Another day, another rock. Normal start of the day. Breakfast is the pretty much the same, yet unique. Today we had the same fruits, coffee, and toast, but instead of fried runny eggs— they offered us hard boiled eggs. They were cooked all the way through, despite what Kathy imagined, but she still could not eat them. They also had “crepes”, (we think?) or were they very doughy tortillas? Just not sure, but we tried them with jelly. If only they had syrup, it would make almost anything more palatable. Especially good old genuine maple syrup from the Cornell maple farm in Lake Placid! Next, we were off to the airport – an hour drive from our hotel – to speak with someone about a refund for our flights. All we got was – “You need to go into town and speak with the manager.” Dave’s first rock of the day!! Not feeling it at that moment, we came back to the hotel to have PB and J sandwiches. Creamy peanut butter, for those who know Dave, is not just a rock, but a BOULDER. He survived, somehow.
Deciding to play for a bit, we headed to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum which highlights the great Scottish author. RLS lived here for four years prior to dying here in 1894. The tour was the highlight of our day, as the author was also a resident in our village of Saranac Lake for ~~ 6 months prior to coming to Samoa. It was a wonderful connection and we enjoyed our visit. Dave even brought a brochure from the Saranac Lake museum and presented it as a gift to the Samoan museum. It was proudly put in a display case prior to us leaving. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the museum and would recommend it to anyone who is in the area.
It was now time to see if we could get a refund for the flights to American Samoa which we were denied being able to board. We walked to downtown Apia, during alternating periods of rain and then bright sunshine to somehow raise the humidity even more, and eventually arrived at the airline headquarters. We were then told, “Fata is at lunch.” Who goes to lunch at 3:30 PM when the office closes in one hour, we wondered? We waited and finally he arrived at 4:10 pm. We were told to wait some more. Finally, at 4:35 PM, we were ushered back to his office where we were point blank told, “No.” and we should have read the conditions of the flight. Another rock in Dave’s growing stack of rocks!! Dave tried to argue the point but was unable to budge the man from his stance.
Time for dinner now. We decided to go to a nearby pizza restaurant which was recommended. “Closed Monday” declared the sign on the door – another ROCK!!! A quick trip across the street to a local hotel to have dinner at their restaurant. “Yes” said the nice lady at the front desk, “It is down the hall and up the stairs. Upon arrival – not open yet. Another ROCK!! We made a decision to try the Pickled Lam Delicatessen – which was our next stop. We were rewarded with a good pizza, cupcakes, and the best service ever!! Kathy inadvertently left her bag at the restaurant. The hostess walked down to our hotel and brought it to Kathy at the hotel. What amazing hospitality! A great way to end the night!! And the cupcakes were great!!!
Kathy and Dave are trying to make lemonade with all the lemons we have been getting. The bounty has been great lately, and our cup runneth over! We’ll keep on a’drinking.