SAMOA Part 1 (Apia/Robert Louis/Sliding Rocks)

and so it began


we got to our hotel in apia, the outrigger, and started the new day in their refreshing pool. we would swim in here 4 times over the course of the day


the open-air fale (samoan house). we stayed in these the whole time we were here


brian on island time


after taking care of some business with the travel agency we hailed a taxi to take us to the robert louis stevenson museum. the guy seemed pretty sketchy but he said he knew some cool spots, so we stuck with him





robert louis's former home


"this, is the only fireplace in samoa, built at the request of robert louis so he could feel more at home. it has never been used."





robert louis's study


we kept going with sketchy cabdriver..he said he would take us to the 'sliding rocks', which sounded intriguing





we paid a small fee to the village and walked down a huge flight of stairs to the water





at this point our guide told brian he'd show him how to slide off the giant cascading waterfall without getting hurt. i was a little nervous for him, but he slid down fine


"a little more that way...a little up. now go"


pretty big drop. here sophia lines herself up for the slide


so much fun


and here i am


apia's waterfront





one of many giant churches that cover the island. samoa is obsessed with church, it plays a huge part in their society (social/family life, status, education)


we took a break and brian made friends with this fisherman


some natural disaster tore this former building up


we searched around for the market, passing lots of the pimped out public buses that blast samoan beats all around the island


apia's food market...lots of strange fruits and samoan delicacies for sale here. brian bought a coconut water on ice, the lady took her machete and chopped off a nice hole in the coconut so brian could get a straw in there. it tasted delicious


back at the hotel, relaxing on the patio. it was a long day with seriously hot/humid weather so we were pretty drained. tomorrow we would be leaving on a ferry from 'upolu to the other, less populated island, savai'i. to be continued