Lazy Beach Day

Today started with coffee and music, made fresh bread and breakfast,. Motivated 6 new friends, acquaintances, whatever, to go to the south coast and BBQ. Got a filet – a whole one- and some sausages, ice and beer, lemon and avocado and bread, gota have bread for the bbq and headed south. Tafatafa beach was the goal, turquoise water, beach fales, I couldn’t find a grill or wood but the girl at the beach took me to her house and hooked me up, wood that was already burning from the mornings umu, coconut shells- they are like fire starter with all the oil, and a screen for the grill. Beer in the warm waters, meat over an open fire, tangy lemon juice, mmmm. The UN people explain some internal politics, Africa, Australian, etc. We need to rinse off so it was off to the waterfalls we went. Two meter, four meter and the seven meter jumps were all open – I found a climbing route that bypassed the steps so I could leap out, and climb up the same face- very nice, good exercise. By the time we had a couple more beers and dinner at the yacht club I was exhausted. Back home to bake and do laundry for Monday morning.

Hiking in the dark

We went for an evening hike up to Robert Luis Stevenson's Grave, that turned into a minor adventure, no one had shoes other than flip flops, the German girl had a mini skirt and 2 of the boys were city guys, it was slippery, we went shoe less and we were soooo slow it got dark and then started raining- it was steep and fun- they were talking the whole time till it got dark- then they were quite- I think a little scared- I had a good time but my feet are mad. On the way in to the park the boys who look after it told us- closes at 6 - be back - of course I assured them we would be back with plenty of time to spare- Wrong , not even close - they were waiting an hour after dark for us- to lock the gates- to say sorry I gave them beer money and many sorries - I can't be making enemies in so beautiful of a place- and so small.

Civiche

With all the fresh fish available I feel guilty cooking it- since its so fresh and good - but tuna sashimi and sushi is only exciting a few times a week. So, remembering how good the fish was in Ecuador, I thought I’d try some civiche. Worked like a charm

One huge chunk of yellow fin

Cut the skin, bones and blood meat away,

Chop into cubes

Add a chopped onion, tomato or two, cilantro, some slat, maybe a pepper

Enough lemon juice to cover the tuna and the juice of an orange

Stir and stick in the fridge

Serve to hungry paddlers

Retreat

My second week on the job happened to fall on the date of the annual office retreat, how’s that for good planning? It started off with a three hour trip, by bus, ship and van talking to two very different guys with the same name talking about the journalism business in Samoa and Fiji. We went over to Savai’i and for the first time in Samoa I was hungry, no lunch, only beer until dinner- obviously a test of some sort. Maybe I passed, but I made it to dinner at least, and then dancing, with the fafas and the ladies. The water was cold- yeah it was sorta strange but there were tons of fresh water seeps just next to the shore- cold fresh water- very nice. Waking up was surreal - lapping waves and a drum summoning the office to calisthenics on the beach. The day was filled, filled with games and talking about teams or something to that effect, go blue team go- which we did – I climbed a coconut tree the fastest and won –not quite sure what I won, don’t know, but blue won. Luau night featured dancing and singing by each of the groups, we did a Samoan slap dance and then a Japanese nursery rhyme which makes sense since Japan is an island as well. Everyone got awards, one girl got one for getting sick on the boat, our IT guy got one for having sexy legs and I got something to do with a twinkle in my eye. Then there was dancing and drinking in the sand, during which a friend was teasing me since I was supposed to wake up at 6am and lead calisthenics the next morning. Surprise, surprise I woke up- with a hang over and on accident, and banged the drum to summon the office to yoga- ha ha- hung over, sunrise yoga followed by a jog and a swim and an afternoon nap. Each day I took at least 3 snorkel swims, staghorn coral dominated the reef and small fish- no big ones- but cold water seeps kept it cool. The next morning was worse- a 5 am wake up call for the paddling team, who had to catch the van – ferry – van, get changed and do 4 races, which we won 2 of- first races I’m in, first races we win?