american samoa, day one

it's day break in leone. after getting about 6.5 hours of sleep, i am awake, ready to see samoa. but i prolly have to wait a few hours for everyone (tari, mostly) else to wake up. there are all sorts of birds making tropical bird noises. and there chickens, which i am told fly around and roost in trees. and a rooster, who desperately wants us to know the sun is up.

it's pleasantly warm here. i've been warned about the heat and humidity, and how it is vastly different from san francisco. it's not much worse than ohio or the sacramento valley this time of year. maybe more humid, but after 75%, who's counting anyway?

the two flights were long and uncomfortable. i might as well take it from the top. my shuttle van to SFO showed up 15 minutes early, which was fine because I got up at 5 AM to get ready anyhow. i got to say my proper goodbyes to marvel, my kitty, who greeted my affections by slipping off my lap to nap under my bed. at the airport, i walked straight up to the Pago Pago check in line. as i approached the counter, a hawaiian airlines employee came up to me and asked "sir, can i help you? what are you doing in this line, sir?"

when i responded that i am traveling to pago pago today, she apologized saying "it's just that you don't look like one of our regular customers."

i flew to honolulu, where i had a layover for many hours.



tar made her connection from las vegas, and we waited out the layover sipping mai tais and eating a fresh fruit salad, which rested in a bowl fashioned out of a cut in half and hollowed out pineapple. we got to the gate early, and relaxed in the empty terminal until a grumpy old man armed with a vacuum cleaner told us rudely to get out! i took us a few moments to realize that we needed to be at gate 29, and we were in gate 26.



we took off on the runway that serves as an emergency back-up runway for the space shuttle, a fact, which I am sure every person that has flow into to honolulu knows, because they mentioned it when we landed, and when we took off. i, of course, am deeply impressed by this fact, and leaned over tar to examine every detail of the black asphalt as we accelerated over it at 180 miles per hour.

flying is bizarre, especially when you do 10 hours of it. it's like sitting in classroom that occasionally bumps around and sometimes your ears pop. especially on the big planes, there's almost no sensation of motion or travel.

when we touched in pago pago, there was a light rain that came down in sheets like it does in the movies. even though it was almost 10 PM, it was 80 degrees. we disembarked directly onto the runway. as we walked up to the terminal, tar and i looked back to see the massive 737 we just came from and the long line of people exiting the plane. she said that would make a good picture. i showed my agreement by leaving my camera in the bag, which was stupid because now all i can think about is what a good picture it would have been. i guess i was kind of overwhelmed, worried about getting my luggage, etc.

pago pago international is an open-air affair, therefore it feels more like an agricultural inspection station in the sacramento valley than an international terminal. while we waited almost an hour for all of our luggage to show up, various geckos skitted by, and a giant moth bounced off my temple. tar told me that was a dead relative checking up on me, according to samoan folklore.

tar's mom peti and her younger sister tatiana, as well as various cousins, greeted us. the village where tar's family lives, leone, is about 25 minutes from the airport. on the way home, we stopped at a corner market that was just turning off its lights as we pulled up. the korean proprietors kindly reopened the store and we bought PBJ making supplies. the store, which was surrounded by tropical flora and fauna and had 50 lb bags of pigs feed stacked in front, was called "California Mart, inc" which only proves it is impossible to escape california.

we were greeted by various relatives, so many names and faces that it all escaped me. i certainly met tar's grandmother, who greeted me by kissing the top of my hand.

i also met a small mutt of a dog appropriately called "brownie." samoa is full of feral dogs, looking for a kind family to feed them table scraps, and brownie is the latest in a long and storied line of dogs that have made their home in the tuitele's yard, including a legendary three legged dog from years past.



i am sleeping across the yard from tar's grandmother's house at her uncle john's house. i have her cousin daniel's bedroom to use. this means that her cousin daniel gets to sleep in the living room. thanks daniel, i know how that is. i thought i would have trouble sleeping, but the fan kept me cool enough that i didn't touch the air conditioner.

so here i am in leone, american samoa, waiting for tar to wake up so we can start our day.

(i know i haven't yet delivered the goods as far as photos go, but have patience...i've already shot over 200, and i have some 2000+ words to post later.)