pretty close to the lodge and listening to the birds it would almost sound like they are inside. I have not hear so many different and happy birds in a long time, actually the last time would have been in South Africa staying over at a place called "Klein Kariba" in the bushveld.

 

My Room

 

The deck outside my room

 

The night was "hot", but not too hot. I still slept under a sheet and a really thin blanket. Whether the sheet and the blanket was really needed or merely something to sooth my need for the familiar I'm not sure, but regardless I had a really good sleep.

There were "breakfast" at 7:30am but I missed that by about 30min, so I'll just have too wait for lunch.

Today being the first day here I'm going to get familiar with the surroundings around the lodge. I went for a long walk all over the property, everywhere you look is lush green plants. Banana trees and coconut palms seem to be in the vast majority and seem to be "undervalued", there's coconuts on the ground everywhere some been there long enough to start growing where they fell. Plenty of the banana trees show that they have been on the receiving end of someone's machete. The coconut palms and banana trees are so abundant that they are just "plant" and not the pride and joy of someone's garden like you would "normally" find in NZ or South Africa.

By lunch time I was actually really hungry. One of the "gangster" looking young men from last night made me some lunch for 30TALA, there was a cheaper 15TALA option too, but I was really hungry... Apparently the young man was either a pretty good cook, or I was hungry enough that anything would taste good. Either way the food had plenty of good flavor and I really enjoyed it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon assembling my bicycle, writing some of this bog. In the evening I met two more interesting people, one is Adan and the other Malama. Adan is an interesting fella from Mexico who is here in Samoa with Oxfam's Humanitarian aid program. He's helping in some of the local villages with post cyclone recover.

Malama is the wife of David Parker the owner of the lodge. She's a very friendly and pleasant lady and I really enjoyed talking to her. I told her about my dream for living in Samoa and settling here in favor of the more modern world where money seem to be the only purpose to life. She told me I came to the right place and that there's a Japanese lady here (that's sometimes but not always at the lodge) for the exact same reason. I'll get to meet her on Friday, it will be interesting to hear about her experience here and get some tips from someone that's already "done" what I'm juts now thinking of...

My arrival in Samoa

29/07/2013

I'm staying at "Dave Parker's Eco Lodge" and they were so kind as to send their sons to collect me from the airport last night.

Funny enough, I was really worried during my flight to Samoa, so I'll quickly go over my flight...

On my declaration form I had to fill in flying here, I had ticked "Yes" to several of the boxes that would flag me as a person that will need to be checked out. I had "offensive weapons", "Food product", "hunting/fishing gear", "prescription medicines" and "good bought with a value over $500". It only really was my fishing knife, some sweets, my fishing rod and reel and bicycle and laptop which I believe is worth more than $500.

That said, the declaration paper look rather dodgy with all the boxes ticked and I cannot see any other passenger with ticked boxes. Luckily it was only a 3 hour 20 min flight from Auckland, so I only had 3 hours and 20 minutes to worry about my "reception" with THAT declaration card.

Exciting the plane you immediately notice that you're in the tropics now. The wall of hot air, almost like hot breath hits you in the face, it smells like sea-spray and tropical fruit.

After the collection my bag from the conveyor and bike from the "over size luggage department" I found myself near the very back of the customs que. I though, "hey, this is not too bad, at least when they take my back and stuff apart I won't be holding up the que". It turns out there is a second, nearly empty que marked "Declared goods and Quarantine" with some pretty big and solid Samoan guys manning the area. -this intimidating path is all mine..

It ended up being nothing at all, its really funny... the inspector looked at my card, then asked what do I have that's over $500. I pointed at my bike and before I can mention my laptop and what ever else he just said "ok, no problem. You can go"

-Did he even look at the rest of the card? I did not waste time to get moving, passing everyone in the other que... they were having al their bags x-rayed and several people were un-packing their bags... why I just get to walk in with no x-ray, no check no nothing is above me, but hey I'm not complaining.... confused, but not complaining...

At the arrivals area I'm greeted by 3 separate guys with bad English each trying to get me to take their taxi. Luckily I saw a man with a large smile holding a sign with my name large and clear on it. "Pheww" I thought, someone is here and this stressful part is nearly over. The man quickly told me he'll go get the car, then spoke something in Samoan to some young lads hanging in the area. The lads quickly rushed over, one grabbed my bag from the trolly and another two grabbed the bike box.

I must admit I was a little worried, the lads looked rather "dodgy" in my terms, they were dressed in some dirty pants, wife beater shirts, wrong-way-round caps and had tattoos on their arms and necks. -Now this is the type of "look" I would normally avoid by miles, but in this case they were actually send just to carry my bags and take care of me, and despite the first impression they are the sons of the famed Dave Parker at who's lodge I'll be staying initially.

I landed at night and the trip in the dark from the airport to the lodge was sadly a bit dark so I could not see the paradise I was driving in.

I did notice some things though...

-A large part of the road was bumpy and had several potholes,

-Surprisingly there were street lights everywhere

-Passing houses I noticed a lack of curtains

-I counted 21 dogs, in little packs of 2-3 and the odd lone one

-Plenty of washed-away bridges, evidence of the December 2012 cyclone

By the time I got to the lodge it was already around 10:30pm, I was quickly shown my room and man, was I happy to get to it :-)

I was a little disappointed to find that my phone just does not want t connect to the Samoan cell system, I though that I'll be able to send at least one message to let everyone know of my safe arrival, but that will just have to wait till I get a phone here (hopefully) tomorrow. -In hind sight they were selling phones and SIM cards at the airport, but I just wanted to get out of there... Maybe if I took time to have a look I could have gotten one right there and then.

Getting ready..

25/07/2013

Samoa, being the first place for me to go by myself, I believe is the right place to go too.

Getting all the things together is proving kinda tricky, not because it's hard to pack, but because it's so hard to decide what to take. That's when I wonder whether taking "nothing" isn't easier?
I guess it is easier, until you have to walk real far because I have no bicycle, until you current clothes are dirty, or you want to brush your teeth, or you want to take a photo.... mmm, no... It is better to take as much "handy" stuff as you can without overloading.

I love handy stuff, tools, equipment... one of the things that sets us apart from animals. I often feel like I am "not human", like I'm stuck in this planet of "filth" and that I do not belong here and that I'll one day leave. -That said, I do really like my "tools"... so I guess I'm pretty human :-)

Here's a "short" list of what I am taking for a two month stay:
- My Bicycle with tools, pump, patches and bicycle cable lock
- Camera, camcorder, mobile phone, chargers and batteries
- Laptop and it's accessories
- MP3 Player & earphones
- Torches x2
- Folding fishing rod, reel, hooks, sinkers and some artificial bait
- 7x Shirts, 7x Shorts, 7x undies, rain jacket, 4x socks, flip-flops &diving goggles
- Allergy pills, painkillers, multi vitamins, disinfectant, anti fungal cream and disprin
-  Insect repellent