Happy Halloween

Well, I do not know if you wish Happy Halloween same way you wish Happy Christmas or Happy Birthday, but... just think i am wishing you a Happy Day! To me Halloween was just something funny I saw on american TV shows, but now I understand much more about it. On my opinion, it is like a one day carnival... fun, and also intense, considering that it last only one day! (on a movie a saw a scene in which a girl was explaining to another girl: "Halloween is a party in which you can dress as slutty as you want!") For the non-american readers, here a little story of Halloween and what it is... (from my big friend Wiki)

"Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain).^[1] The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes^[2] regarded as the "Celtic New Year."^[3] Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient Celtic pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the living and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, into which bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.^[4][5]

The term Halloween is shortened from All Hallows' Even (both "even" and "eve" are abbreviations of "evening," but "Halloween" gets its "n" from "even") as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day,"^[6] which is now also known as All Saints' Day. It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,^[7] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 (which had itself been the date of a pagan holiday, the Feast of the Lemures) to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar.

The carved pumpkin lit by a candle inside is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols in America and is commonly called a jack-o'-lantern. Originating in Europe, these lanterns were first carved from a turnip or rutabaga. Believing that the head was the most powerful part of the body, containing the spirit and the knowledge, the Celts used the "head" of the vegetable to frighten off any superstitions".

B&B, Oregon and more tattoos

And life goes on!

This last month has truly been intensive! James Bond’s visit, moving to the new house, the Mosoi outrigger race, my birthday, the Palolo hunt, Peti’s birthdays… the opening of my bed and breakfast!

It is not too easy to find a good roommate and, in order to be able to rent my beautiful house and still make my staying in Samoa profitable, I decided to sub-let a room. It is like having a roommate for short period of time. My target guests are scientists coming on island to do their research… they usually stay in for few weeks or months: not enough to rent a house by their own, and too long to stay in a hotel (without spending a fortune!). And here I come! I already have my first guess, an old caring man; I have to say, I just love to finally have somebody to cook for!

Here some pics of the house… the “eco-lodge”? “il rustico”? I am still looking for a name… suggestions?

(one of the views from the porch)

My favorite place...

My second favorite place...

As for me, last Friday I did something very brave (well, from my point of view at least): I finally went out dancing! I avoided any kind of pubs (just here is AS) for a veryyyy long time; I have been scared of fights and that somebody may hurt me. But last Friday I had a great time at Peti’s birthday and a big crowd convinced me to go out. I call it “the tipping point”: when you are tired, you just want to go to bed and call the day. But you end up going out to the pub, and suddenly discover you have so much energy and do not want to stop dancing. Usually, a part from salsa and merengue, I fell like I love 2-left feet; but the tropical tunes the live-band was playing, and the charm of the guys that were taking me dancing made it a fun and reassuring experience!

(Peti, and this cute guy is my new neighbor! lucky me! ;P)

AH GUYS (the Oregonians)!!!! Forgot to say...

Soon playing:

“Superestar visit in Oregon!”

--18 December to 4 January--

Special features:

the best Indian food at the Evergreen, R-rated Salsa, snowboarding, rock climbing (indoor, last time I went to Smith Rock in winter I froze my finger and feet!!)…

Also starring:

Maria Jose and Tyson (from Spain)

Akikosan (from Japan)

Samudra and Brian (from Sri Lanka and… Missu..Micchi… I never remember…)

(Who else is flying in? Paty? Ai? Get a ticket!)

Special appearance: James Bond (weather permitting)

Can’t miss it! Get ready!!!

And to finish, few pictures from Tisa’s Tattoo festival last weekend…

Showing off the traditional woman tattoos...
I saw it being done at my friend's wedding. The mom lays flat on the floor, and the daughter dances on her... I am not sure about the meaning...
Lisa, Naomi and myself (just before I discovered my bag was on fire... Mara!!! again! ;) )

Tisa was getting a traditional tattoo, and they had a special ceremony for her. They covered her with oil, then she had to do a siva (a dance)...

The biggest samoan orgy... I am all in!!!

There is not much to do an island at night... i often end up just hanging out with friends or going to bed around 9.30... but there is one night, one special night... every year, on the third/quarter moon of October, when few people sleep, and many gather along the beaches of Samoa and take part into the biggest orgy these islands will ever see.
How can you sleep this night? How can you lay in bed knowing that you are missing the biggest feast of the year? For how tired I have been, I just could not justify bed time.
On Monday night after dancing practice, I drove all the way to Alega with a friend, and went straight to bed in Naomi's house... the party does not start until after midnight, and you never know when it is going to finish (I participated to this party 2 years ago on Ofu island... at 4.oo I called the night, but there were still people there!).
At 12.30, we hit the beach... bonfires has been lighted along the whole beach, and small crowd are sitting behind them (for how romantic the view can be, i think the purpose of the fires is to keep the mosquitoes away...). But the party won't start until the moon will rise above the mountain and the sea will send a very special messenger: a worm...
At this point I should specify that whether the feast is for us, the orgy is not. The palolo is a sea worm that lives in the corals, and that once a year, at night, swims to the surface to release eggs and sperm... Palolo is considered a delicacy in Samoa, and during these spawning nights the island join the worms in the water and collect and eat as much as possible.
Monday night: not much spawning in Alega, and we ended up going to bed empty handed. Still a good time though.
Next morning I felt like I was sleep walking all day... I think I kind of woke up when I saw a little yellow fish with black stripes swimming around the tank of my buddy. Then I though: "uh... life is interesting. It is lunch break, and I am scuba diving wearing my pajama (italiani! "pajama" e' inglese per "pigiama"! jajaja!). Again, how did I get here?"... you truly never know where live will take you and what it will bring you...
Tuesday night we tried again. This time we all slept until midnight and then we zombie walked to the beach. The moon rose over the mountain and the palolo came!
Now, it is wild game. People magically appeared from all over and entered in the water with buckets and home-made scoop-nets, sieves, flash lights.... I took off my long pants (mosquitoes-repellent...), entered the water and the party started!!My goal this year was to take few good pictures, but our "palolo team" (I proposed the name "orgy team" which I believe is more folkloric) collected enough palolo for...
People were laughing, being serious, walking around the reef flat... Some were wearing everyday cloths, other were wearing a fancy puletasi... Tisa was playing the ukulele and singing... On my opinion, it is totally worth the lack of sleep, and it is always great being part of this feast! (picture will give you a better idea... to come on monday).
So... we did it, we collected it, now we had to eat it... Naomi is a genius and prepared a great pizza we topped with fresh palolo. Of course our pirate loved to just eat it. Taste? it taste like salt... salt and some nutrients, like the sea... Palolo is a delicacy here but, personally, between palolo and strawberry, i would still go for the strawberry...
(pictures to come on monday...)

Turned 26 again!

I am alive, I am alive! Thanks for all the emails, I loved all of them as much as I love you all! So, yes, on the 17^th of October I turned 26. Again. And again… and again…. And again… I think 26 years old was quite a good age and I do not see why I should get any older. Plus, everybody knows that kids do not age in Neverland!

I have been incredibly busy catching up with friends, homework, moving to the new house (still!!!), dancing… I have not been to Taekwondo for a month now, I feel so guilty! And there are so many things I would like to talk about, but so little time…

I had dinners and lunches with friends almost everyday… Thursday we had a tofa (good-bye) party for one of the nicest guys on island that left on Sunday. He is the one without the black t-shirt (we made matching t-shirts for him, Samoan style). He is going to be SOOOO MISSED!!!!!!!!!! I miss him already! But he is also moving in Hawaii, that is the only place we can fly to when we leave the island... so...

Friday I had a potluck and BBQ at my new house, another official house warming party and birthday celebration. Very nice and relaxing, but I have to admit I miss celebrating with Maria Jose! But I have to say I did get a “super star” cake this year too! Thank you!!

Saturday I decided that it was a good idea to start the new year paddling a 10km race early in the morning. Of course, after the first kilometer I started thinking that it was not really a good idea after all, I could have started the new year with a nice long nap rolling on the bed instead. After 2 kilometers I was thinking, well, since I am here, I may as well paddle. It feels nice to feel your breathing regular after the first spring to get the outrigger going. After 10 kilometers I was not thinking anymore. Maybe I was thinking were I could go to sleep and how thirsty I was. We arrived 3^rd or last, depends from the point of views, but I am still satisfied with it.

The afternoon went on with more paddling races, my team (EPA) won a second place on the 250 meter sprint. In the evening all participants stayed at the yacht club for dinner and to receive prices. I received a round-trip to Apia as a present from my lucky star during the raffle… It is good to be back to super star again.. Last 5 years have not been too good; I think my next 5 years are going to be good again… ;)

I learned many things too… But I need to run now!! Love you all!

"GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

I think this was quite hilarious and worth sharing...
This morning I drove early to work as I had a bunch of data that needed to be ready by 10 o’ clock. Brian came also with me. As we were turning along Fagaalu bay, we saw a palagi man having serious problems with a couple of dogs. He must be a new guy here, as I saw him only twice, and also because he went running without any golf club or stones. He was kind of back walking trying to punch the dogs as they were going for his calves… I pulled the car over right next to him, thinking about getting out, take the emergency rocks I have on the back of my truckosaurous, and help this poor Christ. But as soon as I pull over, Brian, which was even closer to the scene, pulled his head outside the window and screamed, with an incredibly big voice “GET OUT OF HERE!!!”. The dogs got scared and ran away with the tail between the legs. The poor runner got scared, and also jumped back (he was probably too busy focusing on the dogs to notice us approaching). He finally gave us a weak smile, thanked us, and turned around to ran away before the dogs would come back.

Isn’t that something amazing to do 5.45 in the morning? If it were me running, I would have probably taken it personally and though, crying, “but I cannot leave today! It is Wednesday! No flights today!”. I hope this guy will not leave the island tomorrow… I also hope he will now go running with a golf club or stones or bear spray as everybody else does...

JB left the island last Thursday, what a wonderful visit it was! I guess I should be sad he left, but in reality everything was so perfect that I could not have wish for anything else! Incredibly, I am still in the process of moving! Two friends helped me to move the fridge 2 nights ago… what an adventure! But once home we hang out on the coach on the porch… what a peaceful place… the moon was rising big and yellow over the Pala Lagoon, and her light was painting everything silver… Big bats flying around, and a nice breeze keeping some mosquitoes away… it was nearly a pity to think to go to bed.

Sunday I got a tuna (it is always nice to get a big fish to BBQ with friends!) which we though to cook last night, if we did not forget to defrost it… Anyway, a good carbonara always makes it... I cooked at Brian’s house, as I do not have gas for cooking yet, and we had our first official dinner at my new place… so much fun! I love my neighbors! Capt Johnny and 2 other capts also came, such a merry company! And the bookshelf (made of bricks and boards) makes such a fast bench when are missing...And then on the porch again.. I think I can see myself spending many many nights just contemplating the view… (I will try to get a better picture...)

The first north shore annual expedition -part II

Paddling from the tip of the Pola to the cove I chose for lunch break felt incredibly easy. The cove was well repaired from waves and winds, mainly composed of shear cliff and a little rocky beach where we landed. Behind us there was a wonderful waterfall, with a pool at its base where we could rinse in fresh water.

(why do guys always have to bother little creatures?)

Even if here we do not have really season (we have a wet season, a wetter season and a dry season that this year happen on a Thursday), some trees where turning orange and red and loosing their leaves. I find it quite surprising, but also wonderful, and in a way it reminds me the autumn back home.

(i am sorry i could get the colors when i took this pictures. The wind was blowing a lot of red dry leaves on John, as we left the lunch cove).

Restored, rested and self-assured, we took off again to reach the cove where we were supposed to spend the night. Now, I do not really know how we miss it, because we actually stop in it and had a look around. Somehow we reached the beach in a speedy time and approximation of distance covered became a bit too hard… so we pass it…

(I did not use a zoom to take this picture. This bird was truly upset at us for passing next to his cliff and was all over us, until he decided to go for JB).

John and JB where behind us contemplating if it would be a good idea or not to enter into a cave that was aggressively hit by waves, when Erika and I turned around the point, where the supposed night camp-beach should have been. "Oh-Oh… there is a shack… oh-oh, I see a plantation…" There are many stories of marijuana plantations up in the mountains or is remote places that I am always worried when I go exploring to find one. One we got slightly lost in the mountain and found a tapioca plantation, which, from a distance, really looked like mj!!!

We decided it was better to wait for the guys to see what to do… we started being quite tired, and Fagasa must have been way to far to reach it for the night… As the guys reached us and we paddled a bit further in the point, we could see more houses, more plantations… it felt like being in the movie “The beach” and finding the much talked location...

Then a church… ok, maybe… maybe we are in Fagasa… yes, definitely, Fagasa.
At this point our moral dropped, as we were so well prepared for the camping and we were not ready yet to go back home. Erika had a great idea “I think Massacre bay is only 3 bays away!”… It took a minute of group thinking to decide to go for it!

(Seems like he is fishing, but in reality John is cleaning the camera in fresh water... This cameras are great! waterproof to 10 meters, and shockprouf! Perfect for this climate, highly suggested! Olympus Stylus SW 770).

(Erika's sexy tan line...)

Now, the question is: considering the option was between JB’s wonderful room with a big Jacuzzi on one side, and broken mosquito net covered by plastic tarp on coconut and banana leaves on mosquitoes and frog infested beach, what is it that makes you opt for the second choice?

Truth is, I just love camping, even if it can result in a long sleepless night waiting for the sun to rise again. Massacre bay is a long bay where the first contact between palagis and samoans happened. As the name suggest, it ended up in few deaths. As soon as we landed, we scouted the beach for the best place to set up the tarp, or to be more precise, we looked for that only place on the beach that won’t get wet at high tide but that would still be away from the jungle (and the mosquitoes) on the back. We found it right next to the stream, we seemed also a great romantic idea for the evening, but that resulted to be for me a source of worrying, considering the uninterrupted rain during the rain, and the high frequency of flash floods in the place. But we all survived (even if wet and cold in my case), so after all it turned out to be a good idea.

As JB and I were setting the camp, John and Erika were collecting coconuts for water and meat. They also found very big shells for dinner plates.

The evening died early, after a relaxing pink sunset, but the night was long. Frogs were mysteriously collecting all around our tend. Now I think it was just a bottom-up food-chain effect. We represented the first link, involuntarily offering our blood to mosquitoes grazing. The frogs just followed the mosquitoes to feed on them.

Morning was welcome, together with the end of the rain that seemed lasting all night. Few mosquitoes made it through the net, and one decided to bite me on my lower lips (which inflated to porno star dimension).

Before going to sleep we were considering the idea of continuing our trip all the way to the end of the island, maybe Poloa village, where we could find a ride back. But after such a wet night, the idea of the Jacuzzi was definitly more appealing. Paddling eastward from Massacre to Fagasa was quite hard. I felt we were paddling and paddling and never moving. Depressing sometimes. JB broke his paddle in half on a forward stroke.

Fagasa. Land. End of the adventure. Definitely something that needs to be repeated.