Samoan Massage

We spent our last full day on a Green Turtle bus tour, to deliver us back to Apia but also to see home highlights of the country. We were told the bus would pick us up at Boomerang Beach sometime between 9 and 10. So we were ready, playing cribbage to pass the time until 10:30 or so when the tour came by. We hopped into the van with air conditioning…that was a shock after 24/7 muggy heat. In fact, CallaLily felt cold and didn’t like the AC at first.

We stopped off at some other resorts of various budgets to get a feel for what they offer, or we could stay the night had we planned it. One of our early stops brought us to watch coconut processing done in the village. We each had to pay 2tala to support them. Apparently they don’t make enough by selling the coconut itself. Here they were cooking/drying the shredded coconut meat on a large metal table over a fire. We could purchase bottles of coconut oil for cooking or lemongrass/coconut oil for various skin treatments or MASSAGE OIL. So CallaLily bought a small bottle, having always loved lemongrass scent and being interested in having more massage oil New Zealand.

Actually at our resort I, CallaLily, had scheduled a “Samoan massage.” It turned out to be a one half hour massage of the back and shoulders using cooking oil, which had a rather unpleasant scent. For the second half of the massage I was told to sit on the floor while the lady sat on the bed behind me. She used only one or two types of strokes, mostly brisk finger work. Then before finishing, she wiped the oil off my back using my own towel. I was dismayed at having aromatic cooking oil over my bath towel, which I wouldn’t be able to wash until we got to New Zealand. Overall, the massage was okay, there were a few moments of deep pressure between my shoulders that felt really good. The massage cost 20tala for 30 minutes.

The Green Turtle tour soon brought us to Sapooago ( I really don't remember how to spell that) Falls for a quick view and a coconut demonstration. Here we watched a guy remove the coconut husk with a stick, then crack open the nut perfectly with a round rock, making us drink the inside juice. Next he scraped the meat off with a metal tool attached to his chair. The scrapings he squeezed to make coconut milk, which we also tasted…mmmmh. Our other stops were Togitogigo National Park, for a peek at a waterfall. Next to last we were brought to a village home for a traditional lunch served on banana leaves. Boiled taro, spinach cooked in coconut something, and a type of tuna meat were an excellent meal. We were each given a tub of water to wash our hands before and after the meal. And the lemongrass tea was served in a cleaned half coconut shell set upon a slice of bamboo stalk…the coolest looking cup ever. After lunch they demonstrated how to weave a carrying basket out of a huge leaf. Pretty resourceful. Finally we parked by a little pond to watch the large green turtles eat papaya.

We arrived in Apia, checked in to our hotel. We paid triple what we had our first nights, to get some air conditioning. We really wanted a good night of sleep before catching a taxi at 2:30AM for our early flight on to New Zealand.