Regina's Beach Fales Savai'i

... staircase to me. She said if a tsunami comes, that I should just run up that mountain. Trust me, if a tsunami came then hell, yes, I will be running, dammit. That single-file staircase didn't make me feel too secure about it sustaining a massive exodus of people, however. But it's definitely a step in the right direction in terms of Tsunami Preparedness. The Samoan Red Cross was the one who worked with the villages on that one.

... but instead was taking time for me. I feel like I'm on the tip of something but I'm too toothy and whatever's on the tip of my tongue keeps getting trapped by my teeth. Stuck inside the dark cavern of my mouth; it will not voice itself. ~~ Sometimes I feel so utterly triumphant that, stepping out towards the water, I know I could walk on it. But unlike Jesus, I'm no Son of God, and my uncertainty (that I won't just drowned) acts like a ball and chain ...

So having been driven around in the taxi of the village teacher's brother we ended up in a place called Malaetia Resort - a great place to stay! We walked in at 8am, that is very very early, and were immediately ushered to sit down and have coffee with the owner, followed by a breakfast, followed by our cool little garden fale looking out to the mangrove forest in the back. The resort itself if just a few fales and bungalows but it's next to a nice ...

Back in Upolu and now we had to find our way to Matareva Beach Fales where we had booked a fale for 2 nights. To get there we had to take a bus to Apia and then another one out to Matareva. This is how buses work here, to get anywhere you have to always start from Apia... After the day spent travelling we arrived in Matareva around 2 pm to find the place absolutely packed, Samoan hip hop blasting from car stereos and a party in full swing. We hung around for a while ...

After having brought the car back to Salelologa we caught a bus to Manase, the most popular tourist/backpacker/traveller spot in Savai'i with a gorgeous beach, once again. You could get used to this! After having taken a look at all the fales on offer we decided to take Tanu's Beach Fales because they included 2 meals for 50 tala - some other fales maybe looked slightly nicer but 20 tala more just for looks is a bit steep. And it's ...

... hopped on Sebastian's lap and Jo sat on Jules's lap. Probably highly inapprobiate as any hugging and kissing, holding hands etc is a taboo in Samoa but what can you do... In Apia, we said goodbye to Jasmine and Sebastian and ran out of luck with buses. We ended up waiting 2 hours for the bus to the ferry, only to miss the ferry by 10 minutes. So that was another 2 hours of waiting. But as said, Samoa is not a bad place to wait! Jo entertained Samoan kids with a ...

... Cape Mulinu'u we went out to the lava blocks and stood on the very hard to miss marked out X for the most western part of the world. From there you can more or less see in to the following day since Samoa is located right by the dateline and everything west of the line is tomorrow... When we were finished looking in to the future we got back to the car and headed for Manase again were we found a nice and a bit too expensive place to ...

... like a lava tube but it is formed by the lava settling atop sand and then the tide washing away the sand. The local legend says different however. The story goes that some men came to court the women of the local village and were challenge to build one side of the "House of Rock" while the women built the other side. Their prize would be to have their way with the women. The men worked hard and got so far ahead of the women they took a break. The women set about making the men ...

... de restos... rien.. l hotel et le seul lieux, bar du coin.. du coup ils vont des concerts et le bingo de temps a autre.. c etait cool car comme il parle tous au mins un peu anglais tu peu communiquer.. t arrives a avoir une conversation.. j ai fait un tour avec Warren un australien etabli dans le village, un retraite.. il m a emmene avec un couple d australien qui venais pour un tour d une journee sur l ile.. il connait tellement de chose, historique ...

... boys we again prepared to retire for the night, which brings me to now. We are sleeping in a little beach Fale, with no more than a few wooden poles and a couple of weaved banana leaves to protect us from the elements (and locals!) and it is beautiful. I can feel a slight breeze cooling down the Samoan environment and I can hear the lapping of waves not 20m away as well as the occasional Gecko. What a life. I think Samoans have the right idea.