We arrived in Samoa after a four-hour flight from Auckland, late in the evening and we were greeted by awful heat and one shy taxi-driver, who took us to the accommodation. During about 70-minute drive, he said only two sentences, which made me think about all those reviews on the internet saying that Samoans are warm and welcoming.
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| This kind of landscape made Marek say every other minute: "Hey, it looks here like in Far Cry 3!" |
We asked the driver to stop at the supermarket, because we needed to buy some water and food, as we had pretty much nothing with us. Tired and confused, we were prompted by hand gestures of supermarket staff to leave our bags on the table before entering the shop and we received little numbers on the cardboard, so that we know, which bag is ours. We must have been kind of amusing, as the Samoans standing around were laughing (and I am still convinced they were laughing AT US though all the people later tried to tell us, that Samoans are just naturally happy). We bought some water and bread with white unidentified filling (which turned out to be some kind of sweet mousse and I am still not sure if I liked it or not).
When we reached our accommodation, nobody was around to greet us. The taxi driver pointed at the bungalow in front of us, so we just paid him and after the quick shower and bite into that weird bread we went to sleep.
In the morning we went to find somebody who could tell us where the hell we are and how to find the city centre and a supermarket. (It seemed pretty easy on the map I was studying in my room in New Zealand, but it was awfully hard in the reality of the Samoan morning heat in the middle of nowhere with no internet and no phone signal).
We found the space, which was obviously used for the breakfast - with two cups, two bowls and some cereals and tea and coffee, so we helped ourselves and waited what will happen. Soon the young Samoan girl arrived and without saying a word, she gave us some toasted bread with ham and cheese, bananas and papayas. Marek tried to start the conversation and asked her, if the town centre is on the road to the left. "To the right," she said. And that was it.
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| Marek going to the right. |
So, after the breakfast, we went to the right. On the way to the centre, we came across Palolo Deep Marine Reserve, where you could rent for a small fee some snorkelling gear and explore the reef. The girl at the entrance didn't have any change at first, so we visited the place only after we got some small coins from the supermarket, but it was worth the detour - it was a really nice place with a lot of coral fish, peaceful and clean.
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| A friendly cat watched our stuff while we snorkeled. |
The whole Apia on the other hand is not a beautiful place and whoever is telling you to go out of the town to enjoy the real Samoa is right. It is nice to walk around and have a look, but a day is enough for exploring the town.
At first we went to the Visitor Centre (air conditioning and information, hallelujah) and we booked a day trip around the island for the next day. We also went to the local flea market, where we bought some earrings made out of coconut shells and a nice wooden plate. We had some nice fresh coconut and coffee, sandwiches and headed back to the accommodation.
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| Samoans selling all kinds of fruit. |
It seemed to me, that we were the only visitors of the island at that time (well for sure we were the only visitors at our accommodation), probably because of the fact that it was the rainy season. We were lucky though: during our whole stay it rained only during night.
Here are some pictures for you, so that you can enjoy Apia too. (I am just a bit sad, that you cannot feel the heat from the pictures. To truly understand the atmosphere, imagine it’s sauna hot around.)
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| Typical Samoan bus. Colourful and wooden. |
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| 24 km per hour. No rush, there is nowhere to go anyway. |
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| Schoolkids having fun on the beach in the city. |
