First Impressions

We arrived at the Pago airport tired. Finn was tired and crying hysterically as Levi and I waited for our bags at the baggage carousel. Normally collecting bags is no big deal, but in Pago it is hot and humid, crowded and non air conditioned and it usually takes awhile. Add in a crying three year old, and it becomes not fun. Finally we collected our bags and made it out of the airport, where our landlord's liaison Henry greeted us.

Henry is a Filipino who we discover immediately to be very friendly and helpful. He helped load our bags and drove us to the house we'll be living in for the next 10 months.

Henry gave us a quick tour (I had checked the house out briefly three months prior) and left. I looked at Sarah and saw her eyes well up with tears. "I don't know if I can live here for the next 10 months!" she said. We noticed holes in the screens, and a gap under the door where insects could get in. We both were bothered by the toxic odor from the recent fumigation and paint job. I was a little shell-shocked as I ran to the store for some food and considered my options.

Upon my return, we talked about it for awhile, decided that we'd try to get some rest and perspective, and went to sleep.

That night I woke up to get a drink of water, and I heard a distinct sound in the cupboard. I tapped a box of tea, and a large cockroach skittered away. Perfect. I didn't mention it to Sarah and went back to sleep.

After a couple of hours of sleep, Sarah and I talked it over and decided that we'd make some changes and "tighten the house up", but in the end, sit tight at the house.  We know that roaches are a part of life in the tropics, but the fact that we saw one the very first night when the house had fumigated and empty for two weeks left us wary of an infestation. Also that morning we did notice mosquito bites on the kids and realized mosquitoes and other bug may indeed be getting in through some of the screens. 

A week later, the toxic smell has faded somewhat, the roaches aren't regular guests, and the screens have been replaced or fixed. Sarah is feeling better about the house; in fact, there are things we like better here over the last house. People familiar with the house say it is one of the better houses on island, and we realize that we are lucky here. The kids love the yard.  They love playing hide and seek, watching the bats swoop down in the evening, and exploring. What a difference a week makes.

Back to the Rock

So this is actually the second blog about our adventures in American Samoa, otherwise known as "The Rock".  The first one was called "Sautners in Samoa". Five years ago, in May 2011, Sarah and I arrived on-island with our three year old son Levi, and Sarah blogged a bit about our time and this interesting place.

So we're back in American Samoa in May 2016, this time with Levi (now eight years old) and our three year old son, Finn.  We're hoping to share some of our daily life on island, as well as some of the things that American Samoa such a unique place. Sarah will blog some, I'll blog some, and maybe we'll get Levi to be a guest blogger. Stay tuned...

Layover in Oahu

We broke up our flight to American Samoa by scheduling a long weekend in Honolulu, staying near the airport in Waikiki. We arrived with 10 checked bags (actually nine -  one of our bags didn't make it out of Sacramento until a couple of days later), and took a shuttle over to the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. I give a Yelp score of four stars to the hotel; we received the Lei greeting, excellent service, a nice room, and great location right across the street from the Duke Kahanamoku statue, in the heart of Waikiki.

  

Knowing it was going to be the last chance for awhile to get our pick of restaurants, we took advantage and had a lot of great Japanese and Hawaiian influenced meals. Our favorite was a place we happened upon called Heavenly, where they served recipes made from locally sourced ingredients. We stopped there twice, having loco moco, green curry and ramen for dinner, and granola, fruit, french toast and loco moco(again) for breakfast. Deliciousness.

Levi and Finn had an absolute blast at the beach. Finn basically squealed as every wave approached; it put a big smile on my face. For the rest of our stay in Hawaii, Finn negotiated to go to the beach.

The best thing decision we made however was to rent a car and get out of Waikiki. On Saturday we drove out to the Bishop Museum, which is a complex of museum buildings featuring Pacific and Hawaiian history, a traveling exhibit (currently featuring candy, which seemed to capture the kids’ imagination), the Hawaiian sports hall of fame, a planetarium, local flora, and a hands-on science museum featuring a multi-story volcano. The highlight for me was the main room of the Pacific Museum, which was an open three story room looking like something out of a Harry Potter book.

  

We then drove across the island and saw some really dramatic, picturesque views. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures, as our phones ran out of juice.

Ah well, we returned the next day, driving to Waimea and around the north shore. We took a quick detour through an arboretum. Then we stopped at a shrimp truck, ate some pickled mango, and stopped at a farm where we ate a grilled banana bread dessert. We also stopped at a macadamia tree farm. Yeah, it was basically about the food.

We made two more stops that day, one at a spot called Shark's Cove, and then the justifiably popular Hanuama Bay for snorkeling. Levi gave snorkeling a try, but after taking in some salt water and generally struggling, he gave it up for another day. He later said snorkeling was the best and worst part of his day. We'll try again another time.

We did the beach again Monday morning for the kids, and then we headed over to the airport and caught our flight to American Samoa.

So that was Oahu - we really enjoyed ourselves over the long weekend. On to American Samoa!