Janaury 26, 2010 - My first full day in Samoa on leave as the weather turned bad two days ago. A series of heavy squalls has hit the island. The Ka’imimoana had left yesterday (January 25) and my old sailor superstition kicked in of never departing on a rainy day. That long with never to depart on Fridays and a few others that were kept along the years.
Fortunately, it let up when the ship departed but I left the ship early when it looked as if they may not leave at 14:00. I invited both of the “Teachers at Sea” educators to stop by the village before going to the airport to catch a late night flight back to the United States. The family served them lunch and “R” got a bag full of sand from the beach at Sataoa. We took the scenic route through villages along the south coast and west side of the Upolu getting to the airport through the back way. “LV” was hungry so we drove into Apia to get a bite for him to eat. We did not get back to the village until 9 PM. By that time, the rains had continued and the winds picked up quite a bit. The good part about inclement weather is that it cools down. In addition, the wind blows the mosquitoes away but we still burn the coil.
I woke up around 02:20 in the morning thinking that the folks who got off the ship in Apia were at hour or two away from Samoa on their way back to the US. At this time too, the weather let up, the winds died, and the hot humid air returned, along with the dive-bombing mosquitoes. I finally fell asleep an hour and a half later when the rainsqualls returned, accompanied by high winds, and cooling down the temperatures.
It was like that throughout the day and the bad part is very little id any socializing exists between the villagers. I see the skies are starting to clear as we approach evening (January 26) and maybe people will come out and start to talk. When you have limited access to technology such as television, radio, and Internet, people tend to see each other face to face. Tomorrow I need to head into town and work on my bank account as well as e-mails and post this up on the blog. It is hard to escape from those facets of daily life in the west.
The kids and I went by car to a farm where we used to buy vegetables and fruits off the field from a distant relative. After we made our trek up the mountain, the farmhouse along with the field was abandoned. No sign of the relatives and it appears to have been deserted for some time. It was trip to Fugalei to pick up vegetables. It was a good drive to get out of the house of the kids. Upon returning, the father-in-law had started umu. I went back to check it out and he was starting to make palusami as well as cutting up breadfruit for tonight’s dinner. I will fold this up for now and go outside. The humidity is increasing and a cold bottle of Vailima would suffice. Maybe some of the villagers whom I have not seen for over a year will come out.
Take care and Talofa from Samoa.
January 28, 2010 – If anyone were to tell me that we are in the middle of winter, I would tell them otherwise. If course, it is summer down here and since the departure of Ka’imimoana on Monday, we experienced two days of near cyclone conditions. It is cyclone season here in the South Pacific. Anywhere else in the tropical zone, it is considered summer monsoons south of the equator. The last two nights I awoke around 02:30 due to either string winds ramming through the room, rain pounding on the tin roof or desert like thunderstorms lighting up the sky. This morning we had a few rainsqualls hit but as the morning progressed, the skies cleared and temperatures soared again to what it was last week when we pulled in. Fortunately, the winds are still blowing so the humidity is diluted somewhat, but not very much.
I was going to update the blog yesterday but the USB port was not working on the computer I was using at the café. Today (January 29) it seems to be working and maybe I can update. But no access to Facebook because the browser is too old, so it says. If someone can update it, I would appreciate it.
January 29, 2010 – The weather cleared up and it was HOT!! Last night was full of sleep interruptions from lack of winds increasing the humidity to dive bombing mosquitoes. I went to town to take some visa photos for “LV” to send to the attorney in Seattle so that this will be done when Immigration requests photos. Aside from that it will be getting some cash for the weekend and back to the village. I would like to go towards Lalomanu this weekend and see the results of the damage caused by last September’s tsunami. I went to Matafaa yesterday where there are UN protected mangroves that saved much of the interior village from the tsunami. Outer homes in the village were not so lucky and one of the survivors I talked to clung on to the roof of her house with her children. Everything they had before was gone and they are using donated furniture and making it for the time being.
That is it for now. I am going to finish up errands and head back to the village.
Talofa from the Samoa
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