I spent this past weekend basking in the glorious weather, pristine beaches, and warm culture of Savai'i. As I noted before, Savai'i is the biggest island in Polynesia and, obviously, the Samoas. Before I went, I thought Ofu was the ultimate paradise. After my trip, I'm torn between there and Savai'i.

Savai'i is quintessential Samoan. It is slightly influenced by tourism--tourism being, it seems, its main source of revenue. But even tourism has not spoiled its wonder, both natural and cultural. To the extent that one notices tourism, it is reflected in the small scattering of hotels/resorts, located at three main points around the island. The most noticeable is in Manase, where the "swankier" resorts are found. It also seems to be a hangout for local peace corp volunteers (talk about your all-time great peace corp assignments--Savai'i).

We stayed in Vaisala, more isolated and private. Even more so since we were one of two parties at the hotel. We had the magnificent, calm, yet vast, white sand beach to ourselves. We dominated the veranda where we dined, and reveled in the nightly local musical performances which consisted of two or three guitarists, a bass, singing, and the occasional dance by our waitress/receptionist/bartender/concierge (she seemed to do everything except pour a decent drink). The bass, by the way, was one string attached to a stick. The stick was placed over an upside-down bucket. The bucket thus amplified the otherwise faint pluckings. Island ingenuity at its best.

The service was impeccable. All the employees--indeed, not just at this hotel but anywhere on the island--could not have been nicer. Perhaps they had some service oriented training? Or, more likely, they reflect the warmth and genuineness of the Samoan people, unphased by large infusions of dollars or materialism. I doubt that Savai'i has problems with drunk drivers or bar fights. There are no drive by shootings there, nor drugs. I could be wrong. We were not there long enough. But that was my instinctive feeling while there. Their lives are simple, and that simplicity breeds contentment, happiness, and friendliness.

The simplicity of life also results in many, many more animals roaming the streets. Here in American Samoa, there are said to be tens of thousands of pigs. But, they are normally always fenced in--usually next to a stream so that their feces conveniently contaminates much of the island's drinking water. In any event, in Savai'i, they don't even know what fence means. Every pig on that island crossed in front of our cars that weekend. One mother pig decided to just lie in the middle of the road and feed her 10 piglets.

It can be dangerous. I've heard before that if you hit a pig in a Samoan village, you should stop and pay for it. If you hit a child, run to the nearest police station (because if you stick around, you will be lynched). I also heard the opposite--hit a child, pay for it, hit a pig, run to the police station. I myself managed to hit a rooster. I don't know how badly, though when we turned around, we did see feathers flying. We were unsure whether to stop, so continued on our way by default.

We had rented two cars. One of my friends who drove the other car did not hit a child, pig, or rooster. Instead, she hit a rock wall. Well, she backed into it. At the time we figured there was no real damage and, moreover, we had insurance. Upon returning the car, the owner immediately noticed--as if the rock wall had called her ahead of time! According to the owner, the law required us to lose our deposit: $350 tala (about $166 US). A steep price to pay.

Because of that, though, the owner was generous enough to not charge us an extra day for returning the car six hours too late. I'd like to think it was because of my skillful negotiation tactics of blank stares, stutters, looks of confusion, and an offer to pay by the hour but not for a whole day. I was supported by my friend, who continually stared at his shoes and avoided eye contact with me. In short, it could have been much worst.

Driving through Savai'i consisted of long stretches of village after village. It took us about two hours to drive from the car rental place on one side of the island to our hotel on the other side. We got a thorough tour of the island, and all we saw were villages.

We did attempt to see as many "tourist" sites as possible. These consisted of, at times, otherwise natural wonders which now require admission fees to view. This was the only drawback of the island. Not that I mind paying the usual $2 tala (about $.75 US) to enter. But it is the first time that I've had to pay to see any naturally occurring phenomenon in the Samoas. Even more unsettling was that in some places I had to pay another $2 tala to take pictures. Was principle really worth $.75 US? Of course not; I paid, knowing I would not likely have the chance to take the picture again.

But this, and only this, was the negative effect of tourism on the island. And, perhaps, I should not even be bothered by it--isn't it typical to be charged to enter sights?

So what did we see? The highlight was definitely the Taga (pronounced TaNga) blow holes. I had actually seen them on a travel channel special, and was itching to see them in person. They did not disappoint. Blow holes, by the way, are simply holes in the rock by the sea shore that, when the tide pushes water through them, create a geyser-like explosion. There were a few blow holes, but one especially powerful. I think we saw it close to its peak, which must have shot up fifty to hundred feet (hard to accurately tell).

The fun comes when the old Samoan man fearlessly stands close to the edge and, with almost perfect timing, throws coconut carcasses and other debris into the hole, which in turn shoot out like a cannonball. That service--throwing coconuts into the blow hole--cost us $20 tala. Of course, he told us this after the fact. We had $5 tala ready to give him as a tip, but soon realized he was more savvy than us.

Other highlights included a gorgeous waterfall, a short canopy walk, Moso's footprint (Moso is a god of the Samoans--it is said that he first stepped foot in Savai'i, and from there sprung the Samoans. His footprint was the first step), and the rock house (again, the result of another legend, basically involving an all-women village beating an all-male village at constructing a rock house. There's more to the story but I simply do not remember).

One final destination of note was our chance to swim with Turtles. Sounds awesome, right? By now, after 9 months here, I should have known that things are often much more disappointing than we would expect. For some reason, I envisioned going out into the open sea and swimming with schools of turtles, naturally attracted to a local sea plant (or something like that), and friendly to touch. Instead, we came across this tiny, enclosed pool of water where, they claim, live 16 turtles. For $4 tala, we were allowed to get into the water with the turtles and swim around.

We looked like idiots getting into the one foot deep water with our snorkel masks. Because the bottom was sandy, as we walked around, we kicked up the sand and made it murky--when we put our heads underwater, we could not see more than two inches. It was easier to spot the turtles from above the water than from within. In all, I counted seeing the same four turtles about four times each (that would make 16 turtles by Samoan math). I tripped over one and tried to grab several others, never succeeding. But, the absurdity of the situation made it quite enjoyable. At least the local village kids were laughing with/at us. When it was all said and done, we were each rewarded with a fresh coconut by the guys who ran the joint.

That was it for the trip. The other notable event last week was yet another trial involving local congressmen. These guys are like little children that need constant parental supervision. This trial involved the suspension by the House of Representatives of one of its members. (The last case I worked on involved the expulsion of one of the Senators from the Senate).

The Representative who was suspended, Ae Ae Jr. (cool name), is a bit of a rebel. He is one of the few who constantly questions authority. He exposes corruption and speaks out against nepotism. In short, he is the champion of his villagers, the village of Pago Pago, but has quickly fallen out of favor with most of the House.

The situation that sparked all this was an incident at a committee hearing back in February. Ae Ae allegedly called another Representative a "dog." At the trial, there was much debate about which Samoan word he used. Apparently, there is one word that means dog and one that means pet. Why one is less insulting than the other is lost on me. But the lawyers fought over it anyway. The name calling culminated in shouting matches, the need to restrain, and an eventual suspension.

The most notable part of the trial was when the Chief Justice got real mad at the spectators--who were mostly the other Representatives. He stopped the proceedings and said (I'm paraphrasing), "It seems the Fono {legislature) is finding Ae Ae's testimony funny. This is the issue before us, whether he got a fair shake. The appearance of jeering does not appear good for the Speaker and the rest of the House. I don't want to be distracted." Yowsers, what a zinger. You better believe those guys were quiet after that.

One of the more humorous moments came from Ae Ae's testimony. He was testifying that after the situation, he wanted to leave the room but the only exit was next to the Representative with whom he had been fighting. People thought he was going that way to attack the representative but he said that was crazy because the representative was twice his size!

Which brings me to an interesting point. Ae Ae is one of the skinniest Samoans I've ever seen. He is small, and not very intimidating. I was surprised when I saw him for the first time because I envisioned a large, looming man. Perhaps he is so disliked because he's so small--is this a case of thinism? It would make sense here, in the land of the large, that they would discriminate against the thin.

Well, I'm back to the grind. Work has been keeping me busier than usual. Hope all is well with everyone.

Eric