Day 320, Year 1: Getting to Know Micah and Faaiuga
Date: Saturday, September 2, 2006
Weather: Rain Most of the Night, Rain Most of the Day
Location: Pago Pago Harbor, Tutuila Island, American Samoa
Despite the weather, we had an absolutely fantastic day. We realized this morning that Monday is Labor Day and a holiday here in American Samoa, so Mark headed to the store to buy a few things. I stayed on the boat and sanded and varnished those Dorade boxes . . . again. Everything was made more difficult because of the rain, but we managed to get our jobs done and get back into town by 1:00 to meet Micah and his wife, Faaiuga. We met Micah, who I think is originally from California, at the American Samoa Community College when we were searching for a film Mark had done when he was here in the 1960’s. Micah is interested in sailing to Apia with us and we invited him to come to see the boat and to bring his wife. We thought we were going to be hosting them, but that got turned around. They picked us up at the dock and took us across the mountain to the village of Vatia. We stopped at the National Park fale on the way there and had a fantastic lunch that Micah and Faaiuga had prepared. We had baked taro root and baked breadfruit with fresh yellow fin tuna oka (raw fish marinated in coconut crè¥ and onion), and another coconut crè¥ and onion liquid “dip” with a bit of hot pepper. It was all absolutely delicious and made more so by the fact that they had made the coconut crè¥ themselves. You evidently grate the coconut and squeeze it into a liquid. It is delicious. What a wonderful lunch in a beautiful place. And we saw a new bird while we were sitting in the fale. It looked a little like a blue jay with a long beak like a kingfisher. I’ll have to find out the name of this bird.
We went on to visit the village of Vatia. We had driven to what we thought was the end of the road last week, but Micah spent a few days in the village at one time and knew the road continued. We drove further, walked out a path, and had a wonderful, close-up view of Cockscomb Point (The Pola) and all of the rock arches at its base. We also learned more about traditional Samoan life from both Micah and Faaiuga.
It rained while we were having lunch in the fale, and then rained again on our way back into Pago Pago. We had to wait in the car for the wind and rain to subside before getting into the dinghy and heading out to Windbird. We were all so stuffed from the great lunch that we couldn’t eat another thing, so we had some cool drinks and enjoyed being in our protected cockpit while the rains came again. Mark gave Micah and Faaiuga a tour of the boat and then we just sat in the cockpit and got to know each other a little better. Micah and Faaiuga have three children: Jacob who is almost 8, Joshua who is 5, and Patricia who is 2 years old. Faaiuga made sure to note that the family also includes seven chickens and one cat named Sina! Faaiuga is from Sili, Savaii in independent Samoa and moved here to American Samoa with Micah about eight years ago. Micah did a bit of sailing in the South Pacific when he was in his twenties and is very interested in sailing to Apia with us. If the weather coincides with his schedule, I think he will be doing that. We are going to have dinner at the Van der Ryn home on Wednesday and finalize plans for our sail to the other Samoa at that time. We had a wonderful time today, thoroughly enjoyed Faaiuga’s great sense of humor, and Micah’s willingness to share his knowledge of the culture here. They are a great couple and we look forward to seeing them again on Wednesday.
Mark barely got our guests back to shore before the rains started again. It is pouring right now and probably will all night. I’d sure like to see a sunny day tomorrow.
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| 060902 Day 320 American Samoa–Vatia |
