More On Saturday..

After the falls we went to the Ba'hai (spelling?) temple. It was really cool because I had never heard of the Ba'hai religion before. The temple in Samoa is supposedly one of only seven world-wide.

For dinner we got fish and chips and ate them down on the sea-wall.

In the evening, Gwen (Miss Samoa) invited us to her variety show at a local bar/restaurant. We went and found out it was actually a filming for the second episode of the first Samoan Late Night Show. There were lots of performers; Gwen sang and was really good. It was also interesting because over half of the cast were fafafineis (trannies). We had fun during the show trying to guess which ones were actually girls. After the show Russ and Agnes dared me to get a picture with one of them. "Her" name is Ellen, and she's apparently a famous Samoan choreographer. She also has a really deep voice.

This is one of the hosts in their killer set. Not a tranny.

fabulousness

Papapapapapa-tei Adventure

So last saturday, we (Russ, Agnes, and Mick) all really wanted to find a way to hike to the bottom of this waterfall. The Papapapa-tei Falls.

We had heard that there was a path somewhere, but had no idea where to find it, so we drove around until we came to this path-- about a mile away from the falls.

the path

After walking about a mile we wound up on someone's taro plantation. There we found a one-eyed samoan guy with a bandana that seemed kind of drunk; all he was missing was a parrot on his shoulder. He didn't speak english, but after about ten minutes of playing charades, he finally understood where we wanted to go. He went to his porch, grabbed a machete and a shot-gun and motioned for us to follow. We awkwardly hesitated for a second, and reluctantly followed. He took us to the edge of his plantation where a thick rainforest began - thick meaning a literal wall of vegetation. Then he proceeded to chop us a tunnel with his machete. After about half a mile we got to the edge of the waterfall canyon. The slope was about 80 degrees steep and we thought our hike had come to an end. But the machete man jumped right down the slope and kept hacking a path for us. Again we hesitated as we were about to start down a 300 foot slope of almost-impassable foliage and insurmountable danger.. but again we followed..

Making our way down the treacherous slope.

It was really funny because of how ridiculous it was. Especially because our tour guide had never done it himself before. But after about an hour, and only fifty feet down, we decided it was too much and turned around. Although we never reached the bottom, it was still a ton of fun.

A field of clover I found on the plantation.

An exhausted Agnes

This is our tour guide's son.. we think.

After more charades, we got our guide to take us to the head of the waterfall which was really cool. Very pretty view.

head of the falls.

Me, Russ, Mick, and our pirate friend. And I don't think I introduced you to Mick yet. He is irish and lives next door. He's really funny and knows lots of good irish songs.

Our tour guide held my pants as I leaned over to take this.. it was scary on many levels.

Somewhere on the right-side is where we made our attempted descen

Village Projects

This is a re-built sea wall on Manono Island. This is just one section, but their now completed project extends for a couple miles. The people worked really hard.

Some kids in Manono.

This last week was very productive as we were busy going to and from the nine village projects, which pretty much span the entire island (it takes five hours to drive around the whole island). We finished up the two projects in Manano, and they look really good. One village says they are going to carry on the project for another two weeks, even though SPBD won't be paying them for it. They are extremely grateful to the organization. All of the other two-week projects end this friday, and then I think we'll be starting three more next week.

Some boats in Manono.

Work team in Tafituala.

Random pretty people in Salani. We tried to get the little kid to look for seriously ten pictures but he wouldn't.. oh well.

Work team in Utulailai. They enjoyed the camera and the goofy yellow work gloves we got them.

Some workers in Lalumano. The one the right is a tranny, and they are everywhere here. Supposedly it's a big part of the Samoan culture.

A destroyed house in Salani.

Big strong Samoan women. They are the project leaders in Lalumano.

Some girls walking home from school in Ulutogia. All schools here wear these uniforms.

Paying workers in Mutiatele.

Worker in Ulutogia.

Workers in Ulutogia pretending to work for the camera.

This is a part of Salani that was cleaned by one of the projects. Before the project, this area was filled with debris. It looks a LOT better.

Paying workers in Salani.

Lady in Tafituala filling out a time-sheet.

Tsunami Video.

This is a video I recently made for SBPD and MicroDreams. For some reason it doesn't fit in my blog layout, so just double-click the video to view it in YouTube. The video shows photos that I took of the survivors and destruction caused by the recent tsunami in Samoa. It also contains first-hand commentary by the natives surrounding the event and relief work being done by SPBD and MicroDreams.

Weekend 2.

STORY(no pics sorry): So friday night, while Agnes and I were en route to a pizzeria downtown, I got punched. I was on the phone, while eating this raw tuna and coconut juice - in a cup. When all of a sudden I was in the gutter, with a killer headache, and covered in dirt and juice. I guess some drunk guy was running by, punched me in the side of the face, and ran away. I'm kind of glad the big Samoans I work with weren't there because they would have killed him - literally. When they heard the story they freaked out and wanted to hunt him down. I'm fine though.. I got a little scratched up but it makes for a great story right? Everyone knows you haven't had a real Samoan experience until you've been k.o.'d by a drunk guy in Apia.

Saturday we went to a place called Sliding Rocks. It's kind of self explanatory: a bunch of long slippery rocks in a river that you can slide down. It was really fun.

Sunday, President Uchdorf and co visited the island. It was a really big deal as half the island is LDS. Plus he's my favorite apostle - by a lot. So I liked it too. He gave a really inspiring message.

Dieter loves it

and Moroni dropped his trumpet..

Oh and I never said, but Carol left last thursday. It was sad, and we'll all miss her a lot.

Fusi Tai.

So last thursday Agnes, Carol, and I were invited to come spend the day with a family in a small village called Fusi. They were the most generous, loving, and giving people I've ever met. For our visit they built us a special hut. To put a roof on it, they tore the roof off of their kitchen and toilet. This family has absolutely nothing, but somehow provided us with a giant table heaped with food. They are starting a tourism program that is completely free. Their business concept is completely faith-based: they give everything they have and simply love the tourists. Then if the tourists are inspired to give something on their own, then that's how they might make money. But they really don't care about the money - they say it's relationships in life that really matter. I don't think I've ever been more touched by people's generosity.

Some of the kids in the village.

This boy climbed a massive palm tree to get us fresh coconuts. He then husked them and cut them for us.

After the meal they took us on a canoe ride to a small desert island called Fusi Tai. We walked through a beautiful rainforest to an exotic white-sand beach on the other side. At the beach we went swimming and snorkeling on the reef. It was amazing, the sun was setting, and there were flying fish, well - flying and leaping all around us. It was kind of like a dream. Amazing.

Docking.

Arriving on Fusi Tai.

My tour guide, Talalilei - "Good News." He caught me a crab.

Cool roots of a tree in the bush.

Where we swam and snorkeled. The water stays only four feet deep for about two miles.

On the way back Agnes fell in the water. Probably shouldn't have laughed

paddler

me and most of my adopted samoan family. and then there's dennis - he's from new zealand. I'm sad they live on the other side of the island.