It’s impossible to type out everything we have seen and done in the last two months since arriving to American Samoa, but I’ll include the highlights below. What a fun two months it has been! Now that the our website is built, this will hopefully mean better updates moving forward!
Hiking
The National Park of American Samoa has been very kind to us in the hiking department. The trails are well maintained, open on Sundays, and void of any cranky island dogs. The trail to Mt Alava (the second highest peak on the island) is our favorite so far, and I’ve even used it a few times as a trail run (though quite the butt kicker) when I’m sick of being chased by dogs close to home. The trail is a challenging 7.5 mile round trip to the summit and back, with 2100′ of elevation gain.
On windy days, the trail feels far less challenging compared to our recent hike on a very calm, still day! Either way, the views along the way and at the summit are stunning.
Also maintained by the National Park is the Blunt’s Point trail, where you can find a series of gun batteries along the steep route up to the top. These WWII guns point down to Pago Pago harbor, and were installed after the Pearl Harbor invasion to protect the harbor. Blunt’s Point is just under a 4 mile round trip, with sections much steeper than Mt Alava, and about 1100′ of elevation gain.
Beaches and Swimming/Snorkeling
We try and get in to the water as much as possible, since we live right here at the ocean front. Weekday afternoons are often busy though with homework and now soccer practice. Or you have a day like today, where the water is far too choppy to make a swim enjoyable, and we skip.
The ocean right in front of our house has a long reef flat, about 100 yards, which means tons of sights to see while snorkeling. At low tide the tops of the reef are just above water, so you definitely can’t explore the much of the reef unless you are close to high tide. There is just not enough water between the top of the coral and the surface for your body to comfortably feet at lower tides! Luckily we can swim at the edge of the corals, it’s just very shallow at low tide. With all the swimming, Ty and Tora have really improved their swimming skills. They even have swim class once a week at a local pool as part of their PE class.
Saturdays are our explorations days. By far our favorite beach so far is Larsen’s Bay, right below Fogama’a Crater. It’s short, but steep, 15 minute hike through the crater to the remote cove. The hike keeps most people away, and the perfect beach is empty and deserted. The snorkeling is great at higher tides, and the reef break makes the waves non-existent and perfect water for lounging at low tides.
Umu: Traditional Samoan Feasts
Umus are not just a historical tradition, as many Samoan families still cook their weekend feasts in this earth oven. Much preparation goes into each umu, culminating in a meal using traditional foods such as breadfruit, taro, octopus, fish, pork, squash, and coconut. Coconuts are husked, scraped and squeezed to produce coconut cream, with the remaining parts saved as fuel for the fire.
The fire heats up dense river rocks, which are then used to cook the food. Once hot, the rocks are arranged in thick bed, and the foods are placed on top.
Many layers of banana leaves are then placed on top of the food, enough to keep all the steam contained under the leaves. About an hour later, the food is cooked and ready for a family feast.
We’ve had the chance to participate in various steps of a few umus so far. The week after we arrived on island, Bucky’s work hosted a welcome umu at Tisa’s Barefoot Bar for us and another new employee and her family. Tisa does a fabulous job of explaining the Samoan tradition, and all the steps that go into making an umu. The food was delicious, the company wonderful, and the ocean side setting idyllic!
We had a lot more hands on experience with umu preparations when our neighbor hosted a Saturday umu last month. The highlight of the meal was Taufolo, a traditional roasted breadfruit treat. It’s made with a specific type of breadfruit, only in season twice a year. Dozens of coconuts were scraped, cream extracted, breadfruit roasted and then the charred skin carefully removed. The breadfruit was pounded into a large wooden bowl, coconut cream and hot rocks were added, sugar caramelized on the hot rocks along with washing the rocks with the coconut cream. We feasted on dumpling sized bites of the breadfruit soaked in the sweet cream.
Vacation to Samoa
While we live in a territory of the United States called American Samoa, the independent country of Samoa is due west of us and part of the same archipelago. We decided to take advantage of school fall break and take a little vacation to Samoa. It’s only a 30 minute flight on a tiny 20 seater plane, but you cross over the International Date Line while en route to Samoa.
The time difference makes for some very careful itinerary booking when you depart on a Friday and land on a Saturday. Thankfully we booked our flights and hotels on the correct dates, and had a wonderful time in Samoa!
We stayed directly on a gorgeous mile long, white sandy beach in an open side fale. Fales are traditional Samoan buildings, still widely seen as gathering places for each village. Our fale had two double mattresses with mosquito netting, and tarps that we could roll up or down depending on weather.
We had a blast exploring the island of Upolu, one of the two main islands of Samoa. These islands are much larger than American Samoa, and we still have a lot left we would like to explore. Thankfully it’s just a short flight away!
Head over to our post on the best spots we found on the island during our Samoa Vacation!
Looking Ahead
Time really has a way of flying and forcing you to look ahead, and we have a ton of exciting things on our horizon. Bucky and Tora have birthdays this month, Thanksgiving is coming up, Bucky travels to Guam for work, and we’re heading to New Zealand for a two week family trip. Life is good!
Leave a reply