Manumea Resort Apia

... to get here and B. we are not made of money, so for our next beach holiday we will look closer to home. Luckily there is plenty to choose from ;-} Anyway, this is our final blog entry before we head home. This is it, no more WOW! or buhuu! rantings from me or photos to either make you jealous or think "Thank God that's not me". The End! It has been a fantastic trip, we are so lucky to have the time and money and we are extremely happy we have done it! XX L&M

... two weeks. It was perfect. The wind off the ocean (which was spitting distance from my 'front door') came in through the woven/thatched walls but the rain was kept out. I could (and did) pull my mattress up to the front of the fale and laid there staring at infinite turquoise that changed colours so often I wondered if the sea was being playful or moody. Samoa has two islands (not counting 'American Samoa' which I know nothing about and where I never was); Upolu ...

... en fait la seule ville sur l'ile D'Upolu (le reste n'étant que des petits villages) et c'est donc par ici que tout se passe, bar, clubs, marchés, magasins, etc. Sur le marché, on y trouve des fruits et légumes jamais vu nul part ailleurs, comme par exemple une boisson faite à partir des intestins d'holothurie. D'après le dictionnaire, holothurie est un animal invertébré, au corps mou et oblong, à symétrie radiale, à la peau rugueuse, possédant un cercle de ...

... moved to another, cheaper, fale further down the beach and tat turned out to be a good choice, what a dinner! Better service, more food for less money, can't complain to that! Monday morning we got up early to get the bus back to Apia. As we stood there waiting for the bus to come at ten we were passed by the bus before turning around to go back to the city, that little mistake cost us two extra hours of waiting for the bus! It ...

... nature path and at one point we could even see the southern coastline. When we finally made it all the way up we came out to clearing and the tomb was surrounded by a beautiful view. Amazing! I'll let the pictures speak for them self... We decided to take the short way down and that turned out to be a lucky decision, the path was a lot dryer and it only took about half an hour to get down ...

... Kui jõudsime tagasi põhjarannikule pealinna lähedale, nägime, kuidas mägedest tulev vihmavesi sillutas endale teed ookeani. Punakas savine veeollus lippas iga natukese aja tagant üle teede ning meri muutus vaikselt selgest ja rohelisest punakaks mudavanniks. Saare idapoolsel küljel me ei leidnudki lõpuks ühtegi kohta, kuhu ööbima jääda ning jõudsime tagasi Apiasse. Tee peal olime kinni pannud kohad hotellis nimega Insel Fehrmann's Hotel ning legendi järgi olevat see hotell ...

... So there isn't too much to do. However, we did go snorkeling in the local Palolo Deep National Marine Reserve, which was hard work but good fun. Even though visibility wasn't the best we did see some really beautiful electric blue and some quirky multicoloured fish! One of the days we went to the famous Papasee'a Sliding Rock. This series of small waterfalls on the outskirts ...

... of my true loyalty to the Union, and so have been gathering intelligence as to the military capabilities of the Samoan islands, in the eventuality that they enter the present conflict on one side or the other. To that end, I include herewith a complete photographic record of each and every artillery piece in the archipelago: This impressive battery defends a ...

... and make new friends. Over the next couple of days we plan on chilling outside of Apia up in the mountains where the temp should be a bit cooler (not much though). The place we are staying is next to a waterfall and natural freshwater pool. While in Apia, we will also be taking in some of the South Pacific Games, hopefully some rugby and b-ball. We also have to go back to the Papasee Sliding Rocks, a place ...

... plantation to die. April was a very busy month with the Global Youth Service Day World Map Mural Project to do. All of the fancy plans I described in the funding proposal for the maps came to naught. I had proposed 3-4 meetings with youth leaders to teach the kids about maps, finding maps on the computer, writing invitations (to the dedication ceremony), and how the project would work. None of the selected youth ...