We’ve arrived at the port city of Apia in Samoa! Our 4^th country in a month! The trip from American Samoa was only 70 nautical miles, but transited the international date line. West went to sleep on Monday August 7 and he woke up Wednesday August 9. For most of August 8 we simply didn’t exist, which is a real bummer because that’s Fathers Day in Mongolia.

We were met on the docks at Apia by four customs officials. As we began the paperwork, they asked if we had a boat stamp. Sarah was pretty excited, as we do in fact have a boat stamp, for just such an occasion. She proudly produced this ultimate weapon of our bureaucratic arsenal, then enthusiastically tested it out on the palm of her hand. It was interesting watching her expression change through this exercise. If I had to guess, I’m pretty sure she was thinking: “Why did I just put a big stamp on the palm of my hand in front of the customs officials?”

I wasn’t doing any better with first impressions as I was sweating profusely in 35 degree heat with no breeze. Sort of giving off a paranoid and highly contagious type vibe. The officials accepted our quirks and politely cleared us into their country. After some vigorous hand-washing we were ready to go exploring.

The neighboring nations of Samoa and American Samoa (AmSam) have the same underlying Samoan culture, but the echoes of colonialism have made for some notable differences between the two.

In AmSam kids play baseball and American football. In Samoa, rugby, soccer and netball are the popular sports. In AmSam they drive on the right, Samoa on the left. AmSam imports goods and vehicles from America, whereas Samoa imports largely from Asia and Australia. AmSam shares a work week with America, while just across the date line, Samoans are more closely aligned with the Australian week. 110 volt power outlets vs. 220. And most importantly: Samoan grocery stores sell Vegemite!

Flashback: In 2012 they stopped selling Vegemite in Canada, effectively ending all Can-Austral goodwill, forever. By 2020 my vitamin B levels had dropped so low that I fell victim to a fraudulent Vegemite seller online. Availability of Vegemite represents a major milestone for me.

Flashback over.

It feels like the Austral-Asian influence really ramped up when we crossed the date line. Local delicacies include an Asian influenced Samoan Pork Bun, lots of curries, and something called German Buns, which are rumoured to be named for a mispronunciation of, “Jam in Bun”.

While perusing the bakery at the nearby grocery store, I came across a stack of sponge cakes decorated with: “Happy Fathers Day”.

What luck! Samoan Fathers Day is a national public holiday. And if we sail back across the date line, we can experience it twice! Sarah didn’t let me buy one of the cakes, presumably because she’s planning a much grander celebration.

A taxi driver named Ta’i offered us a guided tour one day for a reasonable price. The whole island is rural once you leave the city of Apia. As we drove around, it was notable how well maintained most of the properties looked. Even a house that was little more than a shack would tend to have a manicured yard, with tidy lawns and gardens. Many were landscaped beautifully, and it was rare to see any junk lying around. Ta’i explained this pride in where you live was a part of Samoan culture.

Almost every residence we saw had both an “open house” and a “closed house”, right next to each other. The open houses have a raised foundation and a roof supported by columns, but no walls. The closed houses offer more privacy. The two structures were usually around the same size, and both are lived in throughout the day, with the open house dedicated to lounging and entertaining. This seems like a nice way to live.

Like in AmSam, many Samoan homes have elaborate graves in the yard. Ta’i explained that if your relatives loved you, you get a spot in the yard. He loved his own deceased father so much that they buried him under the living room.

On the Sunday after the tour Ta’i delivered a home cooked traditional Samoan meal to us and his other tour guests on the dock. Taro leaves with coconut cream (palusami) is a new favorite.

We’ll be leaving here after only a week as the weather is looking good to sail down to Tonga, but it’s been a great stop.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Vegemite and a pork bun I need to introduce to each other.

Some photos…