Images of American Samoa– Tutuila Island, taken in January 2016.

The reason for my trip to American Samoa was to visit the most remote US National Park in the park system. It wasn’t easy to plan; hotels were limited, rental car reservations were hard to procure and flights to and from Hawai’i were only on Mondays and Fridays. All this required me to leave Hawai’i mid trip for my excursion to American Samoa. Five days in the middle of the South Pacific, with nothing but time on my hands and palm trees swaying in the ocean breeze…sensing that I’m not going to get a lot of sympathy I shall move on…

After the five and a half hour flight we landed at the Pago Pago airport at 11 p.m. and I made my way to my rental car which had a flat tire. So I was “upgraded” to a Toyota Tacoma which I suspected might have actually been someone’s personal vehicle. No problem it actually came in handy on a few unmaintained park roads. The rest of the trip went smoothly, my visit to the park as well as my tour of Pago Pago and Tutuila Island.

So with time to spare I took off on a driving tour of the island and its many small villages. I learned that each village was a community unto itself; there was a church and one or more family “chiefs” each represented by a Fale which is a covered open air family meeting place with columns. Also present everywhere were Sa bells, a long tube suspended in the air and traditionally rung each evening around dusk to let the people know when to observe a time for prayer. Both men and women wore the traditional Lava-Lava sarong with the female version having a more elaborate design compared to the plain male form. And I was fascinated by the many differently designed buses. Each is a family owned business with one or more island destinations, the lifeline between the many small villages and the capital where jobs went from shopkeeper to fishermen to port or Starkist plant worker.

Being that I was in the southern hemisphere, Samoa is about 15 degrees south of the equator, it was the summer/fall season so I experienced mid 80’s temperatures with 90% humidity, hot no matter which way you slice it! But beyond any discomfort related to the humidity, getting to know American Samoa and its culture was an incredible experience.