Apia Day (Mom’s Visit: Monday)

(From Mom’s trip journal: Told from her perspective)

We got up extra early this morning, I was up by 5:15am and Jessie a bit later. Our plan was to be in a taxi at 6:00 in order to make it to the wharf in time to catch the 8:00am ferry back to Upolu. We wanted to make sure we would get a seat on the ferry.  The taxi picked us up just a bit after 6:00 and we arrived at the wharf around 7:15. We only had a short wait until tickets went on sale. Jessie watched our luggage while I waited “in line”. The Samoans don’t know the meaning of lining up. It turned into a mob and pushing fest. I was about 3^rd in line to start with but all these people just pushed their way to the front. I stood my ground and quickly learned the trick of just sticking your money clinched hand up and into the ticket window and just yell out how many tickets you want. After shoving a few others out of the way we had our tickets in hand. (Go Mom!)

Shortly after the gates opened and we boarded the ferry, carefully selecting our seats this time based on where we would get the best shelter from the wind, rain and spray. The ferry quickly filled up with people, cars, and trucks then set sail for Upolu. Again, a fairly miserable passage; this time due to being cold from the wind but luckily it wasn’t raining. We both wrapped up in a lava lava for a bit of warmth and snuggled up for the ride. We arrived in Upolu around 9:30. Whoever said the ferry ride is only 45 minutes, doesn’t know what they are talking about. 

We quickly grabbed our luggage and found a taxi for the ride from the wharf to the car rental place in the center of Apia. We quickly made our way out of the car rental place and set out on our next adventure. The main issue with driving in Western Samoa is that they drive on the left side of the road. It was only a few months ago that they made the change from right to left hand side driving, in order to better accommodate car imports from New Zealand. Our car was still a right hand drive car so it made it just a bit more difficult. We were on our way and ready for some lunch. We found a nice restaurant near the flea market where we were planning to shop. It was owned / operated by a New Zealander and the food was really good. So after enjoying the “western” style food and surroundings, we set off to shop the flea market for native made souvenirs.  Siapo or Tapa fabric made from mulberry bark and hand painted with natural dyes were one of the items on our shopping list. We also purchased some Kava bowls made from the “Ifilele” tree, some wooden carved traditional Samoan weapons (Jessie’s favorites), and a variety of other coconut jewelry and trinkets to take back as souvenirs. I think we made at least 3 trips to the car before we completed our treasure hunting. 

After that we set out to find where we would be staying on the south side of Upolu. Apia, the capital, is on the north coast near the port.  Our journey took us through the middle of the island through some really beautiful villages. The plant life here is just magnificent. Everywhere you look there are blooming trees and shrubs and I love the giant tree ferns and palms. It is more rural here than in American Samoa. It took just about an hour to navigate our way to Virgin Cove, where we would stay for the next 2 nights. We were greeted and taken to “secluded fale #10”, our new home. These fales are a bit more upscale from the standard fales, which were similar to those we stayed in at Tanu. The secluded fales are raised up on stilts and include a raised bed, a lock box for your valuables, mosquito net, and electricity (both light and electrical socket). The fale also had a small porch out front with a couple of chairs for taking in the view. Our fale sat right on the beach with an amazing view of the cove. We dumped our gear and went for a swim before getting cleaned up for dinner. Virgin Cove is out in the middle of nowhere so their restaurant is the only choice for dining unless you drive back to Apia. The restaurant serves several options for dinner, which is served by candle light to the Samoan tunes of a 3 man band. They music was really good and set the ambience for a nice meal. Following dinner we returned to our fale for a bit of reading before turning in for the night.