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 :-)