Savai'i

Being a tourist -Savai’i style

Back in Savai’i , Mm parents came with me to school daily. The first day they were greeted with a school assembly. The students sang and danced to welcome my parents into their community. The teachers also introduced themselves by dancing to their students voices. It was really sweet and my parents loved it.
That weekend, I made my parents become a part of the community by attending church with me. I had warned them that it would probably by about two hours long, since they do not attend religious service regularly. They sat through it real well, and before we knew it, the two and a half hours of service were over. I am really glad that they came to church because I feel as though my church is just like a family to me. I needed my parents to meet them all. After church, a few of the church members came over to our house for to’ogani, in which my brother made only delicious foods.
I wanted to spare my parents the hassle of being guilted (I know, it is not a word, think I have been in Samoa too long, and my words are escaping me quickly.) into going to church both on Saturdays and Sundays of their visit. So after church we headed to one of my favorite hang out spots in Salelologa. My parents had a giggle when we shared the honeymoon sweet, especially since the honeymoon suite had two beds. But outside of the fale I shared with my parents the dock some of us volunteers like to hang out on. They witnessed the other volunteers that were also enjoying the time there do terrific jumps into the Pacific.
I spread my time between the two groups, playing games with my parents, and saying goodbye to Group 80, as it would be the last time I saw many of them, until our reunions in America.
Some of the places we visited after that weekend included both rainforest preserves located in Savaii. One of them is in the village of Tafua, and the other is in Falealupo. We only drove through them, neglecting to do the hikes, and tree climbs to make the views even more fascinating. I was amazing still seeing the lush forests. They were beautiful.
Another day we headed to the southwest of the island. We picked up Dana, since I wanted to show off my parents to everyone I encountered, and Matt rode his bike to meet us in Vaisala. Vaisala has the best snorkeling around. The coral is amazing, and Dana, my father and myself enjoyed it thoroughly. Matt and my mom hung out on the beach.
After the beach we went to Falealupo where we went to the Rock House. The Rock House was a competition between men and women to see who could build a house made of rock the fastest. (I am not sure of the time period.) The women stayed up all night and beat the men. The lava rocky area was really neat as the houses included stone chairs. Another interesting fact about the Rock House, is that is where the lava tubes where the villagers rescued themselves from a hurricane.
Also at Falealupo we were able to witness the last sunset of the day. Falealupo hosts the westernmost point before the International Date Line.
Another day we met up with Supi and went to the blowholes of Taga. It was amazing to watch the pools of water fill up before shooting out. We went at high tide so it was incredible!
Our final trip was to the north shore where we met up with Rachel to do touristy things. We first swam with turtles which was a lot of fun. (My did experience, our big friend, Mamba Jamba’s big little teeth biting his bathing suit.) We fed the tutles plenty of papya and they loved us for it. After that we went to the villages that were destroyed by the volcanic eruption in the early 1900’s. We walked into the church that was destroyed by lava which was incredible. We also visited the Virgin’s grave, which was one of the only things untouched by lava during the eruption.
Overall, we had a pretty great time exploring Savaii.