Tuesday, February 18
Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango) is the major port for American Samoa located on the island of Tutuila, one of the seven islands that make up this American territory. It is a very hilly island and there are only about 55,000 total people in American Samoa. We are here in the rainy season and one of the ladies I spoke with said yesterday had been very rainy and windy.
About 6:30 I woke up to islands floating by so I put my robe on and went out on my balcony. It was hot and humid but everything was very lush and green with homes perched on the sides of the hills. I watched the docking and then I went back to bed for another two hours (I had trouble falling asleep last night even though I could hardly keep my eyes open at dinner - I think I need to go back to my daily naps).
Got ready for the day (lightweight clothes and my seagrass hat) and started out walking. We were told that the town (Fagatogo) was 1.5 km away (that is less than a mile) so I thought I would try it. It did not seem that long because there was so much to look at. I found a nice little coffee bar that had cold sodas for $1 and air conditioning. They also had wi-fi for $10 an hour but I had not brought any devices with me. It was nice to just sit and cool down. After I finished my Coke I walked around some more. The really happening place was the Western Union office. I don't know if people were doing more sending or receiving money but the place was packed with locals.
Right off the ship were stalls with local items for sale. I bought my customary magnets and a pretty shawl in bright shades of blue and green as well as a blue muumuu. Came back to the ship for lunch.
There was a quick rainstorm this afternoon and afterwards it cooled down but the humidity was still high.
Put on my new muumuu and went to the sail-away party which was cut short when another rainstorm came in.
Three of us from our dinner table went to see the show (Hotel Royale). It has been on before but it includes some good songs so I did not mind going again.
US Zip code 96799
Souvenir stalls
Houses on the mountainside
View of town from my balcony
There was a damaging tsunami due to an earthquake back in 2009
Wall art at the local museum
Some of the colorful buses of Pago Pago
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