Pago Pago, American Samoa

Pago Pago is pronounced Pango Pango. The Americans got the eastern part of Samoa. I don't know who got West Samoa, but that presumably is where Robert Louis Stevenson is buried. (We have dinner table mates whose surname is Stevenson, who were interested.

The island we were on is similar to what Bora Bora must have looked like before it got overrun with hotels. Very warm, very humid, with tropical vegetation everywhere.

	This picture came off the web but is better than the one I took of Fatu Rock. I still haven't learned whether the island has a sheltering reef like the islands of French Polynesia. The sea was so calm it was hard to tell. The harbor at Pago Pago is large and deep, providing excellent shelter.
*	The tour guide is a member of a village that has a regular presentation for visitors. She rode on the bus with us and narrated what we were seeing. I am afraid that they don't get enough tourists to keep her English up to par.
*	This little boy barely smiled the whole time. He offered to sell us a banana occasionally, but didn't seem to notice when Blazo dropped a dollar in his basket.
*	That little boy will probably grow up to look like this. The men especially have a very square build.
*	Our tour was was called A Taste of Samoa. About 60 people live in the village. They cooked and served small portions of local food, baked bananas (skin and all), spinach, tuna, chicken, pig, and something I have always wanted to try, breadfruit. It is relatively bland, with a fibrous texture, nothing I would want to try again.
*	Even though they grow up to be big and fat, they can still dance, somewhat like the Hawaiian hula. After the Samoan dancing, they put on Elvis Presley music and danced with the guests with great enthusiasm and skill. The tour buses are in the background, wooden seats, no sound system for the tour guide, and no air conditioning.
*	Everyone keeps their ancestors' bones in their front yard. No one ever sells their property, so you don't ever wind up looking after someone else's ancestors. We passed perhaps 20 churches in two hours of driving. Apparently Samoa has been thoroughly Christianized.
*	This photo was taken by the cruise line. We never saw the ship from this perspective. On to Auckland, New Zealand.