NAN SANDERS POKERWINSKI
  • Home
  • Media
  • About
  • Contact
  • Atrocity (Novel)
  • MANGO RASH (Memoir)
  • Photography
  • Collages
  • Buy Books
  • Blog
  • EVENTS
  • Journalism

HeartWood
A blog about cultivating
creativity, connection and contentment
wherever you are

Return to Paradise - Part IV

5/19/2021

12 Comments

 
This is the fourth installment in a series of posts commemorating a very memorable journey.

Thirty-five years ago, I paid a visit to American Samoa. At that time, it had been twenty years since I left there after spending one of the most unforgettable years of my life on the main island of Tutuila -- a year chronicled in my memoir Mango Rash: Coming of Age in the Land of Frangipani and Fanta (Behler Publications, 2019).


In this series of posts, I'm sharing excerpts from my 1986 travel journal, along with photos from the trip. ​

Good to know before we begin: 
  • Fale is the Samoan word for house or other traditional style building
  • Wahoo is a local tuna-like fish

April 20, 1986 - Day two

PictureRainmaker Hotel lobby
A really good day. I had breakfast in the Rainmaker's dining room -- a big improvement over the snack bar. I had lots of papaya and pineapple, lamb ribs, fish, eggs, taro with coconut cream. Then I went for a walk, came back and called Pili. He and Gretchen came by with their youngest son Caleb, and we all went for a ride over to the other side of the island to the village where their friends Vernon and Limu live.

Picture
Utulei Beach from Rainmaker Hotel
PictureMountain pass


​Spectacular scenery on the mountain pass. I may drive back up there if I can get a car. Their village is in a little cove -- picture-postcard Samoa. Mostly new style houses, but very pretty -- white stucco, bright colors. All around the village, young men were sitting around grating coconuts. Vernon and Limu's house is modern. We sat around drinking Vailima (beer made in Western Samoa), half-watching movies on their VCR and talking about their jobs and Samoa today.

Picture
Pili
Picture
Pili and Caleb
Vernon teaches Phys Ed at the community college where Pili also teaches. Both said they get several thousand dollars a year for "supplies," but are not allowed to spend it on equipment, which is what they really need. Vernon said the locker-room washing machine has been broken since November. Can't get it fixed or replaced. Pili said he's trying to do an oral history project but doesn't have enough tape recorders and can't get them.The restriction on equipment apparently came because people were ordering video and other equipment and taking it home.
Pili and Gretchen are dismayed with a lot of the things that have bothered me on this visit -- turning Centipede Row into docks, tearing down the old Navy buildings and old-style Samoan churches.
Picture
This was the Centipede Row walkway in 1966
Picture
By 1986 the area had been turned into a storage area for shipping containers
The old fale at the airport was dismantled to be used in a cultural center at the college. But it was done by Public Works Department workers with hammers and saws instead of by craftsmen. It had been put together in the traditional way, with no nails. Pili says it's in storage now and will probably rot before anyone puts it up.
PicturePurse seiner


​Another local concern is the purse seiners working out of the harbor. They've only been working the area a few years but have already overfished for tuna. The wahoo they just throw away or give to visiting dignitaries. Local people are outraged at the waste.

​To be continued . . . 
12 Comments
Valerie Roberts
5/19/2021 06:29:25 am

Another great read, Nancy. Thanks so much for sharing this. I am looking forward to the next installment.

Reply
Nan
5/19/2021 02:38:56 pm

Lot more to come, Val!

Reply
Emily Everett
5/19/2021 07:31:41 am

Lots of interesting things here and wonderful pictures, but that breakfast!

Reply
Nan
5/19/2021 02:39:33 pm

I know! I couldn't believe I ate all that.

Reply
Sally Kane
5/19/2021 07:44:08 am

Great photos. That was some breakfast you had. Special that you could visit with Pili and his family. Fascinating and sad to learn about the changes you observed since you lived there. I look forward to more.

Reply
Nan
5/19/2021 02:41:11 pm

Yes, I was amazed to read about that breakfast -- I'd forgotten about it. At least there was no McDonald's on the island in 1986. There is now, I hear.

Reply
Chet Imes
5/20/2021 12:50:03 pm

There are two, downtown and Tafuna..

Nan
5/21/2021 12:44:28 pm

Chet, I didn't know about the one downtown. Ugh.

Sally F Pobojewski
5/20/2021 05:50:38 am

I am enjoying reading about your second visit as much as the first. I hope you and Ray get to go one more time.

Reply
Nan
5/20/2021 07:37:58 am

I hope so, too, Sally. Life keeps interfering, but we're still hopeful that we'll get there eventually.

Reply
Janet Glaser
5/20/2021 06:45:39 am

Love the pictures, but I gasped when I saw the photo comparison of 1966-1988 Centipede Row. That is NOT progress. Have they stopped the overfishing of the tuna? Did you like the taro? I guess anything is good with coconut cream on it. Pili is a handsome dude. Just think that baby is all grown up and probably has kids of own now. Time flies.

Reply
Nan
5/20/2021 07:41:19 am

Yes, the change in Centipede Row was shocking. More recently, the Fagatogo malae (big open green space) has been paved over, and there's a lot of outcry about that. I think overfishing is still going on.

I convinced myself that I loved taro, but when I think about it now, I can't imagine that I really did. I did genuinely love all the other food, though (except Samoan pudding).

Yeah, Pili was always a cutie!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Written from the heart,
    from the heart of the woods
    Read the introduction to HeartWood here.

    Subscribe to HeartWood

    Available now!

    Picture
    Check with your favorite bookseller or order from the BUY BOOKS page on this website.
    Get updates on Mango Rash
    BUY MANGO RASH

    Author

    Nan Sanders Pokerwinski, a former journalist, writes memoir and personal essays, makes collages and likes to play outside. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ray.

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    April 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All
    52 Frames
    Art
    Better Living
    Books
    Community
    Creativity
    Events
    Explorations
    Food
    Gardens
    Guest Posts
    Health
    Inspiration
    Last Wednesday Wisdom
    Local Artists
    Mecosta County
    Montcalm County
    Music
    Muskegon County
    Nature
    Newaygo County
    Oceana County
    People
    Photography
    Pure Michigan
    Reflection
    Return To Paradise
    Samoa
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Media
  • About
  • Contact
  • Atrocity (Novel)
  • MANGO RASH (Memoir)
  • Photography
  • Collages
  • Buy Books
  • Blog
  • EVENTS
  • Journalism