Martin Luther King Jr. has a day?

Uhhh yea, about that… it’s non-existent. Albeit there’s no school, no work for any government jobs, and just about every store closed early. Why you ask? Well technically speaking it’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day but here in AmSam it’s just a Monday off.  I didn’t hear one mention of it. The school never announced it. Peculiar.

Anyhow….

Addie’s here! My little sister, Ms. Addison Elaine Bates, has joined us here in AmSam. She got a job at Buckeye Donuts in Columbus, Ohio (ummm, awesome?), saved her money and bought a one-way ticket to AmSam. She’ll be here until March and then she’ll continue on to New Zealand. She’s been enjoying a gap-year before she starts at Reed College this fall.

Anyways, Saul and I have never been to flight night so it was a perfect excuse to go. We took a bus over to Tafuna, had a nice dinner and slowly meandered over to the airport. Flight Night in AmSam is a BIG deal. Being that only two or three big planes come into Pago Pago International each week (all of which originate in Honolulu) a huge amount of people show up. Some go to pick up relatives, some people go to see relatives off, and others go just to see what all of the fuss is about. We spotted quite a few of our students around the airport and the whole experience was pretty neat.

We made an A for Addie out of Quake Bars

We lined up along the fence and watched the airport light up just before the plane landed at 9:20pm. We watched people exiting the plane and walking across the tarmac but couldn’t spot Addie. Being the panic button that I am I immediately started thinking the worse.  What if something happened with customs? What if she fell asleep on the plane and no one woke her up? We moved over to the arrivals hallway and held up the signs we had made. One by one people began to leave the airport. She finally came up the arrivals ramp at about 10:30pm (fifth from last on the entire plane). She had been traveling for over 20 hours but had finally made it in one piece.  We cabbed it back to Spua Town aka Puapua (our village) where we knocked out for the night as we had a pretty full day planned on Saturday.

Flight Night

The arrival tunnel.

We finally spotted her! The guy that was guiding people was HILARIOUS.

We were a bomb.com greeting squad fully equipped with signs and ula beads.

Little sis.

We decided that a trip to Aunu’u would be the perfect way for Addie to spend her first day in AmSam. Aunu’u is an itty-bitty island off the far east coast (we live on the west sideeeee). We caught two buses and a boat to get to the island. It took us a good two hours one way but afforded all of us the opportunity to take in the entire island from coast to coast. It didn’t hurt that it was a beautiful day weather-wise. We arrived to Aunu’u after a short boat ride that cost us two bucks. The people were so friendly and helped us find our way around the island (not that it’s easy to get lost or anything). We walked almost the entire loop around the island. The water was a wonderful aquamarine blue and the mountains super lush. We were on a quest to find Aunu’u’s quicksand lake. Well, what we found was a murky looking lake that had some banks of red color across from our vantage point. It could have been the quicksand lake? Meh. I hear that the lake is best viewed at low tide, which could have contributed to the “meh” feeling we all had.

We found a pretty beach and asked the family that lived on the beach if we could go for a swim. They were more than happy to let us give it a try, as the waves were pretty rough. It was difficult to swim but the water was the perfect temperature. We had some fun and moved on.

Lastly, we went to the harbor where we heard there’s some pretty good swimming. We found some local kids who confirmed this and had a great time jumping off of the wharf into the relatively deep water.  Aunu’u was an amazing day trip that I’d definitely recommend to anyone visiting AmSam. I’m always amazed at the things you can do in AmSam for so little money. We essentially went on a day vacation that was still very AmSam but felt so far removed (although Saul did still see one of his students there). No fast food, very few cars, only one small family store ... very Gilligan Island-esque.

Saying bye to Tutuila.

Hiking trail around Aunu'u

Taro fields.

The mehh lake.

Tiny little hermit crab.

Beautiful beach where we tried to take a little bit of a swim.

My grizzly bear.

Addie's first fast of AmSam

So much fun!

It MLK Day weekend so we had two days of fun planned for Addie’s first weekend here (reminder: Sunday is a day of rest in AmSam). We kicked back on Sunday and showed Addie our school. On Monday, we made our way over to Airport Beach. Two buses and about an hour hike later we made it to the most amazing snorkeling spot I’ve ever been to (better than Costa Rica and Punta Cana).

Every time we go to Airport Beach (this was our third) I ask myself how we don’t make it here more often.  It is just SO gorgeous. The reef is so vibrant and alive, the lagoon is mellow and the beach is secluded. We got there at high tide so that we’d be able to snorkel over even the shallowest reef. Everything was fabulous. We stayed for a good 3 hours or so. Addie was obsessed. Saul and I spent some time playing Frisbee while she was still snorkeling.

Hey, Addie!

This weekend, more than any other, has felt SO much like vacation. There are times when I have to pinch myself as a reminder that this tropical island really has been and will continue to be my home until our next adventure.

-C