Talofa lava. We have been treated to a new experience every day in Samoa. It is a land of gentle and giving people. The language has many similarities to Hawaiian and so does some foods. I am referring to the Western Samoa not the American Samoa. A few days ago there was a traditional canoe race in the harbor. Right where Mauliola was anchored they had planned to put one of the racing lanes. So Jerry and I moved Mauliola a bit further out. It was a very gusty, windy and rainy day. But the race went on. We had first class seats from the deck.
Next day we went to a traditional meal, cooked in the umu, an above ground very hot fire where stones were being heated. We saw the meal being prepared and put in the umu. One of the dishes was palusami, which consists of a bunch of young taro leaves, folded to form a cup where pure, freshly squeezed coconut milk was poured in. This was further carefully wraped in bread fruit and Ti leaves, to keep the coconut milk in. In a more modern version, foil is used instead of leaves. The bundles were placed in the umu and cooked for about 20 minutes. When it came out the taro leaves have turned into a delicate puree that tasted like cream, very rich, the kind that awakes all of your cholesterol receptors. It was truly a delicacy. Fish was cooked in a similar way and it was as delicious. Whole Taro roots were cooked directly on the hot stones. This is not like the Hawaiian taro, not quite as good, but went well with the rest of the meal. Taula, the Samoa man that had the meal cooked for us in his home, had so much joy in sharing his stories with us. He told us how he grew up in the old traditional ways which are fading a bit now. As a young man he had to cook for his parents and sisters. It is a man's job to do the cooking and cleaning. And the women were always served first!!!! The men only ate after the girls. And sometimes the only food left was taro. He said that the girls were really well treated, spoiled. Isn't this the way it should be? Hurray to the old Samoan way.
Apia, the only city in Samoa, is noisy, congested and lack of any attractions. But one just needs to drive a few miles out of town to be in gorgeous countryside. All the villages have well tended and brightly colored gardens, extensive taro and banana patches. The people still live the old way in open houses, without walls and almost no furnishings. We, palanis (foreigners) are not allowed in the villages. We only see the houses from the road.
We stayed overnight in a beach fale, a palm leaf covered raised platform with a mattress, mosquito net and plastic sidings that can be rolled up or down. The beach, called Lalomano, is one of the few white sandy beaches in the Island. The water is crystal clear but we didn't see much fish life. This area was devastated by a tsunami 4 years ago and the entire coral bed was destroyed. We swam for half a mile looking over a massive amount of broken coral.
A trip to the farmers market is a must to get fresh fruit, taro, breadfruit and a few veggies. Watercress, bok choy, lots of huge cucumbers, pumpkins and cabbage are the only veggies we found. Tomatoes comes from New Zealand and the cost is astronomical, US$11/lb. Yes, that much. Pineapples are very small but very expensive: US$ 10.00 each. We were disappointed by how small the variety of fruit we found. Bananas, papayas, pineapple and imported apples from New Zealand. We are very happy to get these and have our fruit basket full.
We will be here for another week and then moving on to Tonga.
Aloha to to you all and looking forward for a good Internet connection to post this.