We crossed the international date line enroute to our next stop, Samoa. Best thing was that although we lost a day, the actual time in Tahiti and Samoa was the same. Our bodies aren’t affected if one moment it’s Wednesday and the next it’s Thursday; what’s more important is that it remains 11am. We were welcomed at the airport with music and leis and arrived at our hotel, Sheraton Samoa Beach Resort about 20 minutes later. Once again, dancers and musicians greeted us offering us coconut water in the shell. It was warm and humid, so we went swimming in the ocean to cool down; water temperature was probably 85 degrees but still refreshing.
The hotel gave us each a lava lava as a gift, a beautifully colored light weight fabric worn by both men and women in the tropics. Men wear lava lavas like a loose skirt to keep air circulating around their legs; women wear them as either a skirt of dress. We wore our lava lavas to dinner on the beach that night. We saw lots of creativity in how people chose to wear these colorful fabrics. We had great fun sampling Samoan cuisine -the coconut is an important ingredient in Samoan food – the fruit of the coconut is pounded and squeezed to make cream that is used for cooking with meat, fish and vegetables – the spinach with coconut cream was delicious. After dinner, we watched a Samoan dance and music performance. The women’s dance was gentle and similar to hula, unlike the Tahitians who did a lot of fast hip shaking. However, the male dance moves were very aggressive accompanied by grunts and loud noises. We capped the evening watching a gorgeous sunset.
The next morning, we participated in a cultural experience hosted by the Women’s Committee of a local village that showed us island life. We watched as a young man easily scaled a coconut tree to chop down not only its fruit but fronds. We watched a demonstration of how villagers use sharpened sticks to husk the coconut, release the water and sliver and mash the fruit to make cream. Meanwhile, women wove fronds into baskets that could be used to carry fruits and vegetables.
We walked down the road to see a weaving demonstration with fiber from palm fronds – it is customary for a woman to weave a fiber mat for her daughter prior to marriage. This often takes months to complete. We also saw how the fabric for lava lavas was printed – rather than batik, the artist uses a stencil and roller to paint the design on the fabric. The morning ended with the women and their children giving a spirited dance performance as a sendoff.
So glad that we had this brief opportunity to see Samoa and experience a taste of the country’s warm and welcoming island culture. Just a note; Samoa is an independent country having gained its independence from New Zealand in 1962 and not to be confused with American Samoa or Western Samoa which is an American protectorate.
