Pago Pago, American Samoa

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Day 24- February 7, 2007, Wednesday, Pago Pago, American Samoa

Time: 5:30 pm (10:15 pm CST)
Latitude: 14 degrees 30.29 minutes S
Longitude: 171 degrees 00.74 minutes W
Speed: At Anchor
Winds: Slight breeze
Distance traveled from FLL: 8639 nautical miles
Weather: 86 degrees / 85% humidity, Sunny with periods of rain showers

Today we enjoyed being back in America for a day! We toured Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila, which is also known as American Samoa, a territory of the USA. It was a beautiful sunny day but hot, hot, HOT with intermittent rain showers to steam things up a bit more! The “bus” we traveled in was very unique (see the pictures)! As we traveled the island’s only road, our guides explained that tourism and tuna fishing/processing are the major industries of this very poor island. Samoan grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins all live close together so they can help one another. When one of them dies they are buried in the front yard so they remain close to the family. This is not unique to American Samoa; many of the people throughout the South Pacific share this practice. The people seem very happy and enjoy singing and dancing. Our guides took us to their village’s Open House (a large, open structure with pillars holding the roof so that the breezes blow through) where we were welcomed by the Chief with the traditional speeches, songs and dances. Each village has its own chief. We met many people and were very pleased by their warm smiles and friendliness. We had fun sightseeing and buying lots of things—beautiful tropical flowers to take back to our cabins, necklaces made of nuts and shells and great printed shirts for the boys.

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