We spent 6 weeks on the Pacific island of Samoa from April 1st to May 18th.
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We arrived in Samoa at 8:30 p.m. Fale was there waiting for us and brought us to the Matareva Beach Resort. It was a 40 minute ride and another 15 minute ride down the resort’s 3 mile driveway. Along the driveway we saw a piglet and it’s mom and dad, along with some cows. It was dark, of course so we just headed to our small cabin and went to sleep. We were excited to see our 6 week home in the morning.

Holy cow, we were not disappointed when we woke, went outside and saw this…

           

 
A true tropical paradise. Matareva is made up of a few cabins for workers, 2 air conditioned cabins for guests, and 26 beach fales. A fale is a small pacific island style hut with a roof and palm weaved raisable panels on each side. These are why most people come to this resort. They want to experience the Samoan way of life.

      

Most Samoans now live in small houses, but also have fales they spend most of their day in. The resort is on the ocean with a really nice beach and beautiful sunsets. The resort is built on a marine preserve so there is snorkeling right off the beach with lots of tropical fish, small sharks, and eels. There is a full bar, tours available, and traditional Samoa shows.

Our work consisted of me working reception and Mike tending the bar. It is nice work and the food is good, BUT it appears they don’t understand that the agreement is, we work 5 hour a day for 5 days and 2 days off. The first 2 days we worked 13 hours each day. It was the other workawayers’ first time doing this and they had been doing these hours for a month. We sat down and spoke to the host but it continued to be an ongoing issue.

We lived in one of 3 wooden cabins meant for workawayers. There was no a/c, just a small fan , but there was electricity and screen windows. We also had termites. They ignored us and were just interested in eating the window casings. LOL I have to admit, we were allowed to spend 2 weeks in one of the air conditioned cabins because the remote for the a/c was not working so no guests could be booked into it. We just left the a/c on one setting and REALLY enjoyed it. You have to understand, it was about 80 to 90+ each day with about 85% humidity.

Anyway, we meet the 2 workawayers we would be working with for the next 4 weeks. They were a really nice couple from Denmark (Ben and Kat).

We also met the some of the staff and some of the host Fia’s children. It was school break so we got to meet Tom -14, Walter -12, Bill -6, and Narru -10 months. Over the next 6 weeks we would spend lots of good time with the boys and get to know some of the staff pretty well.

Fia and her 5 boys and baby girl

                  my partner during the day Alufa

Our job was basically to run the bar and reception. The bar was Mike’s job and reception was mine. We soon found out the workawayers pretty much run the business.

Let me explain. I would not only check guests in and out, but also…
– have to recruit new workawayers
– ensure the resort website, booking.com, expedia, AirBnB, hostel world, and tour bookings were accurate with rates and availability schedules
– Answer all emails and booking via these medias and update all reservation spreadsheets
– write reviews for guests passed
– get the check-in and check-out schedule ready for the staff
– get the list of guests in which fales, etc and dinner count to kitchen not forgetting to include diet restrictions
– keep track of day guests
– keep track of money coming in or going out such as  reservation fees – cigarette money etc
– take lunch orders
– book all tours
– handle all calls and ensure Fale knows when he is suppose to pick up or brings guest to the airport and/or tours
– answer all guests questions and anything else that comes up

Mike was in charge of the bar. That also included equipment rentals of snorkel, mask, canoes, kayaks, bikes.

The first 2 days we worked 13 hours each day. Ben and Kat said that the last workawayers had them working all day for 2 days and then 2 days off. Well that worked out to be 252 hours a month instead of 100 hours a month that is standard for workaway. Since this was their first workaway they didn’t understand how it worked, but we did. We sat down with Fia and explained that this was wrong and she would have to fill in. As you can imagine it took us a few weeks to get this corrected as best we could. We finally ended up getting some more workaways and things improved.

There were still lots of frustrating times. You see the resort works via a ‘crisis mode’ method. No pre-planning most of the time . Many days we would run out of water, soda, beer, cash etc. I can’t tell you how great it was when the credit card machine was left out in the rain or when the bar ran out of rum, vodka, gin and tequila all at the same time.

Despite all this, the Samoan people were very nice to us. I got to really enjoy the kids company and Fia and I started to understand each other. We still worked more then we should, but there were more workawayers coming in when we left, so that should fix that issue.

The resort was gorgeous and we got to swim alot, relax with the guests, go on some tours, and visit a few other resorts. Tom and Walter even took us to a small dive area and cave pool next to the resort. It was one of the most beautiful hidden gems I have ever seen. We took a 20 minute walk along the shore and came to a spot where you could jump into a small pool of water and then try to climb out onto the lava rock when a wave came. It was a little difficult, but Tom jumped in to help. Then we went a short ways away to a small water cave. You climb down some rocks to a small body of water, swim under an arch and find yourself in another small pool area with crystal clear water, sun rays, and small neon blue fish. You can then dive under a few more arches and come up in other pools. Truly a magical place.

We saw many beautiful sunsets and even a FULL double rainbow. Everyone was just standing on shore looking completely amazed at the sight.

 

Even the waves during an oncoming storm were beautiful…

  

      


The resort tried to do whatever they could to make the guests time more enjoyable. One night the rain and wind was so strong that the tent poles bent and the tent collapsed. The rain came into all the fales in the night and the guests where all tired and wet the next morning. Fia gave everyone a free lunch and the girls washed and dried all the mattress and sheets. All the guests looked at it as a great adventure and story to tell.

The local youth group performed shows called FiaFias every Thursday and Saturday night . It was a cultural show with some Samoan dancing, fire dancing, weaving, fire starting, etc. Tom, Walter, and Bill were some of the performers.

Tom and Walter also go surfing whenever they can. I took a few pictures of them.

 

     

We also set up romantic dinners on the beach for some happy couples. There were lots of family reunions and even a few weddings. Our last few days were spent helping with a wedding where the entire resort was booked for 3 days. The bride asked me to be in charge to ensure things went the way she asked. Well, the staff certainly decorated the tent beautifully with all the palms and flowers, the beer and wine was served in a wooden canoe that had taken them 2 weeks to carve out, all the table clothes and staff uniforms were sewn by Effy, the family nannie and all around helper.     There were even hand woven plates.

         

I had specific instructions from the bride on how the dining table should look but since the palm leaves that were suppose to go on the table were draped over the bicycle the night before and where too bent to use, we had to change the design in a hurry. As the bride and groom were saying their vows at the other end of the resort, all the workawayers were racing to finish the final touches including putting up the lighting. It was then that we found out we didn’t have any ice to put in the canoe to cool off the beer and wine, we didn’t have enough chairs to seat all the guests, we could not fit all the tables under the tent so we had to rearrange the seating, and worst of all we were short 8 place settings. Fia was still out shopping and the ceremony was almost done.

Well Fia got back with ice, we moved chairs from the ceremony to the reception area before dinner was served, we got the utensils just in the nick of time, and the wedding was beautiful. Remember crisis mode?

 

       

 

As I was arranging the chairs under the tent, I found this guy on one of the chairs. Check it out. It is SOOOO cool.


We also had a few cats (Garfield and Lucky) , a visiting newly adopted 3 week old puppy, and oh those huge Rhino beatles.  I don’t have pictures of them. Thank God, I only saw 5.


TIME OFF – So what did we do for fun…

(1) I already told you about the cave pool the boys took us to. We also…

(2) did some snorkeling at the resort

(3) visited 2 other resorts in the area. One we were invited to by some guests that we meet. It was nice to get away for a while.

(4) took the local bus to the capitol Apia one day. It was a one time experience that we decided was not to be repeated. The bus makes a lot of stops and the seats are just pieces of wood. It is still much better than the buses in Grenada. They stuff as many people as possible in it and always stop at the grocery stores. We were expecting to see someone get on with live chickens, but that didn’t happen – lol. There is not that much to do in Apia and it is really hot and humid. We saw the open market, bus station, shopping area, and bought Mike a pair of sandals.

(5) We did go back to Apia for a few nights in a nice small hotel. The phone reception at the resort was not good enough for Mike to work, so we thought it would be better in Apia. LOL It was not. You can’t get 4G in Samoa, so Mike did not work.
There were 4 TV stations (2 religious channels, 1 public access, and 1 exercise). We did not watch TV. We did walk to a few restaurants and visited a Catholic Cathedral on Good Friday. The wood work on the ceiling was amazing.

    

(6) On my birthday, Fale took Mike, myself, and a guest from New Zealand named Fiona on the resort’s Adventure tour. It was so much fun.
First we went to the Togitoniga Falls, where Fale and I jump off the cliff into the base of a small waterfall. The water was really cold, but I figured “while in Samoa do as they do”. It was fun.

    

– Next we went to the To Sua trench. It is really the top of a small volcano that is now filled with water. You climb down a nearly vertical ladder and swim in the water. It is very cool because there are small caves at either end and the current is very strong going from one side to the other with the waves. It was gorgeous looking up at the the growth on the side of the volcano walls. I couldn’t bring my camera so my pictures are limited. Samoans go here to swim and have picnics.

Next we went to Fale’s family home to see the “Never Ending Lava Tube”. Fale’s family hiked into the tube for 2 days and still never found the end. It is much bigger than the ones we have seen in Hawaii. You can see where the rocks caved in at the beginning of the entrance. There were some bats flying around and the air was heavy. Awesome thing to see.

 

         


Lastly we went to see the giant clams. These clams are about 3 feet across. Some are blue, some are green, others pink. As you snorkel near them you see them close and open. I didn’t think this would be to big a deal to see, but I was wrong. I have copied a picture from the internet to show you, since I didn’t have my camera with me.

WHAT A NICE WAY TO SPEND MY BIRTHDAY! THANK YOU FALE!!!

We visited a cultural center in Apia where we watched a women getting a traditional tattoo. They do this with stick and ink and is very painful.
The men cooked the meals like they did in old days when it was the men and only the men’s job.

      
We saw craftsmen creating all kinds of bowls and decorations out of wood.
There was a women who took a stick, stripped the bark off, stretched out the center using a board, a shell, and a small mallet till the bark was as thin as a piece of cloth. Then she laid it out to dry. Once it dried she used a carved wooden template to stencil a pattern on the material for wall hangings, lava lavas which are the wrap around outfits you wear, and other beautiful fabrics. She did all this right in front of us. It was nice to see how their ancestors did it.

   

 

Well after the wedding it was time for us to leave Samoa. We flew to Auckland New Zealand and spent the night there. The next morning we flew out to Cairns Australia.

     

Till next time…
Things may not always turn out as you expected, but you can always expect it to be a new experience.