Apia, Samoa

Our tour took us to Vailele where we visited a church and then the family meeting house next door. These open walled house are where the family sleeps and meets for important discussions. The men cook in Samoa and we were shown how the fish was wrapped in palm leaves, and how tarot root and leaves were prepared for cooking over the umu, hot coals in the yard.
After a kava ceremony to welcome us, we received a speech from the chief and dances from the women. Lunch was served from the umu cooked food and was quite good.
We followed our cultural experience with a swim in the natural Puila cave pool. The cold waters were refreshing and the odd fish swam past, checking us out.
Back at the pier, we shopped at the stalls and walked into town a bit to buy pop and beer for our trip, returning to our ship 15 minutes before it sailed.Read more