American Samoa: The Only U.S. Territory in the South Pacific (LONG)

American Samoa's capital, Pago Pago--pronounced "Pango Pango," is located on Tutuila, the main island of the Eastern group of the Samoan island chain. American Samoa, in contrast to Western Samoa, became a territory of the United States in 1900. The bay where the Pacific Princess docked nearly bisects the island at its center and is considered one of the best, most-spectacular natural harbors in the South Pacific. The natives greeted us with the largest outdoor market we have ever experienced in our travels. Our ship was the third cruise ship to dock in February so they obviously had considerable practice in making us feel welcome while relieving us of some of our money. We were booked on a tour arranged by Lynn from Cruise Critic for $50 a person. When we learned that the ship's tour cost only $49 and local vendors were offering tours for $20 a person on naturally air-conditioned (open-windowed) brightly painted buses, we were sure that we had overpaid. By the end of our almost six-hour tour, we all thought we had taken the bargain of the century.

Our guide was Kiso, a liberal-arts student at American Samoa Community College who would rather be studying auto mechanics, who informed us that while Samoa is not financially rich, it is rich in nature. A sports fan, he also told us that one of the main exports of the island is American football players with #43 of the Pittsburgh Steelers being the name recognized by most of us in our air-conditioned black van--Richard, Barb, Chuck, Lorraine, Ken and me. I have no idea what that player's name is but we all recognized that most Samoan men have the build of professional football players. We later learned that physique is partly due to the opening of the first McDonald's on the island in July 2003. By November of that year, the franchise was the Number 1 in sales in the entire world and it actually ran out of hamburgers one day. The store is within walking distance of the largest high school on the island so it has a built-in clientele. Kiso, who could have been a football player, was a freshman at that high school when the McDonald's opened.

Kiso seemed to be related to everyone on the island or at least the most important people. He told us it is a tradition to call everybody brother or sister because everyone on the island knows everyone else. To eat dinner at a neighbor's house, all one has to say is "please." The biggest crime on the island is having a neighbor take another resident's banana branch.

The only major highway on the island does not go all the way around--one either has to go east and return to the bay or go west. Kiso headed east, driving us past the tuna canneries that employ 40 percent of the population. About 30 percent of the population lives off the land, a nice expression for the unemployed and 30 percent are employed in other occupations including the government and hospitality.

We traveled east to the $2 Beach, appropriately named because we each had to pay $2 to enter. There we viewed the Camel Rock. The Egyptians brought the first camel to American Samoa. Legend on the island states that items that are not native do not last so the camel is now a rock. On our way back to the city, Kiso told us that all the homes along the shore were underwater when the tsunami struck the island at 7 a.m. in the morning. The residents had only five or 10 minutes warning. He also explained that the highest roof on the house is for the chief who rules the village but the high talking chief speaks. We viewed a round house with carvings on its pillars. The village had given an invitation to local artists to each carve a pillar.

On the road west was a Tank Farm, where American Samoa stores the oil that it imports from the United States and Australia. Kiso said his ancestors lived in huts but now most people have nice homes thanks to True Value Hardware's entrance on the island. Most homes do not have air conditioning but rather use the natural breeze cooling system. However, almost everyone has cable TV. The coconuts on the road create a game of dodge ball for the drivers.

We stopped at Fatu and Fitu Flower Pot Rocks. The two names translated mean "broken heart." According to a local legend, the fisherman Fatu went out one day to fish and never came back. He was eaten by a shark and turned into a rock. Fitu, his sweetheart, went out to look for him and noticed the new rock. She swam out to it and was eaten by a shark and turned into a rock, so the two lovers were reunited in the "Shark's Villa."

Then we drove to Vila's Village for a food tasting and entertainment, where we met our fellow passengers on the Princess tour. Vila is Kiso's mother. She and her husband started to build the village in 2004, just before Kiso's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was treated at UCLA before he died in 2006. Vila continued with the plan to build the village. Kilo was the MC for the native dances. He said, "The good-looking guys are picked to dance but the handsome guy is the MC. Then the women appeared to dance with the princess. Peter and Dennis volunteered to dance with the princess and were immediately wrapped in sarongs by the village girls. Dennis, who had been in the Peace Corps, obviously learned his smooth moves during that time. Kiso received a foot massage on his back from the Princess. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

Our next stop was the Ioane Viliamu, the first church on the island that was built in 1839. While the outside had been damaged by the tsunami, the inside with its beautiful inlaid wooden ceilings and stained glass windows was spared. The air being cooled by the ceiling fans created welcome relief from the steaming temperatures outside. On our drive to our next stop, the Tanese Museum, we passed a large, mansion-like house on a grassy hill overlooking a picture postcard view of the beach. When we asked who live in the house, Kiso told us the mansion was owned by Betty, the tour operator. Tourism seems to provide a good living in American Samoa.

Tavese was the first governor of Samoa who actually was a Samoan. Born on August 29, 1941, he died while governor from a heart attack he experienced on an airplane to New Zealand on March 26, 2003. His funeral lasted a week. His wife still lives in the house with his grave site beside the home. Inside the home were many items given to him by dignitaries around the world, including an autographed football from the Penn State Nittany Lions presented by Governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania with an invitation to visit PSU. Tavese was known for always performing a musical number at a variety of festive gatherings and was loved by the people he governed.

After the museum, we stopped to view a beach formed from lava rock and were invited by some locals who were having a picnic there to enjoy their native foods, especially breadfood. When we passed a prison, Kiso explained that people who had been released often wanted to return because of the excellent treatment. Kiso's uncle, who was a little guy, was sentenced to prison for six months because several young people were fighting and he tried to hold two of them back. The police arrested him thinking he was involved in the fight. When he was released from prison, he had been feed so well that he was a big guy.

Kiso has traveled to the United States twice, once to visit his aunt in Compton, California, and again to spend two years on his mission trip for the Mormon church in Alaska. When our tour was completed, we wished Kiso good luck with changing his major to auto mechanics. Our mission then became to mail out postcards to friends and family, and to find a shirt for Ken from the incredible number of vendors who had established a market on the dock near our ship. Both missions were successful as was our fabulous day in American Samoa.