Samoa Trip: Part III

Here we go again!

On Tuesday we went with the whole group around to the back of the island and saw some beautiful beaches and waterfalls. We took a mountain road that brought us this stunning view:

Banana, Coconut, Taro, and Papaya as far as the eye can see.

Lee amongst the mountain peaks.

We also stopped at Sopoaga waterfall. There was a lovely garden there with some traditional Samoan tools, instruments, and structures; and of course there was the amazing waterfall itself.

Sopoaga waterfall

Here's Lee, ready to scrape out a coconut.

I am ready to rock on this ornately carved percussion instrument.

We saw some loverly beaches on the other side of the island:

Mum tests the white sand with bare feet.

we pose with one of Samoa's smaller islands.

We stopped at Sauniatu, a church owned village where we were treated to a magnificent feast and a swim in the beautiful pool. This is the place David O. McKay once declared the most beautiful on earth, resembling the garden of Eden. Though the village itself is pretty ordinary, the waterfall and pool are stunning.

Standing right in the waterfall with Elder Wilson.

On our way back to the hotel, we caught some fabulous sunsets off the beach!

Wednesday morning we wanted to do a temple session, but the temple was so busy we couldn't get into one! Instead, my mom and I did initiatory while my dad and Lee chatted with some of the temple workers. Pops found a sister he had served with on his mission. Small world!

That afternoon, we visited the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. Robert Louis Stevenson--author of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde--lived the last part of his life in Samoa with his family. He built a mansion on the hill and a substantial plantation. His wife, Fanny, introduced the cocoa bean to Samoa (now a major export) and Stevenson was very well respected by the people of Samoa. They called him Tusitala or storyteller. In addition to a lovely tour, our guide, Margaret, sang for us a rendition of Stevenson's Requiem. Samoans still sing it today as a mourning song. Stevenson is buried at the top of the mountain, having been carried there by an honor guard of chiefs. We wanted to hike up to his tomb, but the dirt trail was muddy and completely impassable due to the heavy rainfalls. Maybe next time!

Villa Vailima: The Stevenson Mansion.

Margaret, Claire, and Lee

Lee and the Lion we found in the museum. It was like that when we found it, i swear!

The never used fireplace that the Stevenson's built. Why? I don't know

Lee rocks on the old piano, RLS looks on disapprovingly.

We decided that in order to see everything we wanted to, we couldn't just depend on taxi drivers (though most of those guys were pretty nice) we got a rental car. Samoa has, since 2009, driven on the left side of the road. I certainly wasn't going to volunteer to drive at any point on this trip, but my mom decided she could handle it. The rest of us just back seat drove. A lot.

We got an early start Thursday so we could see Luatuanu'u, an area where my Dad served. There we saw the waterfall and pool the missionaries used to bath in--not swim of course--and met some people who remembered from their childhood that little Palagi who boxed with the branch president.

The legendary waterfall of Luatuanu'u 

Elder Burnett poses with the daughter of the branch president he lived with.

We also stopped at Solo Solo, home to one of Samoa's black sand beaches. There isn't much left of the beach now, but we collect some black sand as a souvenir.

Lee at Solo Solo

We stopped off at another little waterfall, just for a few pictures:

This is just off the side of the road. NBD. 

Just have to prove I was there!

Then we headed for the To Sua Ocean Trench. The trench is really two craters connected by a large cave. The trench is filled with water from the ocean, you can feel the current pulling in and out as you swim in this stunning spot. It was low tide, so no diving! Lee was more disappointed by this than I was.

This is a real, actual place

Be careful on the gigantor ladder. Slightly slippery.

Lee paddles off towards the tunnel connecting the two craters.

We met up with the tour group at a small resort on the back side of the island. The place had been hard hit by several tropical storms, but the beaches were lovely!

Lee at the Virgin Cove Resort

We continued round, now having seen almost the whole island, and made one last stop before heading to our hotel: feeding sea turtles at the Malua Turtle Preserve. It was just a little pond for turtles to live in, safe from predators and poachers, and they swarmed like crazy to eat our bread!

Watching this little guy struggle for a chunk just out of reach is truly adorable:

We headed back to our hotel to rest up and get ready for another big feast, this one accompanied by a floor show. If you've never seen Fire Dancing, you don't want to miss out on this:

We spent Friday, our last day in Samoa, picking up the other little items we'd missed out on. We visited the Apia fish market, I am so glad it was open air or the smell might have been quite terrible!

Too brightly colored to eat. 

There should be a sign: Don't Kiss the Eels

The only sharks we saw on our trip were on dry land.

We also visited the Piula Cave Pool. The local kids just use it as a swimming hole, but the really neat part is the cave. It goes back about 20 feet, all full of water. There is also an underwater tunnel leading to another cave behind it, but I was far to chicken to swim in an underwater tunnel of unknown length in pitch black darkness to a cave that may or may not exist. We couldn't really get photos inside the cave--too dark, too wet!--so you'll have to be satisfied with pictures of the mouth of the cave. And a short video of Lee doing what the natives do--jumping off the cave into the pool!

Piula  Cave Pool

We're ready for some swimmin'!

Here are a few other assorted shots of our excursion in Apia:

Mum and the clock tower in downtown Apia

My father at the Museum of Samoa.

Claire and Lee at the Museum of Samoa

The old fogies with a traditional fale, the kid my father claims to have lived in.

Lee and Pops with a large official looking seal at a government building.

And thus concludes our Samoan adventure! We hoped on a plane early Saturday morning (July 13th) and found ourselves in Honolulu early Friday morning (July 12th). Yes, it's very confusing.

We spent our day in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor looking at monuments, battleships, and submarines:

Lee mans the controls of the USS Bowfin

The USS Arizona Monument

Lee, Thing 1, and Thing 2 prepare to board the USS Missouri

Here I am armed with the big guns of the USS Missouri

We arrived back in Salt Lake Saturday morning, exhausted, stinky, and ready for a little vacation from vacationing. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed our adventures!

Next post we'll tell you all about Tucson and how we've been enjoying a nice, hot, Arizona summer and monsoon season!

Samoa Trip: Part 2

Now that I again have internet access, I can continue my travel blog. We left off with a charming video at the Taga blowholes, here are a couple pictures of the same. They don't do the blowholes themselves justice, but it proves I was actually there.

Lee got a little too close to the crashing waves and got soaked from the waste down.

That afternoon we caught a much smaller, stinkier ferry back to Upolu. I say stinky because someone had already been violently ill on board and no one bothered to clean it up. They just kindof dumped water on it. I guess so they could spread the love, and the smell, to a wider audience. Yeah. The trip took much longer on rougher seas in a boat with a smaller engine, and it was torturous. I was so glad when we finally made port. By that time it was very dark (it's winter there, so it got dark around seven) and we were happy to hop on a bus and make it to our hotel.

I hate this boat with a burning passion too fierce for words.

As the next was Sunday, and Samoans take their Sabbath day worship very seriously, we didn't really do a lot of sight seeing. We attended church at the stake center right across from the Apia Temple and visited some kings tombs and took a look at some government buildings.

I'm proud to say this isn't a postcard photo, we actually took this picture ourselves!

The entrance to the old parliament building.

The step pyramid entombing one of Samoa's many kings.

On Monday the group wasn't doing any organized activity, it was every man for himself. We went snorkeling at the Palolo Marine Reserve. We rented two snorkel/mask sets from the tiny shack at the entrance, only one of them leaked. By three of us taking turns and one of us guarding gear (because he might be scared of the ocean) we still managed to really enjoy the reef and the hundreds of fishes. I wish I had a camera that would take photos under water, you'll just have to content yourself with a shot or two from the beach.

Lee and I wading out to the reef. 

Just another stunning ocean view. NBD.

We also visited the flea market, where we bought the majority of our souvenirs. We found lots of jewelry, woven and carved tradition mats and bowls, and a thoroughly filling lunch.

Kava bowls and various serving dishes, all carved wood.

Weapons, jewelry, and woven bags.

There was a fireside that evening that Dad was pretty keen on attending, the rest of us not so much. Instead, we went to the Papase'ea sliding rocks: a series of 3 waterfalls down slick rocks, creating natural water slides. We had a fabulous time, even the old lady! No one there seemed to be having more fun or to slide down more fearlessly than a pair of 9-10 year old boys. My first time down each of the falls, I asked them where the best spot to slide was as they seemed to have gone down all of them a dozen times. I hope you enjoy the videos of our slides, I admit to being completely terrified. That is, in part, because without shorts over my swimsuit, there was no friction, no drag, nothing to slow me down. I think I caught air about half way down and it just became a free fall.

The view from the top. We had to hike down 200+ stairs to get to the river and waterfalls.

In front of the largest of the sliding rocks.

Very funny Lee. The water wasn't even cold.

Lee shoots down the smallest slide.

Lee goes down the bottom slide, Mom is ready to follow behind.

I hope you enjoyed part two, tune in for the rest! This time I won't have to wait around for my internet to be activated, so you won't have as long to wait.