I think we’re up to Day 20? – Apia, Pago Pago & 2-in-1 Day!

Okay so we’re like… 2 miles from Apia in Western Samoa waiting for an oil tanker to leave from the spot that we’re supposed to be docking in. As –hopefully- you all know the Samoan islands were hit by a tsunami approximately a week or so ago back when we were in Hawaii. The ship I’m on, The Star Princess, has brought supplies of clean water, food, clothes, blankets, pillows among other necessities most of us back in the united states take for granted. They’ve also brought candy –for the kids, a little something good amongst all the destruction- and things like paper and pens and such along with much needed tourism. The Princess ship that was here yesterday has also brought such supplies and both ships are giving 10,000$ each to the Red Cross. The star princess has also auctioned off a navigational chart for this 30 day cruise that brought in an extra 1,450$ and the crew alone from the ship gave another 1,000$. There is a globe up at the purser’s desk-kinda like a help desk on the ship- that people have been putting money in and I dare say there’s quite a bit. The captain has even decided to allow relief workers, -such as those working with/for the red cross- the opportunity for a shower, clean clothes and a good meal –cooked up on the ship of course- which I think is probably much needed. I don’t know what we’ll see today, but I’ll do my best to get lots of pictures –hopefully ones that are more optimistic- and put them up for yall.

Okay well first things first that’s going through my mind, I’ll attempt to sort it out in a moment.

8D Yay for Samoa! Port Authorities have decided to give us a fire dancing show –perhaps in thanks that we showed up and got off and kept things normal as possible?- on the pier. That I’m looking forward to =D

._. I went sea turtle swimming… on accident. ^^;; There’s like this pond that the sea turtles stay in for most of the year where they’re safe and get feed by the locals… and I was attempting to pet one and… well I fell in. xD I startled the poor things away from their dinner of papaya fruit and got wet up to my hips but oh well… I got to pet a wild sea turtle! Mission accomplished!

We avoided the part of the island that has Tsunami damage. I guess it’s to the point where people are still clearing away the rubble and searching for loved ones and such. At least I know that help has been provided as much as possible. The rest of the island is faring well though and the people were friendly –and the children, most still at school, gave us waves and hellos!-

Soo…

Start of the tour took us to Robert Louis Stevenson’s mansion/villa called Villa Vailima. It’s since been turned into a museum after being handed through several different politics and finally ending up with Apia’s government who then made it what it is now. I got lots of pictures of this and of the hill that Robert was buried on and the start of the trail that leads up to his burial spot. Once we were done there we were off again and stopped at a mini-mart where I got some… interesting chips that look like cheetos but they’re called Yumy o’s and came in Cheese and Chicken Flavors… and a coke of course x3. At any rate we got headed on again and got to see a waterfall, lots of sightseeing around the island, Then we got to go see a Bahai Temple which was interesting. I guess there’s only 6 or 7 temples in the world devoted to this specific religion. I got a lot of reading material on it and a few pictures and some post cards and stuff but I haven’t looked at it all yet. Anyway after all that we went to a sort of a beach. There wasn’t much sand to be had, but there was clean water, fishies, tiny crabs, burgers and hot dogs and lots of hungry feral dogs wanting to eat our food. We paid up and headed back towards the boat. Our very last stop is where my “swim” with the sea turtles happened and from there we got to the boat, looked around and got on. The fire dance was mostly at the end and both me and my friend, Mike, got video of it so perhaps when I get back to the states I’ll make a youtube vid and let you all see it. Anyway I got to go help Mike do some stuff more tomorrow. =3

Okay so we went on our tour in Pago Pago and I ended up on a tour that took us around –and past funerals of all sorts and a bit of tsunami damage. As of yesterday there are bodies –and people- being looked for still. Our tour guide was only nineteen, but she gave us plenty of information about the damage and such and about the island. Our first stop was at the First Mission Monument which was the first church on the island after the missionaries landed. There was a funeral going on so we took pictures from afar and then checked out some tsunami damage right across the street. Then it was off to The Slippery Rocks… which was really what they were. Giant rocks along the coast that you could see where they had slid away from the cliffs and out into the ocean because of erosion, more of a picture site than anything particularly historic. The next place we went the tour guides and a few locals sang to the sea to see if they could get either a shark or a sea turtle to appear. I guess the short of the legend is that two women went to the village in that area, staid and instead of going back to their original village they dived into the sea and became the shark and the sea turtle or something like that. [Please correct me if I’m wrong] At any rate those of us staying out of the way off the really rough seas didn’t see anything but it was interesting to learn something of the island’s culture and legends and such. We got our tour guide to sing to us –again xD- by Hip hip hooraying for her lol. Then we went a few other scenic places including this small little stretch of soft white sand that was dominated by two large towering pillars of stone that were capped with lots of plant life and trees and things like that. They were named “Flower Pots” and have another legend connected with them that I don’t remember at this moment. At any rate I took pictures up until my camera batteries died so there are plenty I get to work on linking. I bought a few pretty looking sarongs in the market place and ended up with 33 bottles of varying sodas –after complaining that all mine had disappeared- that various people got me. -18 Barq’s RB’s, 12 Mug RB’s and I found three of my missing Cherry Cokes xD-

Now is the weird day, we cross the international date line at approximately 1:00PM ships time. So Today I have both October 11^th and October 12^th all crammed into one day xD At any rate I wasn’t able to sleep last night cause I noticed that I had a really bad sunburn on the left side of my neck –and a bit on my arms and shoulders but nothing that’s bad enough to be bothersome- and probably cause my mind was on everything and anything ><’ I’ll live I guess… I went and took pictures of the Pastry Buffet they had just outside of where I’m currently sitting and writing all this. The cheese Cake was REALLY good… and it looks like a wheel of cheese with a few mice sitting on it x3. They were gone when I got around to being able to take pictures unfortunately. I might have to go back for an entire slice soon… that was good ><’ Oh! And Mike has agreed to go with me on my LOTR tour 8D yay! Someone else who likes LOTR *happy dance* x3