Walking through the spiderwebs

Walking through the spider webs
I wanted to leave early in the morning so I could still attend church with my family, however it was raining, and I was not about to ride my bike in the rain. We decided to try to find the elusive beach which we tried to find twice previously and every time ended in failure.
We set out on our mission to find the beach. The path is full of rocks, we were walking in tall grass, all of a sudden I heard the famous words from Dana, “I think we are almost there.” Like I said, we had tried to get to this spot several times before, and all of them had ended in failure with her saying, “I think we are almost there, ” several times.
We turned off the path into the bush where we were now walking in the dirt mixed with huge giant rocks. We were swatting our way through spider webs and sloshing in our shoes. Climbing over fallen trees, and crawling underneath them. We walked towards the ocean, and looked down and saw a massive cliff.
There is supposed to be a path for you to scale the rocks to get to the beach, but we couldn’t find it. The cliff was huge and I was terrified of falling off. We continued walking next to the cliff, using a stick to break apart the spider webs, to avoid eating many more of them. Bugs all around us, dirt coating out legs, it was an incredible experience. There were some trees coated with butterflies. When we approached the trees, hundreds of butterflies fluttered about. They were flying all around us and it was beautiful. We passed dozens of trees like this and it was an amazing site.
Finally we saw a path down the hill. We didn’t know where the path lead to, but since it was a path, it must be someplace good. We started walking down the narrow path. The road was steep, and muddy, and we ended up sliding down it quite a few times. Finally at the bottom we saw sand. We made it!
Only this wasn’t La Oto, the beach Dana had planned on taking us to, we had walked much farther and found an additional private beach. We dropped our things and ran towards the water. We swam at the beach for a little while enjoying the solitude. I am used to going to the beach with dozens of little Samoans following me to spend time with me, so actually being able to swim without the children was a nice treat.
We looked towards the west, and we saw La Oto. It looked like a short trip away, but what was separating us from the other beach was a bunch of rocks. We kept our shoes off and began bouldering.
I tried rock climbing in college and really enjoyed it. I was never going to be a lead climber so I often went out bouldering with my friends as equipment wasn’t needed. It really can be just as fun trying to figure out your path. Bouldering in Wyoming, does not come close to comparing to bouldering on the beaches on Samoa.
The rocks are slippery as some of the waves come crashing right on your. You are climbing with hundreds of crabs, lizards and small fish living in the little ponds on the rocks. Our feet are slipping as it is difficult to find a grip. During some points we had to jump into the water as there was no visible path on the rocks without Stretch Armstrong Arms. Our feet were crammed into small spaces as we climbed for at least an hour. Our feet were becoming cut up as we walked on broken coral, and climbed barefoot.
Finally we made it to the other beach. “Bump,” a coconut fell off the tree right near Dana’s head. What amazing food she thought. I offered to try to open it, but she said it can wait until we got back. We saw on the beach drank some water and realized how hungry we were so left and began climbing the cliff to go home. Dana looked funny as she climbed the cliff with a coconut in hand. I kept my shoes off as my feet were in pain from being cut up. So I walked on the rocks and dirt with bugs crawling all around me for the half hour or so of our walk.
We had been gone about five hours and were famished. Dana’s family were out, but left a few cans of food with our names on them. Neither of us know how to open cans without can openers, so we headed over to her neighbors house.
The neighbor was her principal and knew me and so it was nice to see a familiar face. They quickly grabbed the food from us, offered us seats on the mats. Then the food came put, we had so much to eat and so much to talk about. I love how any family in Samoa always seems to welcome you in.
Outside it wasn’t as hot as normal. So I decided it was time for me to take the long bike ride home. As soon as I left, the clouds left and the sun was out. I began to regret my decision to ride at that time. I hopped on my bike, and began going uphill. I kept pedaling and pedaling and wasn’t going anywhere I felt.
“Dang it!” Both of my tires were flat. I continued to walk my bike uphill. I then headed to Dana’s family’s house. (They have both a house in tai and uta.) They were nice enough to wake up and help me fill my tires so I could continue on my journey.
It was hot, and I felt dehydrated so I stopped several times on the 25ish km journey home. I stopped several times for water breaks. I had several people try to get me to stop and rest at their house. When I was about six villages away I began to hear my name being called out every thirty seconds. I don’t know how so many people learned my name so quickly, when I barely go to their village.
I decided that I deserved a real break when I reached Elisa’s village so I stopped for some ice cream. I sat on the store steps and ate, about ten children gathered around me quickly. We chatted for half an hour about rugby and other little things about life.
Finally I decided to hop on my bike and finish my trip home. I got distracted in the next village to mine by some students and got invited to go to attend church with them the following day.
But finally I did make it home, and it was nice to be back. My feet are all cut up, one of my toes is pussing a little , but it was nice to be home.I had a great time walking in the spider webs with Dana, and I am looking forward to our next adventure together!