Amalau Camping

A group of palagis drove to Amalau on the north side of the island for fale camping. Fales are open air, wooden structures with a roof that are common in Samoa. Amalau is a secluded bay, surrounded by tall cliffs, between the villages of Vatia and Afono. The campsite provides nice facilities including a number of fales, full bathroom, running water, showers, and cooking facilities. Activities included snorkelling, football, beach bonfire, BBQ, and my favorite -- floating in the ocean a few hundred feet offshore.

View from the pass over the mountains:
Fale with mosquito netting:
Michael's bivouac:
Chris manning the bonfire:
View from above and to the west:
View of Vatia:

Election Day

Election Day in the territory was exciting from an national and local standpoint. Governor, Fono seats [local legislature], and American Samoa's non-voting member of the U.S. House of Representatives were all up for grabs in a hotly contested election season.

Local campaigner:
You can't buy votes, but you can buy lunch. Candidates provide their supporters with free plate lunches:
Supporters:
One of my favorite candidates was Fagatogo Steve. He seemed disappointed when we informed him we weren't local voters, but was gracious enough to offer us free lunch regardless. Sadly, he was defeated by just a few votes:
A number of island Palagis [a/k/a white people] eagerly awaited the Presidential returns at the Pago Pago Yacht Club:
Sale of alcohol is prohibited on election day. Probably a good idea [see free lunch picture earlier]:

Drive To Work

The drive to work consistently offers a variety of sights - most interesting, some confusing, all wonderful.

The airbrush shop sells great t-shirts. The common themes seem to include "Stuntin' Is A Habit", Bob Marley, and high school football:
One of many island churches:
Flowerpot rock:
Roadside fish, lobster and octopus salesman:
Aiga bus (public transportation). One of the buses has an eagle carrying a briefcase in its talons. We call it the "business eagle" bus. I'll try to get a pic:
Bon Jovi graffiti (in honor of French Bon Jovi graffiti post on Jay's Cho Tsumetai blog):
Another church:
Campaign posters:

Tisa's Barefoot Bar

Tisa's Barefoot Bar, a South Pacific institution, is one of the highlights of American Samoa. Located directly on Alega Beach, it is a restaurant, bar, semi-hotel with a "castaway" vibe, great food, and an excellent Pina Colada.

Erin and I attended Tisa's "Umu" which is the Samoan version of a luau. A large hot rock oven is built and covered with banana leaves. The oven cooks various meats, fruits, and vegetables. The following documents our journey there.

Besides the mountains, the most prominent feature of Pago Pago Harbor's east side is the tuna canneries, which happen to be American Samoa's largest employer outside of the U.S. Government:
View of Pago Pago Harbor from the east side:
Erin next to a sign indicating unknown things:
There are a lot of churches on the island, this one being my favorite. At sunset, from the west side of the harbor, this church is one of the last things to stay illuminated by sunlight which gives one the impression that it's slightly more blessed than the others, although I'm sure the other island congregations would disagree with my assessment:
View from Alega Beach:
Pulling food out of the Umu:
Extremely excited to eat:
Dinner (pork, chicken, lamb, turkey, octopus, spinach, shrimp, breadfruit, corned beef, plantain, etc...):

Airport Beach, Redux

An earlier post told of the "Trash Walk" to Airport Beach. Fortunately, there's another route, and once I had a car we were able to enjoy the much more scenic "Blowhole Walk" to Airport Beach.

The path leads along ocean cliffs and blowholes made up of volcanic rock:
Erin stopped to enjoy the beautiful blue water:
Sadly, a local crab fisherman recently fell off these cliffs and presumably drowned. His body was never found. Fortunately, a similar fate did not befall Erin or me. In more upbeat, ridiculous news, recently discovered Vietnam-era explosives were "safely" disposed of near this path. Read about the discovery of said explosives (during road work) here.

Once at Airport Beach we spotted a black tip reef shark. Look closely at the picture:

Mt. Alava

Mt. Alava is one of the mountains encircling Pago Pago Harbor, and has the distinct honor of being home to American Samoa's radio towers. It is also one of the best established and longest hiking trails on the island. While Erin was here we enjoyed the 6-mile round trip hike.

We started from the trailhead at Fagasa Pass. I'm wearing the shoes I purchased at the supermarket:
View of the village of Fagasa:
Looking west on Tutuilla:
Pago Pago Harbor:
The trail leads down to the village of Vatia. We didn't have time to go, but I investigated the first few rope ladders leading down:

Airport Beach

One of our first excursions was to Airport Beach, appropriately located -- you guessed it -- next to the airport runway. Accessible from Lion's Park (where I live), the path is covered with trash - detergent bottles, sandals (at least I can save money on footwear purchases), assorted plastics - making the 45 minute journey somewhat unpleasant, although slightly humorous in a morbid sort of way.

Initially you walk along Pala Lagoon, as Erin demonstrates in this picture:

Looking east on Tutuilla:

Erin, relaxing:

Sadie's By The Sea

Upon arrival, my house wasn't quite ready (i.e. the "cleaning crew" hadn't had a chance to take all the good stuff the previous owner left), so the High Court put Erin and I up at Sadie's By The Sea, one of the nicer (see only) hotels on the island. It's located on Pago Pago Harbor, in the village of Utule'i, across the main road from the Governor's mansion. Notably, it is directly next door to the abandoned Rainmaker Hotel - one of the South Pacific's most legendary accommodations - which was once crashed into by a U.S. Navy plane after the plane hit the cables of an aerial tramway during a Flag Day demonstration in 1980. Here's the now dilapidated Rainmaker with its namesake, Rainmaker Mountain, in the background:

I took a swim out front:

American Samoa

I moved to American Samoa in August, 2008 to work as a law clerk for the High Court of American Samoa.

The Court provides me with a house in the "Lion's Park" neighborhood of Tafuna Village near the airport. Government housing without the government cheese. Here is a picture of Erin preparing dinner in the kitchen:
The "backyard" has banana and coconut trees:
I am slightly inept at opening the coconuts, even with my Crocodile Dundee machete:
I bought a truck. 1995 Mitsubishi:
The truck-seller threw a cat into the deal. Erin and I named her Sadie after the hotel parking lot in which we acquired her. Here she is protecting my house from the scourge of gecko's:

India x March, 2008

"It's Always Darkest Before The Dawn"... especially in India. It seems the sub-continent is either obsessed with late 80's / early 90's New Jersey melodic hardcore band Turning Point, or they have a penchant for naming things English words and phrases that don't necessarily make sense.

Embroidered jacket outside the Red Fort, Old Delhi:

Cafe in Agra (note the "Minimal Water" for sale):

Along with extensive people-watching and sight-seeing, Erin and I were able to enjoy a few culinary delights on our recent spring-break blast through Mumbai, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur (alas, we mostly avoided street food as our 10 day trip was too short a time to afford getting infectious diarrhea). However, restaurants of note we did try were the Oberoi hotel in Delhi (same owners as Cairo's Mena House) and the R.W. Apple, Jr. recommended TRISHNA in Mumbai's swanky colonial-respite Fort neighborhood. Here's an excerpt from Mr. Apple's final column:

MUMBAI, INDIA Trishna, Birla Mansion, Sai Baba Marg, Fort; (91-22) 2270-3213.

"This, I think, is the only truly remarkable restaurant I have ever discovered solely on the recommendation of a friend of a friend. Dubious, Betsey and I made our way there one night years ago and liked it so much that we went back 72 hours later. It was not the décor, which is shabby, or the service, which can be surly, and certainly not the menu, which is very nearly useless. It’s the food, stupid, the seafood.

Enormous king crabs fresh from the Indian Ocean, awash in butter, and seasoned with garlic and pepper until they make the lips tingle but not sting, draw an eager crowd of Mumbai businessmen and Bollywood stars to this little establishment on a crowded, noisy alley in the old Fort district. If you like, your crab will be brought to the table before cooking, still alive and dangling from a string held by a waiter.

These are among the world’s choicest crustaceans, and I say that as someone who lives 25 miles from the Chesapeake. But Ravi Anchan has plenty of other savory delights up his sleeve, including tender little pomfret (a kind of butterfish) barbecued in the style of Hyderabad, with black pepper; deep-fried squid; and gorgeous, never-frozen tiger prawns grilled with mint. Don’t mind the waiters; insist and they will bring what you want."

Calamari:

Crab, Prawn (the size of a soda can), and Garlic Naan:

Jama Masjid, Delhi - one of India's largest Mosques:

Finally, I've been trying to wrap my mind around this Nehru graffiti from Jaipur. As a founding father, would the American equivalent be George Washington graf? Or based on time would JFK be a more appropriate comparison? A problem arises when you consider that, although dominant, the Kennedy dynasty has nothing on the Nehru/Gandhi's. I propose it's like JFK graffiti if Nancy Pelosi was John, Jr.'s wife and wasn't in that plane over Long Island Sound. How's that?