Escaping To Paradise

Last weekend, we got to go to Savaii, one of the three major islands in the Samoa Mission. Here we are, waiting for the ferry to take off. We had been told Savaii was much more primitive than Upolu, so I was surprised when we got there and saw that the place was quite civilized...and so beautiful!

This was the view from our motel.

What a fun picture!

Mike poked our badges in this black sand beach. I think the sand is black because of all the lava rock.

Mike is standing on a lava arch. He has just discovered a family of crabs, but they disappeared before I could get the camera over to him.





This is a better view of the arch. Everytime the tide came up, it filled with water.




We were very fortunate to have our own personal tour guides, Elder and Sister Krogh, who showed us all around the island. Here we are eating lunch with Elder Krogh and a sweet man who took us to the blowholes. (Sister Krogh is taking the picture)





He knew just when to throw a coconut shell into the hole so that the wave would toss it into the air.

Isn't this a gorgeous waterfall? Normally we have the place to ourselves, but we shared it with a youth group who were visiting from New Zealand that day. It felt like we were in the Garden of Eden!

Not long before this picture was taken, that piece of "tapa" cloth was the trunk of a mulberry tree! It was about 4 inches in diameter. We watched as this Samoan woman stripped the bark off, peeled away the layer of white, soaked it, pounded it, flattened it with a tool made from a shell, stretched it some more and laid it out to dry. She then stenciled over it and painted it with a brush made from a seed pod. The paint was made from a plant as well. Notice the woven mats we all sat on. I love the culture of this country!

Elder Krogh said we should ask our grandkids the following question,

"How big is a leaf?"
This one's pretty big! But they get much bigger.

Here we are with Elder and Sister Krogh. We had such a wonderful time with them. And, they live right outside of Heber! We'll be able to visit them when we go to Vernal!

This is what is left of an old Catholic church that was filled with hot lava when a volcano errupted in Savaii back in 1905. This is a view from the front of the church, looking back. Interestingly,
the lava stopped just before it got to what would have been the pulpit.

We had a great time feeding the giant turtles. Look at them fighting to get to that papaia!

Yes, it truly was an... escape to paradise!