Holy Mackerel Look at This Drink!

 

Leave it to Samoans to concoct a drink whose primary purpose is sweet sweet dessert.

This "drink" is called The Chocolate Bunny Mega Monster Cocktail.

It is served in a Tapas Bar in Apia Harbor called The Edge.

I dont know what is in it, but I've already texted The Edge and asked them if I can get a virgin version.

They texted me back and said Sure! They can make alcohol free versions!

Sandy took one look at it and wants to take the challenge.

We have plans to visit this place twice: Once for smoothies on the deck while watching the sun go down, and twice for dinner while watching the sun go down.





Here is the view from the deck.

Selected tapas:

Recommended: The Samoa Pie. I guess like a shepherd's pie but with a giant meatball?

The Edge Tapas Bar and Grill, in Apia Harbor

Driving in Samoa

Driving in American Samoa
Like the rest of the United States, American Samoa drives on the right side of the road, and their driver's wheel is on the left side of the car.

Here are the important road rules to know in AMERICAN Samoa:

• Seatbelts for all passengers are mandatory
• Speed limit is 25 MPH on the open road, and 15 MPH in busy areas
• Cannot use your cell phone while driving unless you have a hands free device.
• When approaching an intersection, the car to the left must yield to the car on the right.
• Signs are the same as US signage
• Cant drive on the sidewalk
• No coasting in neutral (to save gas)
• No littering by anyone in the car.
• Some roads traverse streams. You cannot enter a stream if you cannot see the roadbed.
• Night driving can be dangerous and should be avoided. (No street lights)

Driving in Samoa
In 2009, the country of Samoa switched over to driving on the left side of the road, like their close friend and trading partners Australia and New Zealand. The cars in Samoa are a mixture of right-hand-drive and left-hand-drive, although most of the new cars are right-hand-drive.

It is supposed to be a little disorienting, but not too difficult to navigate, as the speed limit is so slow you  get used to it. Here is a picture taken by Rhonda Albom of a typical road in Samoa once your get out of Apia. This is near the Malua Cave Pool, I believe, on the way to Sauniatu.

 You need a Samoan Driver's License, which will be issued by our car rental company. Please bring your local (US) drivers license. You will fill out a form, then pay $21, and you will get your Samoan license on the spot. Our car rental agency in Samoa (Samoana Car Rentals) knows that we are planning on getting 3 drivers licenses and will accommodate our request when we pick up our rental cars.

If you hit a pig or chicken on the road, drive straight on through to the next police station and let them handle it. Do not stop and attempt to negotiate with angry local villagers, but know that a size 2 pig costs WST110 ($50). Yes, you killed their to'onai, but why did they have it running loose? Now you have to pay car rental charges to fix the car. Of course, stop immediately if you hit a pedestrian. Finally, no one cares if you hit a dog. (!)

Speed limit in Samoa is 40 KPH on the open road and 25 KPH in the villages. And don't be doing donuts on the malae during Sa. Sa (evening prayer) happens right as the sun drops over the horizon. If you are driving or walking in a village at this time, stop, sit and murmer quietly in respect.

Here is a vid of driving in Samoa. It's neither busy nor complex.

Informal Road Rules:

• Take caution to avoid the people, children, pigs, dogs, and chickens in the road.
• When approaching a pedestrian (from behind), tap briefly on the horn.
• When passing another automobile, tap once on the horn before proceeding. After completing the pass, tap twice to thank the other driver, and he will respond with a single horn tap.

Car insurance is paid via Val's Visa Credit card which is used to rent the cars.
As a driver, you are responsible to walk all around your car and note any dings or scratches. Do not forget to look underneath the carriage of the car for damage underneath. Take pictures of any damage you see on the car. Then inspect the car daily.

 African Snail Spraying

Prior to driving your car onto the ferry  to Savaii, you must stop at the spray station about 300 yards from the ferry landing at Mulifanua Wharf. You drive slow and they spray your car's undercarriage to prevent the spread of the African snail. This spraying is free.

 

Addition of Fuipisia Waterfall after Sopo'aga Falls

Itinerary Change

Samoa has a ton of waterfalls, even after the rainy season, which is when we will be going.

We already had Sopo'aga Falls on our itinerary, as it is on the main tourist route from Apia to To Sua Ocean Trench, arguably the best tourist attraction on Upolu.

I recently found out about Fuipisia Falls, which is just upriver from Sopo'aga Falls, and I want to add it on to the schedule. We will cut our visit to Sopo'aga Falls short from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, which will give us time to visit Fuipisia Falls. I was surprised at how many tourists mention Fuipisia Falls as one of the highlights of their visit to Samoa.

Sopo'aga Falls is a falls overlook, you cannot get to the falls themselves. But it is picturesque and pretty, and the family there has cooking fale demonstrations and will help you make coconut cream. WST5 ($2.20) and there is a toilet and faucet there.

Fuipisia Falls, 2 miles upriver and 3 minutes' drive away, costs WST10 ($4.40) has the same cooking fale demonstrations, but presents a different waterfall experience. Here, you can walk up to the top of the falls and even swim in the pool at the top. The walk is manicured green grass with local fauna. If you get an adult guide (and not a kid), they will tell you about the plants which should be interesting. You have to traverse a stream to take this walk, and you might be able to jump from rock to rock if not slippery during the wet season. You have a great opportunity to take a selfie on a rock at the top of the falls. There are clean toilets here.

Apparently, the male guide is very handsy with female tourists, but we shouldn't have that problem.

Luggage Restrictions

Fiji Air has luggage restrictions. So does Polynesian Airways. 

Of the two, Polynesian Airways has the more restrictive luggage rules, so we should abide by them since we have no place to leave our items and will need to pack them everywhere we go. Pack light!


Update: I can try to see if we can drop off a box of items at our rental house in Apia, containing things we won't be using until we get to Upolu. Please let me know if you want me to do this. Otherwise we will carry everything through from Upolu to Tutuila and back to Upolu.



Fiji Air Cabin (Carry On):

Carry-on baggage: 1 piece, 7 Kg max (15.4 lbs). Maximum dimensions are 55 x 40 x 23cm. In addition to this piece, you can bring on a small personal item such as a laptop or purse.

Intl Check In: 3 hours prior--to 1 hour prior.

Cannot put in your cabin luggage:
Not in your carry on luggage: Knives, metallic objects, umbrella, spare parts. No liquids over 100ml or 3.4 fl oz. Smaller sized liquid may be carried in carry on luggage if it is placed in a clear sealable plastic bags. Water purchased in airport departure areas can be carried on board. Lithium metal or lithium ion cells and batteries are permitted in the devices they power. Max 2 spare batteries- must be  in carry-on luggage.




Your cabin luggage must fit into their template. If it doesn't fit completely, the excess baggage fee is between $96 and $120 US dollars. (Depends upon origination point)






Fiji Air Checked baggage:
1 bag, 23 Kg max (50 lbs). Total dimensions (height x length x depth) = 158cm (62")

Polynesian Airways:
Checked Baggage: 2 bags with a total of 20 Kg max (44 lbs) for both bags.
Carry-on baggage: 1 piece, 5 Kg max (11 lbs). No bulky items even if less than 5 Kg. Carry on baggage must fit under the seat in front of you. No overhead bins. NO FOOD items. You can probably get away with a snack, or candy, but no cases of saimin! No size two pigs! No ulu in a burlap bag! No fish packed in a styro chest sealed with duct tape!

Intl Check In: 2 hours prior, to 1/2 hour prior.

Identification at Check In: Valid passport with paid itinerary from Airline. Must reconfirm travel at least a day prior to scheduled flight departures.

Twin otter aircraft for Polynesian Airlines. So, no overhead bins.

Electricity Needs

This page has good information:
http://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/en-us/samoa/

Basically, you need to know two things:

1. Does your plug physically fit into the electricity receptacle in Samoa? No.

Here is your US appliance cord end:

Here is the Samoan electrical outlet, aka Type I or the "Australian Outlet:"



Not the same. So you know that you need a plug adaptor. This just reconfigures the physical plug to fit into the samoan socket.

2. Is the voltage draw equivalent? Depends.The United States provides the following voltage/currents: 120V, 60 Hz. Samoa provides the following: 230 V, 50 Hz. Will your appliance be able to function on the samoan current? If your appliance says "120V, 60Hz" NO! You will need a voltage converter as well as a plug adaptor.

If the label states 'INPUT: 100-240V, 50/60 Hz' YES! the appliance can be used in all countries in the world. This is common for chargers of tablets/laptops, photo cameras, cell phones, toothbrushes, etc. The good news is that unless your appliance is super old, it probably doesn't need a voltage converter. Really, the only issues are with blow dryers. Check today! 

So before you go,

Throw all the appliances you are planning to packing on your bed. Hair dryers, contact lens sanitizers, hair straighteners, phone chargers, go pro chargers, cameras and ipads. Now take half and take them away. You have too many things. Of the items that are left, contact other trip members and see if you can share appliances. This should get rid of half of what's left. Now carefully check the items left, and determine what needs a converter/plug adaptor combo.

iPhones:
No matter which model iphone you have, you never need a converter, only a plug adaptor. iPhones and iPads work on 100-240 volts and 50-60 Hz. You can plug them in anywhere on earth, as long as you have a plug adaptor to physically connect he

One last thing:
Sometimes some appliances have a physical switch that you have to throw to accept the higher voltage of Samoa. My hairdryer does this. I will post a photo later. Throw the switch before you check in your luggage for your departure flight! I once forgot to throw the switch on my apple computer in Romania, then plugged it in and turned it on. I had to hunt down a computer repair person to fix my fried power supply.

Trip Website! Lounging vs Giant Clams! Puletasi and Board Shorts

[Email sent 4/4/17]

This update is only informational and not critical. No response is necessary.

1. I recently changed the profile of my mailing list called the Samoa Trip Group. I revised things like changed Al's name from "Jamoca Berry" to "________." I added two email addresses for Patty (work and home) and two email addresses for Sandy (work and home).

2. If anyone wants to add the email address of a friend who is interested like Winter, or a spouse like Francis, send me their email address and they can follow along and comment if they want. There is trip info but no Personal info like people's passport numbers.

3. We have a website! Go to your browser navigation bar and enter in:

     afualo.blogspot.com

to get trip information. I will start posting these email updates to the web site, so you don't have to finish reading any emails, you can just go to the website and get any info you need. Remember, this is a web address. Go there, don't google it.

I worked especially hard on the maps. First go to the map page. There is a map for each of the 3 islands. Each pink point on the map represents a place we are visiting. (Cancelled activities are still shown though.) Click on the pink point to get a picture of the place, along with basic info about it.

Check back often if you like, I am adding and changing the maps all the time. You can also navigate and investigate the maps on your phone as well, if you're in church. hah!

Also, do not download the maps to your phone yet. Wait until after May 10, because the maps are only stored for 28 days on your phone.


4. Some of you were already grumbling about your assignments. Don't forget, you are just in charge of the assignment. You dont have to do all the work. So if you are in charge of making picnic lunches, you dont have to do it all by yourself, you can just hand out a task list of who prepares what meal when.

5. As you can see from the itinerary list, we have a ton of places to visit. Is it too much? It could be. I prefer to schedule and slot every activity, and then if we are too tired and don't want to do something, or if it is our 7th hike, or our 5th waterfall, we can just cancel it. It's better to overplan than to underplan and try to plan on the fly, especially when you have to consider that most places are closed Sunday, diving requires high tide, coastal walks require low tide, etc.

6. Sandy asked about puletasi. I think the best thing to do is to get measurements taken and order them at the flea market the first day we get there, a Saturday morning. I am hoping that we can find someone at one of the shops in the flea market, like below:



Then, when we come back from American Samoa in 5 days, the dresses will be ready for pickup. I hear it's about $30 for a custom dress. Tell me what you think. Also, dad would be thrilled to have a shirt made from the same material and have us all take a family photo. Maybe Alan should also pick up a set- I think Christie would look fetching in a puletasi.

7. I am considering an itinerary switcheroo. I didn't know that there is a giant clam sanctuary on Upolu-- it's not marketed at all, only one sign, and no one knows about it. There is nothing in the travel books about it, and I found out about it on the internet. If we do the clams on May 30, then we miss out on Taumeasina Island Resort. We would get a very-rare visit to big clams, but give up lounging beside a pool and eating a nice lunch. Here are the deets:

As currently planned: (Tues May 30)

Get up early 6am. Drive to Manono Island. Take a boat to Manono Island (20 mins)


Walk around Manono Island: (90 mins walk)


Return to Apia, drive to Taumeasina Resort:


Laze around and eat lunch at the pool,


or kayak in the small protected bay:


The day pass of WST40 (About $17) is good toward lunch poolside. You can also pay for an expensive massage, samoan style.

The rest of the day doesn't change.

Change Option: Let me know if you want to do this

We would still leave early at 6am. We would still go to Manono Island and walk around the island.However, after Manono, we would continue around the island for another 12 miles and 35 minutes. We would aim to be at Savaia at 10:00 for high Tide (at 10:05am). Then, we would look for this sign:



At the sign, we would park, approach the closest house, and pay the outrageous price of WST10 each person ($4.40), and they would show us out to the lagoon in back of their house. Since it would be high tide, we could snorkel over these: Clams of every color and size:



The giant clams can be seen by walking out into a large lagoon and snorkeling about 250m off shore. Truly spectacular - as large as coffee tables and a mixture of purples, greens, blues and reds. Over 400 in the lagoon. Definitely worth seeing. Toilets and showers.



Spend about 2 hours looking at the clams, then we drive to Malua Turtle Pool and Missionary Museum (Christian Congregationalist).



and feed them the papaya we brought from the rental home:



Then continue on with the day as planned (fire knife lessons, etc).

8. Al was worried about wearing clothing over her bikini. If anything, American Samoan is more conservative than western samoa, but I think a bikini with board shorts would be appropriate, or a bikini with board shorts and a tank top would be good, even in Am. Sam. Here is a nice pair of board shorts that would look great with a bikini top:


​
Let me know what you think: a nice relaxing day lounging by the pool and paddling the kayak in a breakwater bay, or giant clams and turtles!!

Check the blog for this email. It will be posted.

V.

No Go Zone

Sadly, we are not going everywhere...

There are places we just can't fit into our schedule. Here is a Top Ten List of places we will not be going to, along with the reason why we cannot go. However, if enough people want to go, then maybe it can be on like kong!

Siva Afi Fire & Knife Dance dinner show, Apia Harbor, Upolu
If you are in Apia on a Tuesday night - go to the Siva Afi show to see world class fire dancing! From fire and knife dancing to coconut milk making and other traditions, all explained in a quick and entertaining manner. Go early to get a good spot and combine it with a local dinner. The local food is delicious and it since it is quite hard to find around the island you better take the chance. The show is held at Ooh La La Ice Cream Bar. Note that we will be going to the fire knife class, we just wont be dancing in the audience participation portion of the Siva Afi, because it is too expensive at WSY75 or $33.00. I am investigating just the show part for WST25 or $11.

Giant Clam Sanctuary, Savaia, Upolu

"One of the most astounding things I've seen!Check the tides before you go, must be high tide. Also they move around so be prepared to swim around to find them. The area they are in is cordoned off with white floats on a rope. It is actually more fun to have to look around for them. They are amazing, I have never seem such brilliant colors, there are all sizes, huge ones, and baby ones. The giant clams can be seen by walking out into a large lagoon and snorkeling about 250m off shore. Truly spectacular - as large as coffee tables and a mixture of purples, greens, blues and reds. Over 400 in the lagoon. Definitely worth seeing. A person must pay a small fee at the village before entering the ocean, the beach has toilets and showers. The reason why we are not going is that I just found out about it tonight.

Hold on! I am trying to swap out another activity for the GIANT CLAMS! GIANT CLAMS!

Get your puletasi sewn, $27.

After you’ve picked up your fabric from the likes of Forsgrens or the Tuttu’ila store, make your way to your favorite sewing shop. There are about 40,000 on the island with a population of 65,000...okay, okay, an exaggeration, but only a slight one. Basically, sewing shops are like the mainland Starbucks- there is one on every corner. I prefer Athena’s Boutique which is not nearly as posh as it sounds. Athena’s is tucked into a corner of Steven & Sons (picture a ghetto convenient store, reduce the brand options, throw in some chicken in the parking lot). But don’t let it’s drab look fool you, this 2 seamstress enterprise is quite the quality place. A puletasi will cost you $27($2 higher than the going rate elsewhere but the end result is worth it). 

Explain to the seamstress what you would like (or draw it out if your like me). Samoan’s get all sort of fancy necklines and trim that you would typically only see on tacky clothes. Costs around $27. The seamstress will then measure you, and let you identify all the particulars: the width of the neck, the length of the skirt, the length of the sleeve. One week later and you have a puletasi! I just received a request from Sandy for a puletasi. The only way we could work it is to have measurements taken in Upolu right after we land at Faleolo and take the bus to Apia. I am investigating squeezing in this activity into our existing itinerary.

Nuu'uli Falls, American Samoa

There is just no time on the schedule, as I suspect that the falls may be closed on Sunday. This is the village of Nuu'uli, where Uncle Oapapo's wife is from. I watched some youtube vids of the Falls and decided we could pass on them. There are more spectacular falls elsewhere, and this has a little bit of a hike to it. The falls themselves would be low, as we will be there right before the start of the dry season.

Travel Assignments

Item #6: Trip Responsibilities:

We need volunteers for the following trip responsibilities. You may feel that you are a good match for one of these jobs; you should sign up for it.

1. Itinerary, Budget and Up front expenses: Val

2. Lodging and transport in Hawaii: This person is in charge of procuring transport to and from the airport, and lodging for the out of town people in Hawaii while waiting to depart for Samoa, and while waiting to fly back home after the trip. This person is also in charge of making sure that dad comes from Kahuku safely, and that Dad gets back home to Kahuku safely.

3. Cook: This person checks the itinerary for the next day, and makes sure that picnic breakfasts and picnic lunches are packed for hikes, day trips, and beach swims. This person is in change of boiling, then refrigerating boiled water so everyone has chilled water available. This person will be responsible for collecting the ingredients (like bread, lunch meat, sodas) from the grocery store (but not responsible to pay) and creating grocery lists. 

4. Extra Expenses: This person will be the one to calculate everyone's individual totals at meals and restaurants. For example, after a meal, this person will be in charge of allocating the cost of each entre to each person who ordered it, and that sufficient money has been collected to pay tax and tip. (No tipping in Samoa). Val doesnt want to do this because she doesn't want to get mixed up between the prepaid costs and the extra costs. (She will handle all prepaid costs). This person will coordinate to make sure sufficient small tala bills are available to pay taxi drivers, beach fees, etc.

5. Security and Documentation: This person will be in charge of bringing a waterproof or a lockable backpack for valuables (wallets and phones). This person will coordinate to make sure at least one of us is out of the water at all times to prevent theft. This person will carry an extra copy of airline tickets and car rental agreements and Dad's property deeds, and car insurance coverage, etc. This person will carry airline luggage rules, and passport copies, and visa documentation and will whip it out appropriately. This person is responsible for checking supplies for suntan lotion, bug spray, and does a shoe check to make sure everyone is wearing appropriate footwear, and that everyone is bringing sufficient swimsuit, towels, subglasses, etc. This person will also sweep through each hotel room and rental room before departure to make sure nothing is left.

6. Guide: Each day, this person will study all  maps for the next day, and be prepared to sit in the lead car and negotiate the maps. This person will make sure that each car has a set of physical (paper) maps in the glove compartment, and that at least one person from each car has a set of maps on their phone. This person will stand in line to purchase (but not pay for) the ferry tickets while the others are eating breakfast, etc. This person can be one of the drivers (Sandy Val Alan) but doesnt have to be. This person will use Valeen's phone to call and RSVP to any events prior to the day of the event. This includes hotel reservations and meal reservations.

7. Cleanup: This person will be responsible for making sure that the cars are gassed up and cleaned prior to return. Also that the rental house in Apia is cleaned prior to leaving. This person is also responsible for washing the clothes left in the laundry sack, and hanging them up on the line in a timely manner so that they air dry. (Dryer is to be avoided as much as possible because the energy cost is too high.) This person is responsible for bringing a garbage bag on trips to use for our picnic lunch trash, and also bringing garbage bags to collect rubbish in national parks, a request by the Park.

Again, these 7 responsibilities do not mean that you have to pay for anything-- we are sharing all common costs equally. It just means that you will have to coordinate with others to make sure you have money from the group to buy necessities.

Also a quick note: These assignments are just management of the task. You dont have to do all the cleaning-- all you need to do is be responsible for the job to get done. You can assign out task schedules.

Detailed Budget in Google Sheets (This is old)

Note: This is the preliminary budget, and has been revised. Everything on this page is accurate, but please go to the final budget for updated cost information.

 Current exchange rate using: 1 Tala = 0.44 cents US$. This is a conservative estimate, since our native money is the US dollar.

(Click into the budget shown below to move around and read the notes on the right side.)



Explanation of Payment Type:
 If a payment is free, no payment type is specified, and this cell will be blank.

 "Prepaid" = Val has already paid for this cost, with her credit card, ahead of time. These costs are very low in risk, because they are already paid. Since you've already paid this ahead of time, you dont have to pay it during the trip.

 "Val Pays" = Val cannot pay for this ahead of time (because the vendor wont let her) so there is still some risk that the price will go up from the quoted estimate. Normally, you don't have to pay this cost -- it is included in your $1700 budget.

Sponsored = Val is trying to get someone to pay for this event in order to keep the event on the schedule even though we don't have money to pay for it. If anyone has a spare $100-200 and wants to cosponsor an event, please let me know!

"Extra" = This is not covered in your $1700 budget, and you must pay for this during travel. For these extra costs, I've attempted to estimate a range of cost. For example, if we stop at Frankie's market to buy sundries such as suntan lotion, postcards, water, treats and snacks, you might buy a ton of candy and a hat and tshirt, or you might buy only water. I've put a range on this extra cost from $2 to $10. The low end of the range is $2. The high end of the range is $10. Some people wont even spend the $2, and others might spend $50. I've just provided a range to help you budget. Another example is eating a meal at Sook's Sushi Restaurant. The range is $5-$17, but someone may eat nothing, and someone else might buy appetizers, 2 entres, and dessert and a coke with refills. the range is just a useful estimate.

"Cancel" = Originally there were additional activities planned, but I've had to cancel them because we were over budget. If enough people want to bring these activities back, and have the money to pay, we can reschedule these events. This is also considered an extra item, for which you will pay out of pocket.

Map of Savaii

Click on the map to see the pink markers of itinerary places. Click each individual pink marker for activity details and for a picture of the itinerary stop. Scroll to resize the map.

 

Map of Tutuila

The pink markers indicate our itinerary stops. Click each pink marker for some detailed information and also for a picture. Scroll to resize the map.