Free Spirited Vacation

Time for the tale of what I did during my week long vacation to other Samoan islands - the nation of Samoa (Independent Samoa). Hope you are all ready for this as I have a lot of ground to cover.

First, I would like to note this was a technology free week for me. I did not take my computer, never once got on the Internet, and my American Samoa cell phone didn't work over there, so it was solely used as a clock at times - but no watch, so time was not much of a constraint on any plans. Hannah and I really didn't have any set plans. The only plan was to do whatever we felt like at any given moment. We had a few things on the list but no order or details - our free spirited vacation and adventure :-)

Last Thursday, Hannah and I loaded up our backpacks and headed to Fagatago where we waited to board Lady Naomi, the ship, to begin our adventure to the Samoan islands of Upolu and Savai'i. Here we are waiting outside the port for boarding for our backpacking adventure.

Our boat left Pago harbor around 4:30pm for the 8 hour journey to the island of Upolu. Upolu is only about 60 miles away from American Samoa, but the boat goes rather slow. We took the boat because (1) it was cheaper and (2) figured it would be a nice adventure. As we were getting on the ship, we met Nikita from New Zealand, whom we ended up sitting and chatting with on the 8 hour tour. If I'm ever in New Zealand I will be looking her up. Nice new friend to have. She has some family in Samoa and was fun to talk to. We all felt queasy at times along the journey. The smell of the burning diesel really did us in and sitting in the stuffy back end of the boat. We took turns going and sitting up along the side for some fresh air.

I also chatted with this 19 year old guy named Aaron for a while. He graduated from one of the private schools in American Samoa and was heading to spend a few weeks with family in Upolu. He was fun totalk with, and I do enjoy meeting new people and hearing their stories. He fell asleep after not too long, and I ended up spending the most time back with our gear. I think I dozed off for a bit a few times, but I found my head being my personal juke box for the trip across the ocean - a lot of the songs I sang in my head were Disney classics. Oh yeah :-)

So we left Pago harbor in American Samoa Thursday afternoon and arrived at Apia Harbor in Upolu around 1:30am Saturday morning. Traveling between American Samoa has one traveling to a different time zone in addition to crossing the International Date Line. It is a day ahead over there. That means we arrived at 1:30am Friday morning American Samoa time. In a two week period I lived through three (not two) Thursdays - kind of weird. haha

A cab took us to the hostel Hannah had booked us for the night - Tatiana's. Only cost us $26USD for the night. The moment we walked into the room and saw the shared facilities I could see my mom saying, "We're leaving." haha. At 2am, it didn't really matter and all we needed was a bed to sleep in. My first hostel experience - check :-) The bed frame had wood slats with this thin foam mattress on top. Felt that one in my back in the morning. haha

 A few funny stories about that short night in the hostel. As Hannah and I were laying there trying to fall asleep, you could hear some screeching in the ceiling above. Rats, perhaps. Wouldn't have surprised either of us. Anyone reaching for their hair yet to check and see if there is a rat there? Are you cringing in disgust? It was an experience. I'd stay there again to save money if all I was doing was crashing for the night and not lounging around, which was exactly our situation that night. Next funny story after laying there for a bit, we both look at each other and realize neither of us is asleep yet, so we decide to shower quick and be productive, which would then save us time when we actually woke up. Hannah and I are both early risers. Also, as it was late, I found myself saying, "I could really go for some Taco Bell right now," which made Hannah laugh. Reality of the moment. Being up later than we wanted and feeling a bit hungry. haha

Woke up around 8am as we predicted, grabbed a little of the complimentary breakfast - bread and bananas, headed to the ATM to take out some Samoan Tala. One US dollar is equal to 2.2 Samoan Tala. They have really bright colored bills. Here's a photo of some of the currency:

We decided the first thing we wanted to do was head to the other island - Savai'i. We made a stop in the Tourism office for some recommendations, and the lady told us about a nice beach fale we could stay at for $65ST (Samoan Tala) each, which included breakfast and dinner. Sounded good to us. We grabbed a bus from the bus station for an hour ride across the island of Upolu (costing $3.20ST each) to grab the ferry to Savai'i. The ferry ticket cost us $12ST each. As we grabbed the first ferry we could, we didn't really have any down time. Went straight from the tourism office to the bus depot, to the wharf, and boarded the ferry right away. We were ready for some lunch after the hour long boat ride to Savai'i. We walked a bit and found us Burger Bill's, where I had some cole slaw and a banana milkshake. Yummy. 

So our stomachs got the better of us, and then we got a little confused as to where we were on the map - silly girls haha, and ended up trying to head the wrong way and missed buses heading to the village of Manase where the beach fale we were looking for was located. Decided we'd just take a taxi, even though it would cost us, as this was a 45 minute drive. We are both happy go lucky girls, so this did not bog us down. We decided that this worked out better than riding another super full bus with our backpacks and all. The bus ride to the ferry was the most full bus I have ever been on. Boy gee whiz. I thought I had been on some full ones in American Samoa, but this one takes the cake. At first I kept thinking about how I miss my super friendly Samoans that frequently offered me rides in this moment, but it all worked out.

We arrived in Manase around 4pm, walked onto the property of Tanu Beach Fales, and were greeted by some of the family who own the place with cocunuts for both of us as they walked us over to an open fale along the shore where we would be spending the night. Here is a photo of us sitting in our beach fale with our coconuts. You drink the coconut water inside and then can eat the fruit. Fresh coconuts are yummy. I've never been much of a coconut girl (in terms of sweets), but this stuff is good).

Our hostess at this family operated spot even catered to my vegetarianism  adding an extra helping of vegetables in place of the meat on my plate. Really kind of her. Nice Samaon sized plate with white rice and cooked veggies. They told us dinner would be at 7:30, but it was more like 9pm by the time it was all ready. We were on Samoan time (joke you'd really get if you lived here as much doesn't start on time. haha) I even got a little swim in the ocean in before cleaning up for dinner. Figured I might as well embrace this being at the ocean thing and I didn't particularly feel like just laying out on the beach - not really my thing.

Sleeping in this beach fale was like camping. Exciting! My first time camping at a beach, and even Hannah's first time spending the night in an open fale. Cool experience. They even provided us with mosquito nets, which you can see here at night. I slept really well and cooled off with the rain that commenced through the evening.

I was looking forward to waking up to the sunrise as I was literally facing the ocean as I slept, but found myself greeted by these nice shades of blue instead. Although I could have slept in a bit more I found myself crawling out of bed to take some photos. This was the perfect time to grab some shots while no one was out swimming yet. Here are two self portraits I took with my self timer that morning:

By the way I was wearing the lavalava that I received from Pastor Scot and his wife for Christmas that day. Looks good, eh? Breakfast was supposed to be around 8:30am and became ready about 9am as we anticipated. A giant plate of fresh coconut, papaya, banana, homemade toast, and a Samoan pancake (thinner like a crepe). Got chatting with these ladies from New Zealand - Mel and Lily. Mel's mom actually lives in Savai'i, and she and her son Rudolf have been living with her temporarily as her mom has been sick. They will be heading back to New Zealand in February. Her cousin Lily came to visit. They were a nice family.

Hannah and I shared some Samoan sized glass bottles of Coca Cola as it began to rain Sunday morning. 750mL each - big bottle. I kept thinking of my Dad and how jealous he would be in this moment. Mmmmmmm. Even though I'm not much of a Coke girl, I do enjoy the real thing in the glass bottle when I get the chance.

Ended up chatting with our new friend Mel for a while and found out that she and Lily were heading toward town that day (Sunday, meaning transportation was minimally available). She offered to give us a lift into town and we happily accepted. Time for a change of scenery. I do appreciate the ocean, but I am not the girl that can just lay on it all day or swim all day. I embraced the experience as much as possible, but I was ready for a little change of scenery.

We made a couple of stops along the way. They had been telling us about this dessert cocktail they had the night before called the chilly chock, so we tried one. It was yummy. Very ice cream and chocolatey. Then, I convinced Lily, Rudolf, and Lily to be in a photo with Hannah and I as we were sitting at this cool little place that served the drink.

 After that we stopped at this fancy resort, where Rudolf wanted some palagi pancakes. The Samoan pancakes are thinner like I mentioned, but at this place they had the thicker ones I'm accustomed to. Just sat and chatted before hitting the road to town. Along the way we asked various questions and learned a lot about the island of Savai'i. Remember Mel's mom lives there. Along the drive we noticed several houses with a horse in the front yard. Turns out they use them on the plantations. A few houses also had a cow out front, which Mel said they often just raise to sell. A lot of the villages had these little village pools, naturally filled by mountain springs; that's pretty cool. I feel so glad to have met these lovely people and will definitely try to meet up with them if I ever find myself in New Zealand one day.

Reached our next destination - the village of Saleloga (the town of Savai'i), where we said our farewells. Mel had recommended the Jet Over Hotel, where we decided to spend the evening. This was our super fancy stay of the visit, but it still only cost us $75ST each for the night. Check out the pool view - I'm pretty sure this is where you people think I live and work every day. haha. Not quite. Many use the word "paradise", but this locale is not "paradise" in my mind. Definitely an enjoyable spot. We even had air conditioning. I slept in A/C, everyone! One night! We cranked that thing up and slept under the light covers all night. Was as nice refresher after 5.5 months. Can definitely live without A/C no problem, as I have for quite some time, but the air was nice. Our 5 star hotel night, if you please. haha

Decided we should really get crazy and chill at the pool like true 5 star hotel residents would and share a pitcher of pina coladas. Funny thing the menu actually said jug not pitcher. haha Good deal, though. One of the little island activities we figured we should embrace while on this beautiful island for vacation. A nice relaxing evening - well all of our nights were nice and relaxing, now that I think about it. :-) Hannah and I have so many random conversations - talking about everything under the sun. Some nights we'd even dive into round 2,3, or 8 of conversation topics after we had laid down for bed. I felt like giggly girl at a slumber party on those nights. hahaha

After waking up from our A/C and warm soft bed slumber, we grabbed a bus that would take us to the road where a little waterfall was (also recommended to us by our new friend Mel). I was chatting with a few guys on the bus to make sure we got off in the right spot, and they proceeded to pull the string for us and said our farewells as we began walking down the little road. Nice little spot. Hannah wanted to make sure I got some nice nature - mountain experiences in, as she knows I'm more of a mountain girl than an ocean girl. I was exuberant simply walking down the little trail. In addition to the main waterfall, there were several smaller ones circling this freshwater pool, which was nice. Had we been there toward the end of the day, I probably would have swam in it a bit enjoying the freshwater (I'm not the biggest fan of the feel of saltwater on my skin). Really glad we made this little trip, though, before heading back to the capital city of Apia on the island of Upolu. This is one of those spots where I could sit all day. Still like my Nu'uuli Falls better back in American Samoa. Nu'uuli Falls is officially one of my favorite places.

 

This guy saw us walking and asked where we were going, and we told him we were trying to catch a bus. He showed us where this little bus stop was and said to wait there. We waited for a bus at this little bus stop for quite a while and the few that came by were already full. After a while we decided this wasn't going to work out and should grab a cab. The guy, Falili - flagged us down a cab so our journey could continue. Made a stop at the Savai'i marketplace, where we grabbed some bread and bananas for lunch and perused a bit at the produce selection. They also had some handicrafts, but we were going to be doing all of that shopping back in Apia.

Headed back to the Jet Over Hotel to grab our bags, got a shuttle lift to the wharf, and then headed over on the 2pm ferry back to island of Upolu. Here's a photo of the ferry and the island of Savai'i in the background. Savai'i was a nice place and had the beautiful beaches I had heard about.

Got on the bus right away to take us back to Apia, where we wondered around a bit with our backpacks sweating it up trying to find a different place to stay. Knew we had the option of Tatian'as again but wanted to try something different.  Ended up at Hotel Elisa, where budget rooms were available in the back for only $65ST a night. Sounded good to us and was accessible to the main parts of Apia we wanted to walk around over the next few days. This place had a normal hotel up front with a restaurant and all, but we stayed back in the hostel area. Not gonna lie as we were led to the back end of the building we crossed through some hallways where I know some people would make the joke, "Is this the place where they're gonna kill us?" One creepy hallway for sure up and down different sets of stairs. What an adventure. haha Here's a picture of our cute little hostel room.

Amid our wondering, we saw a nice looking place for food that advertised sub sandwiches on their special for the day including a vegeterian one. We decided to walk to this place - Cappuccino Vineyard - for dinner. Here's my vegetarian sub. Yummmm yummm yum. I was simply expecting vegetables on the bun, but this chef went above my expectations with this little vegetable pancake like thing that was the meat substitute. You can see that on the left side of the sandwich. It was absolutely delicious. I'm going to see if I can find a recipe for something like that. It was so good.

One nice thing about being in a city is having some cosmopolitan like places to eat and chill at. That is one thing Hannah and I did quite a lot of while we were staying in Apia. Plus, many of the places we ate at had vegetarian options, so I wasn't just eating salads all the time. haha I do love a good green salad, but it is fun to play with some of these other vegetarian meals, I must admit. When I am back to cooking my own food, definitely have some more ideas to play around with, although most of the time I am very content with just eating my fresh fruits and vegetables.

We also found a grocery store that happened to be open where we found a few little treats a quick. This is New Years Eve that we are out and about, I should mention, and here were our celebratory drinks. I had a nice sarsaparilla, and Hannah has a thing for soda water. Funny little pull tab on the top of my sarsaparilla bottle, and it hit the spot.

We ended up over at the bar/restaurant of a neighboring hotel - Aminaki, where we split a bowl of ice cream and a Shirley Temple. This table next to us bought us each another Shirley Temple. Free Shirley Temples! haha We also noticed this menu had some nice looking vegetarian options, so we had plans to try and stop in there for lunch or dinner some time. The service was great, as well.

Woke up to some rain Tuesday morning. Quite the rain, too. I would almost use the word monsoon like. haha We ate the rest of the bread that I had boughten back a the marketplace in Savai'i for breakfast, and then ended up sitting on the patio of the hotel for a while waiting for this monsoon like rain to pass. By monsoon, I mainly just mean heavier rain with some stronger winds - all short-lived, of course. Just another day in Samoa.

After it let up, we walked this little peninsula, which had some nice little government and historical things to check out - all right up Hannah's alley. I do enjoy these type of things, as well. Nice little walk, saw a few tombs, the parliament house, and some nice wall paintings like these Samoa flags all along this little peninsula.

Stopped in another little hotel restaurant for lunch, Hotel Millenia, where I had a green salad. Our plan was to try to get to this EcoLodge back toward the mountains outside of Apia on Tuesday, so we grabbed a cab, made it to the bottom of the hill to find the gate lock. The cab driver called the number to find they were closed. Alrighty then. People take holidays seriously over in Samoa, I tell you what. We also noticed that not only was January 1st a holiday... so was January 2nd, so we had a feeling we would be staying in Apia again doing whatever we could with limited options of what was open. This cab driver was really nice. He's from New Zealand, had a kiwi accent, and his name was Ralph. He also has a Samoan name as his family is Samoan, but he gave us a nice little tour of Apia as we returned back to Hotel Elisa for the night. Not many other options.

Took a little nap in the afternoon. I'm not much of a nap taker, but I tried to enjoy it and give it a shot. Got a little one in before I was ready to get up and go somewhere. Ended up at this little gas station with a nice convenient store. We picked up some apples and oranges to have for breakfast the next couple of days. Good find as they were really nice pieces of fruit. Also noticed this little station had some delicious looking soft serve ice cream. You bet I put that on the list of things to do while we were staying here :-) I love me some ice cream.

The bar/restaurant in our hotel opened back up at 4:30, and we went down there to have a drink. How often do I just go have a drink, and by drink I mean a soda each. haha We're cheap, what can I say. Anyways, we just sit, slowly sip on our drinks, lounge, and chat. Hannah is the slowest drinker and eater ever when she wants to be. It was fun to joke about because she knows it and has always been like that. I slowed down with her, but many I still ended up finishing my Sprite way before she finished her Coke. Whoops, but then before I knew it, another hour and a half had already passed. When we get talking, time just flies by.

Then, we hopped back over to Amanaki for dinner. Excited to try one of their veggie options. Here it is - a plate of mixed cooked veggies with a side of garlic bread made on Italian loaf. All for only $10ST. What a great deal and delicious dinner. I even ate super slow just like Hannah, one bit ate a time, setting the fork down, and small sips of water every now and then. Dining became a whole event - more than I've ever experienced before.

We also split some fresh fruit and ice cream for dessert. Delightful :-)

We walked over to the ocean and sat for a bit, and I literally mean only a little bit. You could hear this creaking noise, and saw that it was an old boat lurching in the corner. Creeeeepy. haha Decided we had enough of creepville and headed back to our room for the night.

Had some of our apples and oranges for breakfast. Yum yum. Made our way over to the shipping office trying to confirm that our boat was leaving Thursday night not Wednesday night for some unforeseen reason. Wednesday was a holiday, but our people at the hotel weren't quite sure when the boat was leaving, and to be safe we headed to find out. The shipping office was closed as expected, although it looked like somebody might be in there. Walked down to the port, where the guys at the gate had no idea when the boat was leaving and said we'd have to check with the office. Back to the office we went, because were going to find out exactly when that boat was leaving if it was the last thing we ever did. haha Started messing with the gate, when this guy finally comes out, who was able to answer our question. Thursday at 11:30pm was departure for the Lady Naomi from Apia to Pago Pago. Thank you, kindly.

We popped into the flea market area for a little look see as there were some stands open. Saw some stuff we were interested in, but were going to wait until Thursday when more was open before getting anything. Walked back to hotel to extend our stay for one more night before heading for some lunch. Ate at another nice little cosmopolitan place - The Bean. Oh. My Goodness. They had Chai Tea Lattes on the drink menu, and I saw they were serving the lattes and such in large coffe mugs - not just a takeout cup. Yes, please, I'll take one of those. Look at how delicious and pretty it looks. Not the best chai latte, I've ever had, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy every single drop of it. Mmmmm. Lip licking good.

 They had some toasted sandwiches on the menu for $9ST each, and I had one with cream sweet corn, tomatoes, and cheese. Not too bad. I've never tried corn on a sandwich before, but it was good. You can pretty much put anything on a sandwich. I was contemplating pineapple instead of corn for a while, but I'm glad I tried something different and went for the corn.

Next stop... Baha'i Temple. Baha'i... what is that you say? It is a religion. Oh boy was I excited to see this. You all should be aware that I graduated with a minor in Religious Studies at Morningside College, and I remember learning a bit about the Baha'i faith. I knew that it was a combination of various world religions. Actually rather interesting if you're into reading about different world religions.

Got us a cab to the temple grounds and right as we walked in, I felt like I had entered a different world. "Hannah, I don't think we're in Samoa anymore." haha Beautiful landscaping, botanical garden, and pathways. Just.... Wow. It reminded Hannah a lot of Asia, one of her favorite places that she has traveled.

Spent some time inside their information center, first. I knew there weren't many Baha'i temples in the world, and it turns out there are only eight total. I have now been to one of those eight. The information said that they have only built a few, with each representing large geographical areas. Read about the history of the faith in Samoa, the beliefs and practices, and lots of other cool stuff. The Baha'i faith is very ecumenical  welcoming, non-proselytizing, and progressive in its ideals, although I haven't quite read enough yet to see how exactly the beliefs are put into practice. I was super stoked about being here, though. I could have easily spent the whole day there. Really cool for many reasons. Glad I got to see this :-)

Here is the temple itself. Each one around the world is uniquely designed but has nine walls and nine doorways so all people from all areas and ends can enter.

Here is a look inside the house of worship. They have service once every Sunday, where the read and sing straight from all of the holy scriptures from the various world religions. There is no preacher or sermon, just a body of people worshipping together. The temple is open 24/7, though, for meditation and prayer.

When we first walked in the door, here was this table with a lineup of books - the various holy texts of the different world religions that Baha'i combines. Really cool for me, a religious studies minor, to see this lineup of books. I had a moment, I must admit. Soooo cool. Just look how beautiful these books all look lined up like that. I also thought the reflections on the table looked nice in the photograph. One of my favorite parts of this trip was seeing the Baha'i Temple. I enjoyed every minute, but there are always a few moments that stick out in one's mind.

 We started walking back down the hill toward Apia as we really didn't have a way to call a cab, and walking is good for us. A nice guy offered us a ride and took us down a ways. His timing was pretty good as there was a large group of dogs at this one house that was giving us some flack. One major difference about being in Samoa vs. the American Samoa I have come to know is the lack of dogs all over the streets. We saw very few dogs, and the ones that we did see all looked well fed. They never really barked at us. This was our first encounter with dogs that wanted to chase us down since we had left American Samoa.

Then, we walked some more and found ourselves caught in some rain. Ducked under a bus stop and sat on the bench. Not the driest place, but it was better than nothing. It was lined up with a speed bump, so cars had to slow down to pass by us, which ended up getting us way too many looks. We decided to move, and ran under the overhang of this little store. The guy in the house next door Bill came out, offered us some chairs to sit on, and chatted with us a bit.

We saw a taxi and decided to grab it, as we were unsure as to how much longer the rain would last. Took little naps again. Well, maybe I should say Hannah sort of took a nap, I just laid there, and then decided we should move again. My brilliant idea - go try some of that yummy looking soft serve ice cream we saw at the gas station we could walk to in 10 minutes. The rain had let up, so we went.

Brilliant idea, did I say? Oh, yes... indeed, it was. This tasted like homemade ice cream we make back home. I ate it rather slowly (even slower than Hannah), and found myself thinking of some nice memories back home that included homemade ice cream. One of my favorite things in the whole world. Definitely will have to invest in an ice cream maker when I settle down somewhere. Sweet bliss :-) It was also kind of fun to just sit outside the gas station and enjoy them. Felt very small town to me, rather than a big city activity.

Then, we decided on a little repeat of our night activities from the previous evening for our New Year's Day plans. Started down in the bar/restaurant of our hotel - the Beachcomber, where Hannah had a soda and I tried a coffee. Fancy looking coffee. I could hear him grinding the beans fresh. Doesn't it look nice? A little strong, but still went down well. It also came with this cute little spoon for me to stir in the milk. Reminded me of my baby spoon back home. Yes, I do still have a baby spoon somewhere. I also found myself playing around with my camera taking nonsensical fun little artistic photos of my coffee and the silverware. Made Hannah laugh, especially when I said, "This is what I do when I'm bored," meaning this is one of my hobbies, little quirks. She knows this, which is why she did not take a single photo on the trip. It's not really her thing, and she knows I love doing it.

Moved on to Aminaki after our drink at the Beachcomber. Hannah and I both had the veggie mix that night, ate it slow, enjoyed it all, indulged in more conversation, and topped it off with a new dessert. We tried some banana fritters with ice cream. Oh boy were these little things delicious. Another recipe I may try to look up and attempt on my own. Another delightful dining experience.

Now we left Aminaki this night while there was still some light out so we could go check out the creepy boat from the night before in the daylight. There it is, the thing that was making some creaky noises, that sent Hannah and I running for the hills. hahaha You will also note all the trees in the water. This is some of the hurricane damage from cyclone Evan that hit a few weeks ago. There were several trees down in Apia and leading up toward the mountains.

Finished our evening by doing a little money crunching to make sure we had enough but also didn't have too much, as we didn't want to take any Samoan tala home after our weeklong visit there. We use the U.S. dollar in American Samoa.

Had some apples for breakfast on our last morning in Apia before stopping at the ATM to do our little shopping we had been looking forward to. Places were finally open after this whole January 2nd holiday business in addition to January 1st. Oye. haha It all worked out, though.

We grabbed a bus and got off at the gigantic Mormon temple. Yes, gigantic. Much larger than the temples I see in American Samoa, but it was cool to see. Religious Studies minor right here :-)

Then, we walked down the road looking for this little shop Hannah had read about in the Lonely Planet, which sounded like a place worth checking out. Made one little stop in Frederick's Snaks (yes, it was spelled without a C, in case you were wondering), because I thought it looked nice, and grabbed a nice little biscuit we split. Walking along the road, when ahead of us a giant pack of dogs go after a taxi. Ummm... don't want to be walking that way anymore, but we knew we were getting close to the store. A really nice lady offered us a ride and even turned around to drop us off at the Plantation House, where we were headed. Very thankful for her kindness even though she wasn't quite sure where the place was, but she asked someone at a store we passed.

Lots of cute little things in this store, and the owner was very friendly. She asked us all sorts of questions about the program we work with and how we ended up in American Samoa. I'm glad we stopped in before leaving the island. Caught a bus back to the main part of Apia, where we decided on a few fruit smoothies at Cappuccino Vineyard. Doesn't this photo just scream city to you? It sure does for me, anyways.

Lunch was simply not in the cards for us Thursday. Nothing too appealing on the menu at Cappuccino Vineyard that day without paying more than we wanted, plus our smoothies had satisfied our tummies for the time being. Thought we'd try the Bean again, to find they were out of a lot of things. Like I said, lunch just wasn't in the cards. Oh well, not really hungry always  Plus, we had plans for an Italian eatery for dinner. Oh... I just realized I've been saying dinner instead of supper. Sorry to everyone who gets confused by that. At home we we always say breakfast, dinner, and supper Here (just like when I was in college), I say breakfast, lunch, and dinner. haha

Did our shopping for the afternoon. Looked at some clothes, jewelry, and other handicrafts. What girl doesn't enjoy a little shopping trip? haha Then, we meandered back to our hotel, where we sat in the lobby for a while before I suggested we go grab some more of that delicious soft serve ice cream at the gas station. There we go. Brilliant idea, yet again. I made this one last even longer than the day before. Mmm mmm mmm. We also picked up a few glass bottles of Coke - palagi-sized this time, not the giant Samoan-sized ones. Took those back to the hotel patio to enjoy. Here's a cute little photo Hannah had the idea for, and then I added my photographic eye to frame it well. I quite enjoy this photo :-)

Cheers to our last glass bottle Coca Cola for a while and cheers to a splendid free spirited vacation. We sat and looked back at a lot of our sightseeing, random moments, our cosmopolitan dining, and twists along the way.

 Grabbed our bags and took a taxi to Giordano's for some good ole Italian wood stove cooked pizza. Started with some garlic bread and an iced tea. Iced tea! Iced tea! Why am I shouting? Because this was the first time iced tea was on any menu while we had been in Samoa. Oh how I missed it. Iced tea is my favorite thing to get when Hannah and I go out for little lunches in American Samoa. Hannah said my face lit up when my tall glass of iced tea arrived. She also got to enjoy another soda water. Back to the main event though, starting with some scrumptious garlic bread pizza before splitting a margharita pizza - pizza with tomato sauce, mozerella cheese, and basil. Simple and scrumptious. Also a cute little place with great service. A place with character, which I really enjoy.

After dinner, we hung out down by the ocean for a couple of hours, shared some Oreos, and then waited at the port for a couple of hours before boarding our boat back to Pago harbor. Camped out on the deck up front right away where we knew we could catch a breeze and try to sleep. After a while, I slept a solid three hours before waking up once, fell back asleep for another hour and a half, and then awoke for good. I could see Tutuila, then - the island I live on. Put a smile on my face. After a fun adventure, I was still ready to be back home. Actually saw a group of dolphins swimming around 5am when I woke up, which was cool. Haven't seen any out like that since I was in the Galapagos Islands.

Here is Hannah and I sitting up on the deck of the boat after the 8 hour journey back home across the ocean.

After grabbing some mail from the post office, we hopped over to Matai restaurant for our favorite short stack of pancakes with a giant glass of iced tea. We had been talking about doing this the entire time we were on vacation. Definitely good like we remembered.

We crawl onto one of our Aiga buses and headed for Pava'ia'i. Found myself smiling as the music on the bus was playing, I had the beautiful mountains on my right and the cool ocean on my left, heading for my third home right here in American Samoa. Newman Grove is my first, Morningside is my second, and now American Samoa is my third home. Got on sent an email to my parents saying I made it back, showered, and pass out on my mattress on the floor in the rainforest. On my second Thursday that week. Remember I came back across the International Date line. We left Thursday night, and arrived Thursday morning. Time travel. haha After I found some energy, I got a workout in. I actually found myself looking forward to my sweaty workout on Thursday. I missed them. Exercising has sort of become one of my hobbies, and boy did it feel good. Back to working out every day :-)

Hope you all enjoy with this gigantic post. A lot of different little things I did while on my mini vacation to some of the other Samoan islands while on holiday from school. I had a nice trip, learned new things, and made some great memories with my friend and roommate Hannah. Glad we got to go :-)