Samoa with Maria: Days 7-9

Well, to say that I've shattered all my previous records for long gaps between posts seems like a slight understatement. Many of you will know that I've been really struggling with my health for most of this year, and as a result, writing this blog has become one of many things I've needed to set aside while focusing on getting well. I believe that I am near the end of my current health struggles and ready to move on to the next adventure (more on that later), and I'm hoping that blogging will become manageable again soon.

In the meantime, my fabulous guest-writer Maria has kindly written a final post about our incredible trip to Samoa last year, so let's use that as a launching point towards what will hopefully be many more posts in the future. 

For now, here's Maria:

Before we wrap up the trip, I want to try and tell you about the food in Samoa. Most everything we ate on both islands was delicious, and, what’s more, a lot of it was new! This is always exciting, when not only do the dishes look a little unfamiliar, but when, on closer inspection, even the ingredients are unrecognizable! 

There were themes, of course. The main staple is taro, a starchy root vegetable from the Pacific Islands. You can eat both the root and the leaves, which we did!

The most popular preparation was to steam the roots, and by the end we started to anticipate it being on any plate - sort of like a side of potatoes. The leaves were cooked with coconut milk in some magical manner that produced a sweet, tender, almost custard-like concoction wrapped in taro leaves. This is called palusami, and you can find a recipe for it and pictures of it (not that I expect most of us to be able to get a hold of taro leaves) from the Polynesian Cultural Center here. 

The other strongest themes were fish and coconut. We ate all of these ingredients in countless forms, all of them delectable. One of the nights we spend at Matareva, the staff cooked up a giant buffet of Samoan dishes, and this is just one of the plated results of that feast:

Note from Emma: I accidentally deleted Maria's lovely comments about junk food, which she had typed here. They were something to the effect that although we could have been completely healthy the whole time, we also felt the need to try out the new assortment of processed food on display at the frequent corner stores, including dried peas and some kind of pineapple gelly-something, pictured below.

On a healthier note, we also bought some mystery fruit at the market…

...and purchased plenty of fresh papaya and coconut. 

Emma masterfully managed to remove the coconut flesh from its shell in two entire pieces and was very proud.

But enough about food! Back to the trip. Our final stretch of days saw us head back to the north island to explore the metropolitan side of Samoan life. There seems to really only be one city, as we would think of it, and that is Apia, the capital of Samoa. It sits right on the coast (shocking), and we spent our last two nights there in a slightly less traditional, but no less comfortable and welcoming, fale. 

We spent most of the first day in Apia exploring the city. We wandered through markets, admiring crafts and trying out new fruit. 

We also popped into a huge church we happened to pass by, and were rewarded by beautiful architecture! We especially loved the gorgeous ceilings:

The next day, we set off via bus to Piula Cave Pool. It was a beautiful day, perfect for a swim, and the bus ride along the coast out of the city was gorgeous. The pool is part of the land owned by the Piula Theological School, to whom we paid a small fee, and took the steps down to the pool. 

This was one of my favorite experiences we had in Samoa. The pool is situated at the mouth of a cave, which you can swim in and out of easily. There is a small tea shop and an open-air shelter, as well as lots of picnic tables and smaller fale for pool-goers to use. Families and groups of all kinds, both Samoan and foreign, sat about on picnic blankets, lounged in the fale, and swam and dived in the pool. The pool itself was filled with cool, astoundingly clear freshwater. 

  It’s hard to tell in the photos just how clear the water really was, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it! There were a couple of beautiful blue eels darting around, which attracted everyone’s attention for a bit as we all tried to catch a glimpse of them weaving in and out of the rocky walls of the pool. Mostly, however, we floated in and out of the cave, occasionally perching on outcroppings of rock inside the cave and watching the goings-on. It was a lovely, relaxing way to spend our last full day on the island.

To top it all off, we discovered as we were leaving that the Piula pool was home to two garden toilets! These are the most magnificent way you’ve ever come across to -ahem- relieve yourself, and if you ever get the chance to potty in a garden toilet, please do so!

The sign is from the first garden toilets we came across on our trip, which were equally exciting. 

The following day was our last in Samoa. Emma had arranged beforehand to meet up with Ruta, the grandmother of one of her former students, who lives near Apia and who had graciously invited us to come to a church service with her! Ruta attends the only Baha’i temple in Samoa, and Emma and I, having never attended a Baha’i service, were only too excited to join. The rather fascinating-looking temple was set on a hill, in the midst of a beautiful, lovingly landscaped garden. 

There was a wonderful visitor’s center that we got to stop at before and after the service, and we learned so much about the Baha’i faith. Here are their principle tenets:

To my understanding, Baha’is believe that all major religions hold truth, and that we are called to “...progress spiritually by serving our fellow human beings. In doing so, we acquire the divine qualities we will need in the life to come.” (This comes from the official website of the Baha'i faith, in case you’d like to read more!)

After the service, we spent a wonderfully relaxing afternoon at Ruta’s home in the hills above Apia. 

Unfortunately, this lovely afternoon marked our last in Samoa. As our flights that evening were several hours apart, Emma and I said our goodbyes and took separate taxis to the airport. After such a short time, the beautiful islands of Samoa had already begun to feel like home. It is a very easy place to love, and Samoans are easy people to befriend! I don’t imagine I will be making that rather long trans-Pacific trip again any time soon, but I would highly recommend it to anyone who feels they have the means (or the proximity) to visit. 

And, if you happen to be able to meet up with a life long friend while you’re at it, I highly recommend that, too.