What a wonderful experience it was to visit Samoa. It wasn’t a holiday, nor a visit, not even an adventure, but a wonderful experience that I will always look back on as precious gift. Why is this so? I will explain later. For now, the run down of our Samoan experience. Coming straight off the back of working 7 days in a row, it was hard to get psyched up for the trip. Driving to the airport after work on day 7 it started to kick in that we were going somewhere. Landing several hours later in a humid and tropical atmosphere a day ‘before’ we actually left Auckland threw the senses in to a state of utter confusion. A short sleep later, followed by a peek out the room windows confirmed that yes indeed, we were no longer in Kansas, Toto. Palm trees swayed over the blue waters of Samoa’s coast, with local people scurrying about their daily business. Waves were gently crashing below, strange and beautiful birds fluttered between the trees and small fluffy clouds dotted the horizon as only they do on tropical seas. We spent 6 days in this tranquil place and here are some of the highlights: coral reefs with colourful fish, churches on every corner with everyone dressed in their best fine white clothes singing with powerful and harmonic voices, friendly and gentle people everywhere with a smile, markets full of fruit and vegetables of every colour, shape and size with people talking singing and laughing with those big smiles again, old ford buses that look like they have been jacked up with music pumping out of the open chassis and people crammed in to every corner, tropical rainforests complete with down pours of tropical rain, coconut served with everything, boiled bananas as a potato substitute, roadside BBQ’s, everyone sleeps outside in open walled ‘fales’ which are colourful and tidy as much as the gardens, more whipper snipper’s per head than cars makes them very garden proud……………and there is more, a lot more, but it is really to be experienced to fully understand just how grand the island of Samoa and its people is.

So why was it more of an experience than just a holiday? It was the people, the culture which they maintain and the results this all produces. Everyone was so pleasant and friendly, it was a little awkward at first. They were reserved and polite, which was easy to think at first was disinterest and rudeness. As soon as they saw you smile though, it became an open, gregarious and happy atmosphere and nothing was too much to ask of. Once I realised this, I swung in to fine form with my questions, asking questions of everyone I got a chance to. Coupled with this welcoming and hospitable treatment of visitors, was the evidence of their strong sense of tradition and commitment to family. Everyone lived in their large family groups in small communities within the village, and time was spent with each other. No one did chores alone, no one sat around relaxing alone, and it was all about community and family. Even the families are allowed to go to the schools where the children in their brightly coloured uniforms can see their families and join them during breaks. While the morning was for gardening, cleaning, fishing and so on, the afternoons are often spent relaxing in the tropical heat. Sitting around talking and laughing, they must have so many stories to tell as conversations were constant. Like my stories of Samoa………….

It is never too late to be what you might have been. (George Eliot)