Vacation of a lifetine Part # 6 In Samoa Tatooing is Not a Fad

One of our charming tour guides

After a delightful visit to the exotic Island of Western Samoa, we continued our journey and arrived in Tutuila, known as American Samoa. This island is a territory of the USA and was a coaling repair station for the United States navy from 1878 to 1951.

A tsunami had hit the island nine days prior to our arrival. We were naturally leery about the visit, but our captain was assured it was safe to come ashore. Besides, the country now needed all the help it could get. Our purchases would help the economy. The authorities promised to make sure that we did not enter any devastated unsafe areas.

Within two hours after our boat weighed anchor at Pago Pago, the capital city, we piled into quaint buses that lacked air conditioning and headed out to tour parts of the island. Two beautiful female college students were our tour guides. They were determined to have us learn as much about their culture as we could during out limited time. They told us folktales and sang native songs. They encouraged all passengers to learn the words of one of the popular songs and to sing along.

Later as we walked about I noticed that many natives wore tattoos and asked about it. One student explained that tattooing in not a fad in Samoa; it is a part of the culture.
“I am daughter of a chief,” she said. “I have certain tattoos that my father ordered for me to have.” She stated that she had no say in the matter. Lifting her long skirt above her knees, she showed me a shapely leg covered in neat, uniformed tattoos.
“This is what I had to get,” she said.
While I don’t plan to indulge in this art form anytime soon, I now have an appreciation for the art of tattooing.http://tinyurl.com/y9ntuu8

Vacation of a lifetime Part 5

One of the better fales in Western Samoa

Arriving in Western Samoa

The islands of the South Pacific are all unique and wonderful and while they all have much in common, some things about each one stand out and remains indelible in my mind. I found two of the islands more fascinating than the rest; Western Samoa and Moorea.
Western Samoa: It could have been our tour guide on our excursion that made this island so interesting. He was the chief of his village, proud, very articulate and most willing to share information. “Everyone owns a plantation,” he explained. “We spend our time at the plantation and we share. The whole family is taken care of.” He explained that the land of Samoa cannot be sold. It is passed down to family members. If an outsider marries a Samoan woman, he will be allotted land but he will never own it and therefore cannot sell it.
Most Samoans live in fales; houses built on platforms, opened at the sides and supported by pillars. We passed many as we traveled through the country and noted that they rarely had any furniture. The residents sleep on mats that are rolled up and stored during the day. Curious about intimacy, after noting the lack of privacy, I asked our guide how a couple could be intimate under the circumstance. He had us cracking up when he said, “When I was a boy I asked my father the same question. He replied, ‘Why do you think your mother and I went to the plantation ten times a day? We were making babies!’”
I thought that answer was priceless.