Western Samoa

Samoans in American Samoa have wholeheartedly embraced the American way of life, so we chose to visit Western Samoa where ancient tribal customs are still strongly evident, more so than any other island in Polynesia. To us, Upolu represented the real heart of Oceania.

Above, women prepare for Sunday Mass in front of a restored Catholic Cathedral on the waterfront. Old trading companies still line the quay like in the traditional South Seas movie-set way. Around us in Apia Harbor, teams of men paddled outrigger racing canoes (longboats) around the harbor every day at sunset.

To celebrate Kate's (s/v "Carmelita") birthday, we rented two large vans to accomodate our group of three families. With our guide, we took the Cross Island Highway, which runs 23 km south from Apia to Siumu and stopped at interesting sites along the way.

Kava Kick at Market Fou

Note the well-guarded kava bowl. I was asked to leave their male-dominated public arena when I sat down to partake in the ceremony. A very large Samoan ushered me out very briskly with a strong arm. I was denied access here in Samoa, but invited by a chief in Fiji to partake of kava in his village.

You can read about our first kava drinking ceremony:

The Kava Bowl being fiercely guarded by a Samoan. I ask you, why was Tina turned away? A woman, gosh my golly.

Road Trip

Longboat Competitions

Going Native

Samoa

from
Polynesia

to Fiji

Samoan Culture

Carting coconuts to the farmer's market in handcrafted straw baskets.

Culture

Longboat
Competition

With the exception of housing in Apia where there are some Western-style houses, most homes are oval-shaped open-sided structures on raised platforms; they are often made from a mixture of traditional and imported building materials. Rural dwellers are largely self-sufficient, relying on subsistence crops and marine fish for food. Western-style dress is common in Apia, but more traditional clothing prevails in rural areas. This includes the lava lava (wraparound skirt) for men and the puletasi (long dress) for women. Religion dominates much of Samoan life. Almost everyone wears white clothing on Sundays in observance of the Christian day of rest. Many villages have a 10- to 20-minute evening prayer curfew and churches organize recreational and social opportunities for their members. People are conservative and take pride in maintaining fa‘a Samoa (the Samoan way of life). These traditions include preserving the role of the matai, a leader chosen to head an aiga (extended family of generally 20 to 30 members). The matai, who is usually a man, directs the extended family’s economic, social, and political affairs.

We anchored in Apia, located on the north coast. Once a small village, today it is a modern city, and the capital of Samoa. Apia Village exists within the modern city, and is governed by its own matai chiefly leaders and fa'alupega.

One of the most interesting historical sites in Apia is the John Williams Memorial, a monument that rests on the corner of Falealili Street and Beach Road. It is dedicated to the missionary who brought Protestantism to Samoa in 1830. Nine years later Williams was killed and eaten by cannibals on Erromango Island in the New Hebrides (presently Vanuatu).

High Chief of Apia

Thomas Andrew

Apia Harbor

An umu is the traditional method used by Samoan's for cooking food. A fire is built and Stones are placed over a fire. Once the fire has simmered down to embers, green bananas, breadfruit, taro, fish, and lu'au are placed over the hot stones. then the umu it is covered with banana fronds and left to cook.

The taste is sensational.

Smoke blanketed the inner harbor on Sundays, as women began to prepare the family feast by building fires (umus) for cooking.

The fautasi is a long boat used as means of transportation across the islands of Samoa in earlier times. Up to 100 islanders stroke the oars of ocean-going canoes for early morning canoe practices. Inter-island competitions are held in May, and practice sessions were often heard around our boat, with much shouting and drum beating to maintain group rhythm.

The Teuila Festival is one of Samoa’s most celebrated annual events, and held in Apia, the capital. Normally held in late August, the Teuila Festival ia a full week of celebration with cultural activities that showcase choir hymnal exhibition, and a variety of traditional entertainment including fire knife dancing, long boat racing, wood carving, tattooing, float parades and variety shows.

Training for the Teuila Festival

The Fautasi

UPOLU

Togitogiga Waterfall

The Marketi Fou is like a busy farmers market. Mangos, pawpaw, pineapples, coconuts, bananas (four or five types), and breadfruit were piled in a myriad of shapes and colors on large tables. We bought a new fruit call vi, which is small, green and round. It tasted rather sharp, but was refreshing in the morning heat. The kids didn't care for it at all.

Other new vegetables were the taro aand ta'amú. Taro is a staple food, but became scarce after the taro blight virus invaded the species. Ta'amú is a large tuberous vegetable about a meter long, which we substituted for the Idaho potato. It tasted much like the dasheen of the Caribbean.

Other Samoan produce such as kava, koko samoa, and a type of Samoan tobacco. On the wierd and unusual side was the se'a, a sea slug that is served from coke bottles and the alu'alu, a type of jellyfish. Alu means go -- apparently, it really does make some people want to go.

Papapapaitai Falls

Togitogiga Recreation Reserve

OLe Pupu-Pu'e National Park means 'From the Coast to the Mountain Top'. Its northern boundary is formed by a ridge between the volcanic 885m Mt Le Pu'e and 1028m Mt Fito, Uplou's highest peak. In the south is the rugged O Le Pupu Lava Coast. We didn't have the time to hike in the National Park, so visited the Togitogiga Recreation Reserve, instead. A nice park, the kids had a ball jumping off a cliff into the cool pool and playing in the falls.

A spectacular sight, the water of the Papapapai-tai Falls plummets 500ft into an old volcanic crater, amidst verdant tropical rain forest.

High
Chief

Apia
Harbor

Kava
Kick

GOING
NATIVE

Yacht

Globally Cruising

SCUD