Originally posted August 1, 2014, by cruisingrunner
Pago Pago is the capital of American Samoa, an overseas U.S. territory in the south pacific. Before we left home, I didn’t even know the U.S. had a territory in the South Pacific, and it wasn’t until we arrived just a few days ago that I started wondering how and why that came about. I assumed it had something to do with WWII, given the Pacific was such a huge theater in that war, but I was wrong about that. It actually goes way back to around the turn century, after the Spanish-American War but before WWI, when the U.S. was getting its first tastes of imperialism. Apparently, the U.S. liked this location as a refueling station for coal burning ships, and a dispute with Germany put that access at risk. The dispute was settled with a treaty that granted Germany the western islands of Samoa and the U.S. the eastern islands (nevermind what the Samoans actually wanted). After that the eastern Samoan islands became known as American Samoa and were pretty much under occupation by the U.S. Navy. The last King of Samoa was strong armed into stepping down and agreeing that there would never be another King. It was, after all, incompatible with the U.S.’s constitutional democracy.
Today, it is still known as American Samoa, and I find it a bit like a paradox between American and Samoan cultures. In many ways, it’s very American:
1) The “golden arches” are gracing the edge of the harbor, and we can see them from our boat in the anchorage
2) A costco style warehouse store has most things you’d find at a costco. They even have Tim’s favorite vanilla coffee mate creamer. (We never did find that in Mexico) and Honey Nut Cheerios.
3) There is a Starkist Tuna processing plant. I’m not even sure if Starkist is American, but it sure seems like it.
4) The national currency is the U.S. dollar.
5) Everyone speaks English.
6) There are coin operated do it yourself laundromats.
However, in other ways, it’s nothing like being in the U.S.
1) The infrastructure (roads, buildings, etc.) are much more run down. Better than many places in Mexico, but nothing like the U.S.
2) The men wear skirts, the traditional Samoan dress known as the “lava lava.”
3) There are stray dogs everywhere.
4) There is lots of chatter on VHF channel 16. The USCG would quickly smack that down.
5) Everyone speaks Samoan.
6) There is a totally unscheduled, public bus system. But the buses run so frequently, you never have to wait long. They play excruciatingly loud music, and they will even drop you off somewhere off the route if you ask.
7) They have graves in their front yards. We saw this also in Mauptit, French Polynesia, but only Maupiti.
8) There is trash everywhere. There’s an aggressive ad campaign (billboards and radio ads) to reduce littering, so maybe it’s getting better, but it’s still pretty bad.
9) The Samoan people are very friendly.
I finally got out for a run this morning. Yes, this is our 4th day here, but I had an excuse every day:
Day 1 – I had to walk around town to 5 different government offices (The Port Captain, Customs, Health, Port Security, and Immigration) to fully clear into the country. Then when I got back to the boat and was unloading my pack I realized I only had 3 passports. Panic!!! I had to go back to the immigration office, where our 4th passport was still in the photocopy machine.
Day 2 – I was hungover. I know, I know, terrible excuse, but we had the most enjoyable potluck on one of the other boats and the evening ended with just us and our hosts sipping Drambuie and having pleasant conversation. We didn’t get home until after midnight. We did rent a car and do heavy provisioning, so I did torture myself for my late night imbibing, just not with a run.
Day 3 – We were awakened at 4am by our anchor alarm and found we were dragging and had to reanchor. It took a couple tries to reset, and after that I stayed on anchor watch while Tim went back to bed.
I finally ran today, on day 4, and I headed around the bay to the other side. I didn’t really think this through. My rationale was I had already driven the other way, so I knew what was over there, but what I failed to realize was that I would end up right by the Starkist Tuna plant. And in case you were wondering, it smells even worse up close. Then, on the way back I was caught in a torrential downpour. Have I mentioned I hate running in the rain?
-D.
Gresham Family Exodus 