Day 26: Pago Pago, American Samoa

When it rains in the tropics it does so with gusto.
While we were waiting for our tour bus the skies did the tropical deluge thing on us. So it goes.

American Samoa exceeded my expectations, although based on memories of my first visit there 30 years ago my expectations were low. American Samoa seems to be trying to create a tourist industry more-or-less from scratch. It’s the usual catch-22: nobody comes because there’s nothing to do, and there’s nothing to do because nobody comes. So the tourist infrastructure is close to non-existent, but to the credit of the local tourist industry they are working hard to make the most of what they do have.
The guides for this tour were all recent high school graduates. Our guide, who had a name that was about 12 feet long, was an 18 year old with a tremendous amount of energy and a great sense of humour.

The tour bus took us around to a few places of note in Samoan legends, including Flowerpot Island (where there are two islands which, according to legend, where originally two young lovers fleeing Western Samoa for American Samoa) and the place of the Turtle and the Shark (where a mother and daughter fleeing Western Samoa were turned into a turtle and shark by the local medicine man, who I guess was fed up with Western Samoan refugees. Things must have really sucked in Western Samoa given the number of people who seemed to flee from there).
We had refreshments at the home of the local head of the tourist bureau, which we assume is probably because there simply isn’t anything better available for visitors. I admire her commitment, being willing to host five or more busloads of foreign visitors on her back lawn.
Having said that: what a lawn. The house is built right on the seashore, and the actual building is quite grand. Here’s a view from the porch, and another one nearer the shoreline:


Back in town we did a bit of exploring, and found a small cafe that has the best iced coffee I’ve ever had. I don’t generally like iced coffee, but this was superb. We also found two cats, which gave Emma a chance to satisfy her cat-petting craving.
It’s certainly a place with its problems. The litter is horrendous, we heard there was significant governmental corruption, and unemployment is running around 50%. On the plus side, they people were very friendly. Even the crims at the local prison waved at us - seriously. You can just see one to the left of the leaf in the photo below:

If you don’t have much you may as well try to be happy with what you’ve got.