Day Six (August 30th)

At breakfast, we met a very outgoing Italian man named Luca. I know you are thinking…what is he doing in Samoa? Most travelers are from New Zealand and Australia. He has actually been living in Samoa for a few months with his girlfriend and working at Tanu as an activities organizer. Each day he leads four activities for the guests to get involved in such as: stretching, yoga, coco baton (bocce ball with coconuts), etc. Unfortunately, we had to turn his invitation down because we decided we were going to call Lo Lani back for a day full of touring Savaii. Our driver picked us up about an hour after breakfast and we began our journey to the south of the beautiful island.

Our first stop was the rainforest. I was excited! I’ve never been to a rainforest before. We took a short two mile hike through farm and up to the top of this canyon. Lo Lani went with us, pointing out various landmarks like the wharf in the distance and cool plants and geckos. After the rainforest, we headed to the blow holes. I had no idea what to expect as far as these go, but it sounded pretty neat! The blowholes are located a little over the halfway mark on the southern part of Savaii. Just before approaching their landmark, we asked our driver to pull over to the side for pictures. Just over the cliffs was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. Waves, real massive, perfect swell! Just like the movies. The waves were huge and breaking ever so gently. I could see the green room eager for a surfer to step into. Definitely not a beginner like me, perhaps the dude back at the wharf! I wish DLo and Jarrod were here. I know they would go for sure!

We next approached the blowholes! They were awesome! These huge holes in the hardened magma that would push water over 100m into the air as waves broke underneath the surface. Lo Lani told us to try to find a coconut to throw in the blowhole and we did. It was sweet as! The fruit shot nearly 200ft in the air! After the blow holes, we headed to a nearby swimming hole and waterfall. This was probably my most favorite stop of all. It was ten times better than any movie set. You could even climb up a nearby 35 foot ledge and jump off (of course we did and of course). Drops scare the heck out of me and I normally attack this by closing my eyes. Yeah, I wouldn’t suggest that! In turn, I landed “smackkk” on my side and bruised my whole upper right leg. Haha, I’m a retard. The falls were sweet though. We swam up to them and were able to climb the rock and enter the cave behind the waterfall. This is one of my favorite things to do, watch the rushing water crash down right in front of you.

After the falls and the bonding time we had with our driver, he asked if we would like to stop by his home and meet his 2 (lua) year old daughter and wife. Now this may not seem exciting to most, but these peoples lives are so interesting. Imagine permanently living in a completely open hut with no walls or privacy. Try and picture living without an oven, merely a stove top and a miniature refrigeration to keep meat preserved for a day or two. Also imagine always taking cold showers and sleeping under mosquito nets on the floor. We eagerly jumped on this opportunity and were excited that he wanted us to meet his family. We also used the opportunity to get some instruction on making kava, a very traditional male drink, usually prepared by the women of the village. Kava comes directly from roots in the ground and is ground into a sand-like gray powder. With that, you are to run it through a filter with running water. The product, a cloudy gray liquid is supposed to be scooped out and swallowed very quickly after a long day of work. It sends a numbness throughout your body and deeply relaxes you. We watched Lo Lani fix it and took it with us to our final destination, the lava fields. We finished out the pot of kava within no time and started experiencing its numbing effect. I don’t see how people could drink it all the time. Tastes pretty gross, but it does feel kind of nice. Haha, no worries, its not an illegal drug or anything. Apparently they sell it in tea form at GNC’s in America. I guess it’s just not very popular in the states or really expensive. The lava fields were pretty cool, but no way did they top the other sites. Lo Lani dropped us back off at Tanu Beach as we exchanged thanks and goodbyes once again, not knowing if we were going to see him again.