Samoa with Maria: Days 4-6

On day four, we were ready to head to Savai'i, the less populous island. Despite the rather discouraging bus-related advice we'd received, we decided to give catching a bus to the ferry terminal a try. We had lost any confidence that we knew what the bus routes were likely to be like, but were encouraged to hear from our hostess that the majority passing in the direction Apia, the main city, would travel through the main hub there, and then we could find a bus to the ferry terminal from there. Which we did, eventually, manage to do. There is no timetable posted anywhere that we could find, and what we had managed to find online before we left was utterly confusing, to the extent that the few things we thought we'd understood about it did not appear to be true in real life. Fortunately, every single person we asked for help did their best to point us in the right direction, and did so as if we'd made their day by asking. So it was hard to be too upset about anything.

Also, Samoan buses are pretty cool. Each one has it's own unique look, but they often have lots of beautiful wood, bright colours and fabrics, and low-tech Plexiglas windows the ingeniously slide in and out of little compartments underneath. Moreover, they are all, without exception, constantly blaring some kind of reggae-island-remix-techno-awesome music. I don't know who makes this music, but it is super positive and energizing and I loved it!

Also, aside from the main Apia hub and the ferry terminal, there are no bus stops, so you just wave a bus down wherever you are, and tap with a coin on the window when you want to get off. Certainly a different system, but it clearly works!

We were going to rent a car at the Savai'i ferry terminal, but the ferry was over two hours late, meaning that we arrived after the rental place closed, and after the last buses had left. (This last information was from the taxi driver who subsequently got to drive us to our fale, and so would be slightly suspect, except again, everyone was so genuinely helpful. Also it did seem unlikely, as we looked around, that a bus was about to show up, so we just went with it.)

Anyway, we arrived at our second beach fale, which was very different from the first, but stunning int its own way. It seems to be a bit in danger of falling into the ocean, but they were working on fixing that while we were there, and we stayed stable. We did have a big storm our first night there, and had to jump up in the middle of the night to pull down all the woven "walls" to keep from getting inundated with a mixture of rain and seawater, but once we'd done that, we were all good.

The mats in this fale were up on wooden frames, which I think is less traditional, but it was convenient.

We had beautiful views of the ocean, including some lovely sunsets!

And glorious sunny days, usually with the occasional cloud cover, which was much appreciated, as any time in direct sunlight was instantly roasting!

I actually can't remember where exactly we were when we spotted this rainbow, but isn't it magical!?

Our first day on Savai'i we rented bikes and cycled to Saleaula Lava Flow. (Side note, I found out afterwards the one of the families at my work is from Saleaula!)
Mount Matāvanu erupted between 1905 and 1911 in one of the biggest eruptions of the 20th century. Lava covered 70 square kilometres of northeastern Savai'i. What you can see of it today is incredible!

Lava surrounded the London Missionary Society Church at Saleaula, which remains as a ruin today.

It was amazing to walk through it - it's hard to believe that anything, even these strong stone walls, could have survived that much lava surging through!

And speaking of being impressed - life will find a way, right? These determined plants are thriving, poking up through solid volcanic rock and slowly, slowly turning it into fertile soil.

There was lots of interesting sea life in the nooks and crannies at the end of the lava flow, and most excitingly, we saw a sea turtle!

Further along, there is a lava formation called the Virgin's Grave where, legend has is, the lava parted to go around an innocent virgin. We were a bit confused as to the merits of this, as she must have died anyway if it's her grave, so what did the lava parting accomplish? We didn't attain clarity on this, but it was neat to go down inside the bubble-like formation. Although it was damp and out of the wind and therefore full of bugs, so it wasn't somewhere you'd hang out for a long time.

We found an excellent, peaceful place to have a rest under a tree.

But who, you might ask, is that charming and extremely intelligent person lounging under the tree while Emma does all the photography legwork? Why, it’s none other than myself: Maria, the second adventurer on this trip, and PIC (that’s Partner in Crime) to our lovely blogger Emma since our toddler days. I hope you don’t mind if I cut in here - I promise you’ll get Emma back when I’m done.

Anyway - onward, fellow explorers!

To wrap up our experience at the Lava Fields, we hiked out to a small viewing deck where we saw the aforementioned sea turtle, and admired the ocean against the beautiful lava flows. 

On our bike ride back to the fale, we stopped for lunch at a small cafe. We promptly ordered two meals from our server, a young woman named Tia, and then I left to cross the street to a gas station to find a couple of sodas for our lunch. When I returned a short while later, I found Emma seated at a completely different table, gamely forking into a large plate of rice and taro, and chatting away with what I would have mistaken for old friends had I not been pretty sure they were complete strangers. (This was a common theme of our trip.) The “old friends” turned out to be a crew of Samoan electricians on their lunch break, and they quickly recruited us to share their home-cooked meal they’d brought with them, and proceeded to share a friendly conversation on the nature of Samoans and Samoan culture. I was tickled by this display of hospitality, and then slightly dismayed when, after the electricians left, our own (completely forgotten by then) orders arrived! We got through them, though, so don’t worry.

Upon our return to our fale, we discovered several new guests had arrived. Among them were two Australian women with whom we ended up chatting at dinner, and we decided we all quite liked each other! The next morning at breakfast we discovered that they, like us, were planning to rent a car for the day to drive around the island, and we suggested that we all go in on a car together. They agreed, and off we went! 

We visited so many beautiful places that day. A lava tube first, much like the others we’d seen on our trip.

On our way to and from the lava tube, we walked through a stunning tropical forest, and were delighted to see a field of pineapples! This is not something you see every day, in New Zealand or Colorado.

Also included in our entry fee for the lava tube was admission to the Footprint of Moso. The story says that Moso was one of the first giants in Samoa, and that his stride was so long you can only find the other footprint by traveling to Fiji!

We also got to see the House of Stone, which was an interesting lava-formed structure that looked like a domed roof.

Emma thought these looked like kawakawa, a native NZ plant. Cousins, perhaps? We also met birds that look just like Emma's favorite NZ bird, the pūkeko, but they can't fly, so how could that be? 

Later in the day we visited The Canopy Walk, which was essentially two platforms built way up in the canopy and connected by a plank bridge, but turned out to be so much more fun than that description sounds. 

The trees the platforms were built around were fascinating, complex, and massive.

The bridge itself was very prone to swaying and thus slightly unsettling, but lots of fun!

The staircases were quite steep, but there weren’t too many of them.

The view from the top was worth it all!

On the way out of the forest we stopped to admire all the beautiful blue seeds (berries?) on the sandy path. I was slightly frustrated (but mostly amused) at my inability to name any plants on either Samoan island, and these little guys especially perplexed me.

Continuing on our drive, we rounded the Western end of the island and stopped at this church near the beach to explore. 

At one point, at the Eastern end of Savai'i, we drove through a particularly beautiful forest. That part of the island is the most rural, and it was amazing to visit, although we heard that it feels a bit isolated to stay overnight.

Our second-to-last stop was the Alofaaga Blowholes. The sandy, gently-sloping coast of most of the island had turned into a rather dramatic cliffside while we drove, and as it met up with the fiercer waves of the western Pacific, some pretty neat things were happening!

Timing the photos was the biggest challenge, as the eruptions came on quite suddenly, and when they did you really wanted to be watching instead of photographing, but we managed a few shots.

This is an example of the much more rugged coastline we encountered at this stop.

And yet still covered in lush vegetation!

The colors were my favorite part of this stop, I think.

 Our very last stop was an incredibly beautiful waterfall, with lovely, well-maintained paths along the river leading up to it. 

Samoa has fascinating hydrology (as described in the first sign photo). The volcanic rock of the island is so porous that any rainfall is immediately absorbed into the ground, and trickles down through the rock to a freshwater reservoir-like formation called a lens. A lens is a body of freshwater that holds its shape against the incoming saltwater of the ocean only by “floating” above the denser mass of seawater. Most of the streams and pools on Samoa were ground-water fed as a result of this supply of freshwater.  

 Hydrology aside, this pool looked cool, serene, and incredibly inviting to would-be swimmers! Our crew had had a long day, though, and it was time to head home. 

Samoa with Maria: Day 3

On day three, we intended to hop on and off the bus to visit a variety of landmarks around Upolu. We had both done quite a bit of research on the Samoan buses and understood that they make a constant loop around the (basically circular) island, and there is no predicting when they will come, but if you hang out by the main road long enough, you can flag one down. Alright, simple enough. Well, when we told our Matareva hostess of our plans, she was horrified, saying we'd have to take at least three different buses in order to get to just the first of our several stops. Then she explained the we could sign up for their "Adventure Tour" which went everywhere we wanted to go, plus a lava tube. This was the first of many experiences we had in Samoa when someone seemed extremely helpful and knowledgeable about a system that didn't made sense to us, but also their suggestions benefited them, so we while we wanted to trust them, it was hard to be certain. (The longer we spent in Samoa the more convinced we were that these people were too nice to mislead us, and I continue to believe/hope that that's true.) In this case, the price for the tour was very reasonable, and fighting with multitudes of unpredictable buses sounded awful, so we decided to do it. And we're so glad we did, because the tour was definitely a highlight of our trip, in ways that doing those things on our own, even if the bus plan had worked perfectly, would not have been.

We got in the van in the morning with a group of strangers, who by the end of the day felt like friends. We were accompanied by a man and two boys (perhaps 12 and 16) who were members of the family who owned Matareva Beach Fales. We assumed that the man was our tour guide, but soon found out that he didn't speak English, and the two boys would be showing us around. They were hilarious and enthusiastic tour guides, with unorthodox but very entertaining methods, and I'm so glad we spent the day with them!

First we walked through some amazing native bush, with all kinds of incredible flora...

... to arrive at a lava tube. Our tour guides told us that it's not on any websites or maps, but they'd like to make it more well-known in conjunction with their fales. It was too dark inside for pictures, but it was amazing in there, although extremely hot and humid (so much so that you could see the water in the air in the flashlight beams). There was also condensation on the walls, and when it beaded up on top of some kinds of lichen it glittered like gold. Our tour guides explained that people would shelter in these tubes (which are miles long) if there was a natural disaster, and showed us a grave deep inside it. They didn't know the story of who the person was, but you can imagine hard times. 

Next, we headed to Savaia, where there is a Giant Clam Sanctuary.

Having no underwater photo-taking ability, I am reduced to internet photos, but I can assure you that this is exactly what these clams looked like! Unbelievable, right? They are amazing! The ones that colour were mostly about 120cm (47in or almost 4 feet) long. And we learned that if you drop a rock on it, it will shut on it, then jettison it out with a jet of water! Click here for an underwater video around the sanctuary (apologies for the annoying music) and here for more information about endangered Giant Clams.

Also, bonus - sea turtles live there too! Unfortunately Maria and I were not together when another tourist pointed one out to me, so she didn't get to see it, but I swam near it for several minutes, and it was amazing! There are places in Samoa that specifically advertise swimming with sea turtles, but they had mixed reviews on how happy the turtles were about coming into a confined space with people, so we decided not to go. But meeting this one in its natural habitat was so special!

Next, we headed to Togitogiga Waterfall.

(A note before I continue: In order for Anglophones to pronounce the Samoan 'g', it's helpful to imagine that it has an 'n' in front of it, as it sounds much like the end of 'ing'. So this waterfall is pronounced as if it was spelled Tongitonginga. I find this very cook, because keeping it in mind as I read Samoan made me much more able to find overlap between it and Māori.)

This beautiful waterfall was not only visually stunning but very adventurous (as promised by the tour name). We spent a little while swimming around the freezing water at the bottom (a welcome change from the heat of the day at first, but really too cold for extended enjoyment) and challenging ourselves to swim against the current to get near the bottom of the falls.

Then Walter, the younger of our tour guides, showed us how to climb up the side of the falls and where to jump into the pool. (This is a stock photo, as we were much too busy adventuring to take any.) On the left, you can see people jumping from one place we jumped from, but above them you can also see a little fence - we also climbed up and jumped from there. It was much more exhilarating, because you had to make sure to jump as far out as possible to make sure you cleared the lower ledge. It was not physically challenging to do so, but added an extra sense of adventure.

Our last stop of the day was to To Sua Giant Swimming Hole. Rather than regurgitating the information from this information panel, I thought I'd just include it - if you click on it, it should get big enough that you can read the words.

The whole area surrounding the swimming holes was very beautiful, although we explored very little. If we read the map right, this is the area where the lava tube connected to the swimming hole joins the ocean. Plus, look at that lovely little pool in the middle of the volcanic rock. Stunning.

This is the picture we took of the more open side of the lava tube. It was a bit overcast when we were there, for which we were very thankful, as it kept the temperature at a manageable 30C (86F), but it did mean that the colours of the water were a bit muted. It might also have kept some tourists away, because we were extremely lucky to find it mostly empty and ready for our exploration, whereas I've heard it can be quite busy.

Just for comparison's sake, however, here is a photo of what it looks like under full sun. 

This is looking back from the smaller of the two places where the roof of the lava tube collapsed. It was pretty exciting to swim through the tube part - I have a rather irrational fear of dark water, so I did take a deep breath or two before striking out into the tunnel, but it was worth it, and unsurprisingly, no sea monsters attacked me at all! Plus the view was amazing! So that's a win for adventure.

This is looking down at that smaller pool from on top. I wish I could find a picture of looking up out of it, because seeing the light filtering down through all that lush greenery (and especially the ferns) was really special. 

As I mentioned, the lava tube is connected to the ocean by an underwater section, so as the waves/tides roll in/out an enormously powerful suction is created. This causes an intense current within the swimming hole that changes direction rapidly every minute or so. There are ropes strung across the main section, and then one that you can pull yourself along to go through the tunnel. There is just enough of a threat in the idea of getting sucked into the underwater tube to get your adrenaline pumping, and this combined with the acrobatic potential of an underwater rope and a conveniently placed submerged rock results in some amazing playfulness, even in adults. By this time we had bonded with our fellow tourists and were ready to join together in all kinds of shenanigans and comfortable laughing with/at each other. This last bit was important, as we tested the limits of how far we could stray from the rope, how high we could balance on the rock, or which body parts we could link to the rope before the indomitable water inevitably returned us to our tightfisted grip on the lifeline. I think we all felt that we could do it forever and never get bored, but also realized fairly quickly that it was fatigue, not boredom, that would limit our adventures. What a workout! Walter again led the way in jumping from crazy heights (the exhilarating of the jump replaced immediately by the driving need to find the rope as soon as you hit the water), and then after that, we retreated to the car, exhausted but satisfied. Both of our young tour guides collapsed into the front seat in exhaustion, and were fast asleep by the time we got back to the fales. They'd made us laugh all day and shown us a truly amazing adventurous side to Samoa, and they deserved their rest.

The combination of adorable and entertaining guides, incredible sights, fantastic company, and invigorating adventure made this a day we will never forget!