Still kind of weird thinking we are one day ahead of the everyone at home. No, we don’t have the winning numbers to (yesterday’s) lottery!! Today was a nice day in which we drove to the opposite side of the island to do the Coastal Walk. The walk, an approximate 2-hour round trip, was a hike that weaved in and out of the jungle to bring us to the edge of a lava cliff along the ocean. When we hit the end, we discovered a large lava field perched on the edge of the ocean. On the trip back, we took a detour unintentionally and ended up cutting our time in half. We walked on a well-groomed trail instead of navigating the lava rocks and jungle. Rarely does that happen. Usually getting lost means a death march. We then made a quick trip to the Pickled Lam to thank Annie and give her a Blue Ridge Parkway pin for her kindness and honesty in returning Kathy’s bag which she had left at the café few days earlier. We are going to gift her our plane tickets to American Samoa, since we can give them away, but cannot get a refund. She was very gracious and kind. We hope she is able to advantage of the opportunity and take some time off to visit American Samoa with her son, Malachi.
We then made a quick trip back to the hostel for lunch. Post-lunch, we set off to visit the National Museum of Samoa. There we learned about the history of Samoa dating back to the 1800’s and up through independence in 1962. A nice talk with the assistant curator who explained some of the more current displays in the bottom portion of the museum. This included some artwork from the local students. We learned more about the history of Samoa during our visit to the museum than the entire 8 days we had been in Samoa talking with the locals and our “tour guide”, Henry. All of the tour guides and visitor center staff we met seemed to either make up answers or shrug “I don’t know.”
We made it home for dinner where Dave made his NOT so famous mac and cheese, but it was great nonetheless. (Dave insists it is the best to be found on the island!) The season of Lent in another country can be hard, especially when milk comes in a cartoon and is stored on the shelf – not refrigerated. Dave is craving a big glass of chocolate milk and this just might be our first purchase in Australia, if we get there. Dave just hopes the milk comes from a cow, not a kangaroo!
