Saturday was our fitness day, Sunday was our relax day.
After the celebration of Flag day, we continued the historical tradition by hiking to Massacre Bay on Saturday. On a far away Tuesday, the 11th December 1787, two French boats, La boussale and Astrolabe, sailed away from this bay, after a skirmish took the lives of 39 Samoan and 12 French. What happened that day changes depending who tells the story: the Samoan say that the French were stealing their women; the French say that the Samoan were stealing the nails from the boats (Polynesian LOVED the nails from the first palagi boat, as they did not work metal). Today, this bay that once witnessed one of the first encounters between Samoan and palagi, is totally uninhabited and host a ghost village and a monument built by the French for the fallen French crew.
We started hiking from the village of A’asu, up in the mountain, and it took us 2 hours to get to the beach. None has clearly been there for a while, and the vegetation overgrow and hided the trail in numerous places. As I smartly forgot the machete, we spent a lot of time “cleaning” the trail (to be sure we would be able to find it on the way back). And, as the good Italian tradition wants, as soon as we got to the beach we had a great picnic, some rest and then we walked around exploring the village and looking for the French monument. The beach is not that spectacular (compare to others here on island), but the feeling of really being away from any road, any house, anything, it is just worth it.
Hiking up was so much easier, and in 1 ½ hour we were already back to the car. What made it easy was a full belly and all the typical songs from the Alps we were singing… “quando na’vema fora fora nela Val Sugana…”
(we are not hiding in the wood... we are following the trail...)
But the day was not over yet! At the main hotel of the island there was a fundraising to send a couple of dancing groups to Hawaii for a competition, and we had to support (plus we did not feel like cooking). The show included fire dancing and sivas (both Samoan and Cook island style), and a spot for the guests. That was me of course. Between all the guests in the hotel I was chosen to go up and dance with a guy. Very embarrassing as people here do know me, but, oh well, after all I won a bottle of champagne and a very sophisticated lava lava.
Sunday… the holy day to rest! Absolute rest.
And today (Monday) as I was working, the Italians were home… cooking all day! Fresh pasta and ravioli… oh my! And I have to say this to make you understanding: Pietro, that is a professional chef, wants to experiment in the kitchen… all I have to do is sit and eat! My dream becoming true! I never want them to leave!!! I have no more words...
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