It is pronounced Pango Pango even though it is spelled Pago Pago, but it is really a collection of many villages on and island. The names of the villages and places are similar to Hawaiian and very hard to pronounce and harder to remember. They all seem to speak English but also a language that sounds like Hawaiian. The people are generally very well endowed with ample flesh, it seems to go with the territory. There are some slender girls but they are the exception and the men are muscular or plain fat. Forgive me for stating a fact.
We were going to take public transit to the National Forest today but that didn't happen. Good thing because we did not see anything recognizable as public transit, and the National Forest is a road through the mountains. We rented a Yaris for the day and the four of us took off and did get to the forest, stopping hither and yon, then turned around and headed back to the port.
We stopped at MacDonald's to see if they had wi-fi where we settled in and Gail and I got connected, sort of. That was lunch. Then off to the other end of the island, sort of. It was feeling like beach time so we stopped at Sadie's Beach, a Hotel, and paid our five dollars and went in swimming. The water was about the same temperature as the air, 88F. It did not really cool you but you at least got wet. The water was extremely salty and it was impossible to sink so that was good.
We have been here twice before, in 1999 and again later, we know not when. It is really not a destination that many people would come to. The beaches are rare and small, and there is really no resort atmosphere. There is a Starkist Tuna cannery close that looks and smells very busy right on the main street down about a mile. This appears to be the base for a large tuna fishing fleet and that is about it. It looks like Hawaii, without the rather cleaner and pristine beaches that Hawaii has.
People are very, very friendly and things are very, very cheap.Things work like they are supposed to and the roads are fine. Not great but fine. The island is very religious with a church or two of different denomination in each village it seems. The town was bustling today, a Saturday but the interior villages seem to be deserted. It was if there was a Tsunami warning and nobody told us. We asked somebody about this and they said that "Everybody was getting ready for Sunday [???].
We chatted with two locals at one deserted sea-side village and it turned into a religious conversion because they were Jehovahs Witnesses doing their rounds. We were very polite and carried on.
Our German Shadow-Ship pulled in at 12 noon so we suppose it is staying overnight. My gosh, what will those 500 passengers do on a Saturday night In Pago Pago, American Samoa? AND what will they do tomorrow on a Sunday when everything is closed?
When we returned to the ship, the same Samoan singers and dancers that greeted us in the morning were there to sing us aboard. Very nice.
Tonight at 2.00 AM we cross the dateline. Our clocks stay at the same time but we go to bed on Saturday, February 1 and wake on Monday, February 3. [No Sunday, February 2, lost forever.]
Sister Moe was on tour for four hours today and we will hear about it tomorrow.
Pics:
The singers and dancers; the market set up for us at ship-side; a typical community shelter; a 100 foot village canoe that requires 100 men to lift the canoe for island races; some time in MacDonald's and some various shots. Also fellette and I at a pre-dinner drink in the Crow's Nest, taken by Jim; and a swim with tee shirts and caps on.
Greetings Robins !
ReplyDeleteOnce again your blogs are outstanding !We are fortunate to have such ambitious world travelers in the family.
Craig's washer escapade was classic and hope he has not had to resort to just his swim trunks.
We are still plugging along which is OK at our age.
Our best to you both, Peg & Gord.