An overnight pit stop in Apia, and the next day we were off to the Big Island -- of Samoa. The island of Savai'i. It is the westernmost, and oldest island of the chain. Below was the coast near Falelima in the southwestern part of the island.
Samoa, in general, and Savai'i, in particular, had a whole different feel to it from American Samoa. The favorite pastime of the driver as we zipped back and forth across the north coast of the island was dodging the occasional pig or cow wandering along the side of and darting out across the road. The animals in American Samoa were all fenced in.
There were a lot of places to stay on the island. You just had to know the difference between a private resting place, and a business. Below was a business. Obviously.
Being the oldest island, and not having a whole lot of people, Savai'i had
a lot of reefs and a lot of nice beaches for stealing sand from. OK, not really.
We only ever needed a little sand and, of course, got permission to take it.
It was always a good idea, as well as just being polite, to ask permission
do things like this in Samoa. It seemed easier to get permission than to
receive forgiveness in Samoa. Just the opposite of everyplace else.
There were very few bridges on the island along the main highway that went all of the way around the island. Most of the river crossing were like below.
When the tide was in you just had to slow down here and there. This was the same place (but coming from the opposite direction) as the picture above in the village of Safai which was in the northeast corner of Savai'i.
Pigs were rated, for the purposes of cooking, by a number system. Below were pigs of roughly sizes 1 and 2. Size 2 pigs were considered best for umu cooking.
Below was my artistic attempt for this trip. To me it was highly representative of the islands. OK. Maybe if you were on drugs of some kind. Maybe.
2014-08-03