Today we cruised into the port of Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila of American Samoa. It is a beautiful harbour, surrounded the lush green hills, making it seem like you’re in the middle of an amphitheatre. We were greeted by native dancers as seems to be the custom here on the islands.
American Samoa is a territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the of Samoa. The total land area is 199 square kilometers or about one tenth the size of metro Toronto. Tuna products are the main exports with the Star-Kist cannery being a major employer. Their main trading partner is the rest of the United States.
Most American Samoans are bilingual and can speak English
and Samoan fluently. They are very religious, and many villages have a 6:15pm
to 6:30 curfew that requires its citizens to remain at home and pray.
Residents of American Samoa have no representation in the
United States congress. American Samoa is the only permanently inhabited
territory of the United States in which citizenship is not granted at birth,
and people born there are considered "non-citizen nationals". Despite
that, American Samoa is noted for having the highest rate of military
enlistment of any U.S. state or territory.
The American business culture has not made a big impact on
the island. You’ll find very few mainland franchises on the island. Most stores
seemed to be owned and run by local residents.
In March 1889, an Imperial German naval force entered a
village in Samoa, and in doing so destroyed some American property. Three
American warships then entered the Apia harbor and prepared to engage the three
German warships found there. Before any shots were fired, a typhoon wrecked
both the American and German ships. A compulsory armistice was then called
because of the lack of any warships.
Prior to the First World War, Germany and the USA
partitioned the Samoan Islands, with the USA taking control of the easterly
island. Attempts to incorporate America Samoa into the USA have never passed
the US Senate, due to pressure from tribal chiefs.
On September 29, 2009, two large earthquakes struck midway
between Samoa and American Samoa. The earthquakes generated tsunami waves of up
to 22 meters that engulfed the shores, killing at least 192 people—149 in
Samoa, 34 in American Samoa, and 9 in Tonga.
The weather continues to be hot and sticky. We had several major downpours, but it did
nothing to cool the temperature or bring the humidity down.
During the day we went another Samona Cultural Experience. We discovered very quickly that American Samoa is poor. The buses are mainly a rackety old frame with a wooden box on top. Every bump, and there were a lot of them, felt like you had been hit by a Mack truck.
There is only one major highway that encircles the island.
Secondary and tertiary roads are pathetic. The maximum speed, if you don’t want
to break your back, is 20mph. Our guide kept telling us that there is only one
of anything in American Samoa. One road, one bank, one movie theatre, one
hospital, etc.
We stopped at several sites for pictures, including one park
that overlooked the ocean and was next to the prison.
 |
We eventually ended up in a small village, where we participated in an Ava ceremony. Ava can best be described as an herbal tea with relaxing properties. It is used as a part of the ceremony when the kings of two tribes get together. The daughter of one of the elders in the tribe was a scene stealer, when she prepared the Ava from the roots.
Our friend Debbie has been snorkeling on both islands and
has seen a wide variety of fish. She was able identify many of them, but she
has seen some very unusual ones.
It seems that crossing international date line from the west
to the east messes up email. The program checks to see when the last time the email
was accessed. Because the network run by Oceania doesn’t have a proper time
sync in place, for the next 24 hours, it thinks we have already looked at the
email and no update is required.
No comments:
Post a Comment