Samoan Bus ride...

08/08/2013

Wow, so this morning I got up very early after virtually no sleep at all. I need to be ready for the bus across the island to Apia. I need some internet access and to make some return flight arrangements.

This bus was one crazy experience, the early morning bus also act as the school bus and since it was raining this morning the bus was jam-packed with people and kids trying to avoid the rain. It's really difficult to explain the "bus" experience, but I'll try to paint a mental picture of the bus....

Think about the bus as a decommissioned flat bed truck, the interior, roof, seats and everything has been handmade from wood. The interior have small wooden benches bolted to the floor and looks much more like a chicken coop than a bus.

So when I got on the bus was so full that I was not sure whether I'm going to fit, let alone the 12-17 students waiting on the side of the road with me. We all rammed in there. I'm lucky that some guy took pity on me and elbowed a small kid off the bench next to him so that I can sit there. At this point the bus is loaded with about 70 people some sitting, some standing and plenty sitting on each other's laps. One would think the bus is full, but no... every now and then it will stop and more and more people will squash in. Everyone just sitting on everyone else and all you see is just heads...

Some buses in Apia... you get the idea...

The bus eventually stopped at the schools and a lot of passengers and students got off, it was really funny because at this point the buss would have well over 100 people onboard, and as people are exiting the buss it seems like it is a never ending stream of people getting out of the bus.... almost like it's a funny Youtube video and an optical illusion ... but there's no illusions here... the amount of people now getting off is just staggering.

The man I was sharing my bench with also hopped off and I moved to the position against the window. It's still a long distance to go to Apia and the buss will fill again very shortly... but this time I want to be next to an open window.

As we were making way and the bus filling I knew that before long I'll have someone next to me and in time people sitting on us... It seems that I got lucky though. On the next stop a giant Samoan man mountain and a real building size man sat next to me. He took nearly the whole bench and I was squashed against the window, it was lucky despite my squashed position... This man mountain was so large he blocked the entire entrance to our bench, haha, so no-one could get past him to sit on me :-D

I made it safely to Apia after just over two hours on the bus I did not freeze in a panic and did not vomit, however I was all sweaty and my bum was sore from the combination of  the hard bench and bumpy roads, (but bit less sore than when it was cycling up the mountain that day :-)

I think I was actually happy to get out of the bus, even if you're stepping off it right next to the Apia fish market..

Apia morning fish market

Will I take the bus again? Mmm, I guess I might if I really have too.

Saanapu Village and the tree house

06/08/2013

The first thought I got when I saw the village was "oh shit" and not in a good way either. It was already late afternoon and we got met by a group screaming and running excited kids and got led up too what I would describe as a "shack" built from cinderblocks and corrugated iron. There were dogs, pigs, chickens and children running in every which way and my first impression was that I've now stumbled onto pure poverty and lack of development. In many ways just like what you'd see in the poor parts for South Africa or perhaps the accommodation of the workers on a really poor or low class farm.

 

The people are really really friendly, almost too friendly and they keep give you food and water and snacks and coffee... At first I thought that maybe they can "smell" the money in my wallet and that's the reason for the friendliness.

It took me a bit of observing and talking before I could really understand what was going on. To make it simple is to understand a few things, one is the concept of a "village" here... A "village" here is just a description of a block of land owned by a family group, more like a family "farm" and less like an actual "village" that we can relate too, however you also get small villages that consist of only a single family. Saanapu village is rather a big one and it consists of many households, not just one.

Also, despite what it appear, the family is not "poor" how we think of it. Samoans gladly share food because that is how they are. It does not harm that they have plenty of food from the garden and from the sea, but it basically comes from their warm sense of sharing.
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They only seem "poor" to a Westernized eye because we look for things like a smart house, a nice car, electronic toys, nice clothes and so on... the real funny thing is that they look back at us and see us as "poor"... The reason is that they have everything they need and want, the land belongs to the village and there's no rates or mortgage to pay, so they live free, they have no need to buy food as they produce all their own on the land and by fishing in the sea... they owe no-one nothing and live for free...

 

In the western world, we'll have a monster mortgage to pay, maybe even have other "loans" like cars or product to pay, we HAVE TO have a large income just to stay afloat...

So in reality, if you think about it, who's more poor? The Samoan villagers that have "no" money? or the Europeans who owe more money than what they have, thus putting them in the negative money..... ?

The tree house is build around a large tree, but uses palm tree supports for most of the load bearing work

The inside is very open but you have a lockable "closet" and rely on the mosquito net for protection

The ladder up/down from the tree house

While visiting the village I was staying in a beach front tree house, to be honest all the other fales on the beach looked good too and I'd sleep in any one of them with a large smile. There's a communal toilet block with a good setup, showers, two toilets and two basins all very nice and tidily constructed with logs and woven palm leaves.

The toilet and shower block

 The tree house was wonderful and the tree is right in the high tide mark so during high tide the small waves are lapping right under the tree. From the tree house you have a view of the calm turquoise blue inner reef and can see the monster waves in the distance smashing on the shallow barrier reef, only hearing the thundering waves in the distance.

Waves breaking on the reef

The general scenery is that which you would think to only see in the postcards or travelers guide brochures, when looking at the views it's almost hard to make yourself understand that you are actually "here", it's not a photo from National Geographic... it is really your here and now and reality.

Ancient lava flow over the beach

Empty beaches... I was the only person there..

I spent two nights in Saanapu Village, and I would love to spend more time there. For a very good price you get to sleep right on the beach, have good facilities and get three very large meals each day, and I'm talking really large meals... The meals are traditional village meals made with produce from the land and it's all cooked on an open fire. They also had fresh fish and fresh shellfish, (which the latter I was dodging left right and center due to my severe allergy to crustaceans)

The locals have no concept of "an allergy" so if ever you travel here do take care, ask what is in your food and taste a small bit of what ever first if you are unsure.

Over-all, the value in the experience cannot be measured, it can only be experienced :-)

Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early... I have to get the bus back to Apia and apparently the only bus that is generally on time is the 7am bus, for the rest of the day the bus might or might be on time and might or might not show up...

I'm stressed about this bus business, crowds and public transport make me feel very uncomfortable. It actually makes me feel a tremendous pressure in my chest and a strange stinging sensation in my lower rib-cage, a similar feeling to the one I get when I see or smell shellfish.

I hope I'll get some sleep tonight...

Last day at Monono and back to the Lodge.

05/08/2013

It really seems like time in Samoa seems to be less and less important to the population the further I venture out of Apia.

Our stay at Monono was officially over and were suppose to be taken back to the main island in the morning... The morning became later morning, then even later...

I was not sure if I was getting frustrated at this unknown time schedule or whether I was just plain happy to be there. I made peace with the lack of schedule and just embraced being there :-)

We decided to go to explore the little island some more, I was told that there were and Ancient Star Mound that dated back many thousand years on the island... naturally this became target of the exploration.

Getting to the mound was no mere task, so one of the local boys agreed to be our guide. I am really glad we did have the "guide" as the dense jungle that goes up the hill in the center of the island is a giant maze and for a non-guided person(s) your 2 hour trek would easily become an 8 hour trek if you even find the mound at all in such case.

On the way up we discovered an old grave of a historic Matai (leader) of the island, some randomly located taro crops and the remains of the earlier cell tower which were destroyed during the cyclone a few months ago.

Myself, Saya and our "guide"

 The mound itself was... well, interesting and really large as far as I could tell as the jungle has reclaimed the bulk of the mound and you cannot really determine where it starts or stops or really gage the actual size at all. -All I know, is that who ever took the thousands of tons of volcanic boulders up the hill, through the jungle and in this heat must have been borderline crazy or really strong and immune to fatigue. Even more interestingly, all these boulders and rock would have been carried up in baskets or on stretcher style basket-beds, as the wheel was never discovered or used here in ancient times, and you cannot use log rollers to go up a hill that's got a good 20-30 decree incline with boulders that's in uneven natural shapes.

I whish I could have taken some photos of the mound to share, but there's jungle everywhere and the photos will look like photos of the jungle with black rocks under the trees...

Returning from the mound we exited the jungle on the opposite side of the island and walked back on the beach footpath to our base.

Fresh water is a real "problem" on the island. We walked past three wells on the way back, these are the only three wells on the island and ironically none of the three is usable. The wells were polluted by kids/locals just dropping "anything" down the well and the water inside has become a festering green cake of rotten water only good for hatching mosquitoes.

So now the island is entirely reliant on rain water, which is "ok" if the rain tanks are kept full.

Finally back at base it was already near lunch time, and boy was it hot, but rest was not awaiting me. (A day prior me arrival at the resort their fresh water pump gave in and I've been helping to look at the pump and the spagitti of illogical pipes that connects everything to everything.) A soon as I got to base my assistance was again needed with the pump and the pipes, luckily though this was now only to get my input on the removal of the pump so it did not keep me busy too long.

Sigh, that tangle of pipes... the evidence of many years of adding "stuff"

 (It really seems that in Samoa there's a general lack of people with a technical mind and a mind that can think methodically and logically. This "lack" in expertise is evident everywhere in buildings, roads, bridges and the way technological things are done.)

After the pump business we got offered lunch "again", (I use the word "again" because our booking and payment was already over and we were now un-paying guests.) -and after lunch... yep... we got taken out to the reef for some more complimentary snorkelling before we actually left :-)

Back at the lodge I was just too happy to see a proper shower and some more "luxury"

Saya convinced me to join her again tomorrow, going to the village where she stays most of the time and to see the beach fales there and the "treehouse" which she had constructed with the aid of the village.

I'm looking forward to seeing everything she told me about and luckily I'm not worried about a potential "awkward" car ride there :-)

Manono Sunday

04/08/2013

Sundays around here are truly observed as a day of resting. Shops are not open, people really limit their moment other than going to church in the morning and in the evening.

So Sunday went very peacefully, I had a good day of resting and thinking. I think everyone should really attempt to "force" themselves to have such day of "doing nothing"

Monono Island

03/08/2013

Other than getting a little lost, having a debate while driving there about the direction of the map and our current position on it, our drive went just fine and was not as awkward as it could have been.

I have now found out Sayaka has been accepted into a village on the South Coast where she now stays in the village with the Samoan family by a "trust" relationship" and as part of " extended family" :-)

With the aid of the villagers she constructed a beach front "tree house" as I understand it. This tree house is part of a personal project she's doing. The tree house makes part of other "fales" or huts built in the village.

Sayaka takes "modernized" people that's "stuck" in the 9-5 business world and who's lost touch with nature, to come and experience a truly natural village lifestyle. That's mainly what her "project" is about as I understand it at present. Thinking about it, such village life experience will really put things in perspective for just about anyone who thinks that the world is about money or worldly things.

Anyway, back to the current situation...
We managed to park up right near the boat ramps and a friendly local offered to grant us parking and "baby sitting" of the car for only 5 Tala.

The boat looked a little worse for wear and was a double hulled aluminium craft powered by an outboard motor, never the less it was a very enjoyable trip. The water is crystal clear and with a beautiful lively blue reflection of the sky on the white sands deep below and some dark areas in-between where lush under water forests cover the sand.

Views from the boat on the way to the island

 

Arriving at the island after the scenic 20-30min boat trip felt like I have now entered the heart of paradise. (In all fairness to Samoa, you get the feeling of entering the heart of paradise quite often)

Map to Manono Island

 

On the island we are welcomed by Margaret and an older European man called Euen. Margaret is the host and the manager of the resort and Euen is a very interesting character and a retired deep sea captain that's made Manono Island his place of retirement, only going back to New Zealand his original home for a short while during the end of each year.

I got showed to my "fale" or hut which was a very basic small structure, yet totally fit for sleeping. 

My "fale"

The whole resort is right on the beach and was hit really hard by the 2009 tsunami. There still some evidence of the damage and for me it acted as a reminder of how fragile we are on this earth.

The little yet simple resort offers so much for so little. From as cheap as 100 Tala ($NZ50) per night it includes all meals, the boat transfer to and from the island and a trip out to the outer reef to snorkel on the unspoilt pristine reef that lies about 1-2km off the island. (I highly recommend visiting and staying at "Sunset View Fales" on Manono Island, it truly is a special and quite spiritual place)

Snorkeling on the reef was an absolutely wonderful experience. The crystal clear water is nice and warm so you are not on a body temperature "timer" while in the water. Visibility in the water around the reef is easily 40-60 meters where the underwater horizon disappears into the schools of  fish and the blue abyss of the vast ocean.

While snorkeling face down, looking at the coral and fish right under me, I cannot help but to close my eyes and to start praying. How can we all live on this world yet most of us do not go and see "see" this? or rather "experience" this? We spend far too much time looking at human created nonsense.

I would love to write about everything I saw, felt and experiences while on the reef, but it is simply something that cannot be conveyed in any amount of words, photos or even a video.

This is why the resort is called "Sunset fales"

When night time came there was the most beautiful starry sky, it is so magnificent to look at it's actually really hard to make yourself go to bed. 

Sadly my first night on Manono did not yield a good sleep. My room had a bit of a mosquito infestation and despite spraying myself with some insect repellent the mosquitoes kept being a persistent pain. In the morning I counted 7 dead mosquitoes on my sheet, so evidently even while sleeping I was swatting at mosquitoes. I later found out there were mosquito nets available.... sigh, had I only known I'd have had a substantially better night :-)

New People.

02/08/2013

Today started special right from the start. Not only did I over sleep and missed my lift to town, I got a body that's hurting like it's been beaten with a bicycle seat. To top it all off, I did not get time to gently wake up and ponder the start if life before getting up...

I jumped up in startle from an earthquake... an actual earthquake... For a moment I was wondering if I had enough time to get out the back of the building before the building meets the valley below, but it stopped just as abruptly as it started.

Naturally I was pretty awake now, sore body or not. I walked off to the balcony to look at Apia in the distance by the coast, wondering if there were an impending tsunami and whether anyone down there would have any chance... Luckily nothing happened.(I later heard the only effect on Apia was that the schools all closed early after the earthquake and there were many happy children celebrating their early weekend.)

I did end up making to town via another slightly later lift than the intended one, so it all worked out just fine. (here they call in still "in time", Samoan time that is... as far as I understand Samoan time is like normal time, but + or - 1 hour)

Today I also met the free spirited Japanese lady I was told about on my second day here. Her name is Sayaka or in short "Saya" and she's been on and off Samoa for the last 6 years.

I only briefly got introduced as she was actually busy hosting and sending off a small group she was showing around, but I got a good feeling and could feel the "free spirit" vibes emanating from her.

I was thinking "I'd like to talk to her more", just not sure how to go about it without looking like a freak. Towards the end of the night when her "guests had left I braved up and made some conversation, only to find out she's leaving again early the next morning to go to Manono Island (a small coastal island between the two Samoan main islands). I'm still not sure how exactly it happened, (maybe I was scared she'd disappear from my grasp), but out of the blue I asked her whether I can go to Manono with her. Luckily for me she did not think I'm a plain weirdo and invited me to join her and her friends.

Tomorrow morning we're driving off to the Northern end of the island to get the boat to the island, I hope it will not be an awkward trip.

So, let's bike!

01/08/2013

This morning I decided that today will be the day that my bike meets the Samoan roads.

It's a partially cloudy morning, but already pretty hot. I'm packing a small bag of the needed bits for a bike trip, my tools, my pump, some patches (just encase), my camera, phone, wallet and water bottle. (I probably should have packed the map too, but I forgot)

Starting my trip today I was thinking "I'll just get the feel of the cycling today" I've not cycled more that a few pedals in the last 10 months, let alone any sort of distance. The lodge being high up in the mountains it gives me a nice few of the valley below and Apia town centre in the distance.

Apia visible on the horizon

 

The lodge sits well and truly on the peak of the hill and it's got a real killer, steep up-hill driveway... I am NOT looking forward to this on the way back, the driveway is actually so steep and scary I don't even want to cycle down it.

Cycling down will be one of those "run-away" cycles, the type where you can forget about brakes once you started... your rear wheel will just skid uselessly when the rear brake is applied and God forbid you touch the front brake (I think doing that will catapult you all the way to the bottom without touching the road, likely the fastest possible way down if you have a death-wish anyway)

The killer driveway

 

So this particular driveway is just plain off limits, the "old" non-sealed driveway leads down to the left and zig-zag down the hill, it looks unwelcoming and miserable to cycle but I can't expect a perfect road everywhere.. (It turns out going down hill on even a nasty road is actually ok :-)

Dave Parker (the lodge's owner) has a really large piece of land and it takes quite a while to cycle to the main road, it's a dirt road but actually not too bad to cycle.

On the way to the main road I pass about 4 houses that of his cousins and other family and also two semi-washed away bridges.

Passing the houses I suddenly have a pair of barking dogs after me, exactly what I did not want. I think the bike is trying to set me up, because just as I was passing the houses the little bike bell on the handles did a couple of loud "DING's" all by itself, one would think the bumpy gravel road is to blame, but no... The bell did not "DING" anywhere else on the gravel road, it had to "DING" right by the houses with the sleeping dogs.

(This led me to another thought, I think everyone knows the song "Who let the dogs out... Whoof Whoof Whoof whoof!" , so.. it being Islanders who sang the song, maybe they have experienced my dilemma aswell?)

Luckily there were only two dogs, both looked like some sort of pit-bull street dog mix and looked really dirty. They were barking and chasing with their tails wagging, I'm not sure if they are just excited and want to smell and play or what, all I know is I'm not stopping to find out.

When I got to the main road I had an ongoing uphill to my left leading deeper inland and a really, really long down hill to the right, a bendy twisty road leading all the way to Apia town center about 14km away.

Since I'm just "checking out" the cycling business today I'll turn left, heading up-hill to get the feel of the road and so on.

Cycling up-hill this initial bit is pretty hard work, but I'm making good progress and it's making me feel empowered. I followed the road for about 3km where it seem to come to an end into a dirt road leading into a local village that's visible in the distance.

Since I already concluded that villages have dogs and that gravel roads are bad and make my bell "DING" I've got no intention to go all the way to see if the road really ends at the village or whether they have dogs.

At this point I'm actually really tired, my legs kinda hurt and I'm pretty hot, so now for the fun part, back down hill to Dave Parker's entrance...

The trip back down was fun, fast and cooling, so when I reached Dave's gate I was feeling so good I just kept going....

As I'm free-wheeling down the mountain I'm telling myself "are you crazy? go back this uphill will be nothing to sneeze at on the way back" Maybe I should have listened to myself, but the feeling of freedom and that fact that I was already "going down" overruled my better judgement and fear of the uphill back.

Before long I was at the end of the mountain road and at a street crossing with the most beautiful church right on the corner.

The view of the church from the lodge

The pretty church up close

 Now I knew that there's mostly level roads ahead all the way to Apia, and once on the coastal roads it will be nearly all level.

It's about now when I was thinking to myself, "should I commit and go ALL the way to Apia?.. I do not have a map and only a pretty small water bottle" I decided to just go for it, I decided I'll just have a good look at my surroundings as I go and will buy something to drink in town.

As I get closer to town there's no mistaking it, the traffic gets more and more and when a car comes from behind, they honk at you. Do I look that awkward on the bike that people can tell from inside their cars that I've not cycled in ages? or maybe they just honk to warn you of their presence? I hope it's the latter.

When in town it seems that the gloves are off in regards to road rules, indicating seem to be pretty rare, people stop just anywhere at any time open their doors,  when I indicate with my hand that I'm turning, four different motorists wave at me... as they thought I was just waving -_-

This all said, cycling in Apia was fun and beats walking in the streets by a large measure. I managed to buy myself a drink (so that I can leave my water un-touched) and at the same time fended off the local street merchant trying to sell me a "Lavalava" (a Samoan dress)

I got a lot of compliments on my bike today too, bikes are rare here, adult bikes anyway. I saw only two other adult bikes the whole trip today (and yes, mine was better).... Interestingly many of the stores at the markets sell kids bikes (ages 4-8)

The kids bikes are really cheap in my opinion, only 210TALA each (about $NZ108) But, as I mentioned on an earlier post, there is little money to go around, so even a "cheap" kids bike is infinitely expensive if you have no money at all.

It started raining and I knew I had to start making my way back to the lodge, the "good" thing about the rain is that the rain is the same temperature as everything else here.. around 30 degrees today. The rain and the stream coming of the roads like really warm breath, pushes the humidity to 100% and it's a nightmare to cycle in.

I'm still on the level roads and I already feel exhausted and over heated. "Luckily" there's only another 10km of up-hill mountain road left -_-

The way back up nearly killed me, I cycled the first 6km or so and after that started mixing in cycling and pushing the bicycle. During this time I was wondering how do one know if you're dieing from heat exhaustion? Is it when my hands and feet feels like pins and needles? or when my head feels like it's about to explode? My legs are sore, stiff and feel like they no longer want to bend, my back is breaking off and my groin and crotch is really sore (sore from the bike seat!)

Back up the driveway...

 I eventually made it back to the lodge, so now I know it takes about 40min to cycle to town and about 2 hours 40min to cycle back. At this point I'm not too sure I would want to do that again...

One good thing though is that "if" I were to stay at beach side accommodations I will have no reason to go up the mountains and can maybe beach-hop between all the "easy" places to get too.

Tonight I'm going to have a really good sleep, dream about the things I experience today and likely be very sore in the morning... I can't wait :-D

Some thoughts and points to date:

31/07/2013

-Considering I'm here in the "dry" season which is as close to winter as it gets here, it is really warm. I have not needed to put on any "warming" clothes since I got here and I'm normally a guy that can go through NZ summer in long pants, shoes and a jacket in the morning, so I'm nearly always "cold" -except here in Samoa.

-Poverty has a very strong presence here, people have little and one can tell this at a glance at the people around the streets of Apia. (Interestingly, the place is not too "dirty" little bit dusty yes, maybe some litter here and there, but you DO NOT see people spitting or urinating in the streets like you might in South Africa)

-The Police and Traffic Police has a very strong presence, during one day in Apia town centre I think I saw more Cops than dogs... and I've already explained how many dog are around.

-I have not swam yet, yes.. with this beautiful warm tropical water and sweltering heat outside I did not have a swim yet. The reason for this is so far I've had my backpack with me, this containing my laptop, camera, wallet, passport and some food and water. So leaving my backpack on the side by itself while swimming is just plain scary. I hope I can overcome this "problem" soon. (I already have some ideas).

-I notice families here are very "close" and stick together. Not only immediate family, but also aunts, cousins, uncles and so on and so on, and also that daughters in particular stay with they parents until they are married.

-People here find it near impossible to guess my age, and when I do tell them they think that I'm not serious with my answer