World Cruise - Day 29 - Feb 10 - Pago Pago, American Samoa

Today’s blog entry will be mainly told in pics, since I have so many.  First of all, a great sunrise this morning:

Our sail in to Pago Pago (pronounced Pango Pango) was quite spectacular on both sides of the ship:

View of Rainmaker mountain the background:

We took a taxi tour in the morning, first going up to one of the lookout points:

These two haystack rocks are rather famous locally:

There was a nice waterfall that we hiked to get nearer:

Krissie looks cute in her swimsuit hiking through the jungle:

This palm tree on a little rock outcropping survived the tsunami of 2009:

The local villagers have these fale gazebos, which are outdoor meeting places for families and friends:

There is a local tradition that when the local men sing off a particular rock, a turtle and a shark will appear.  We were surprised to see the turtle come up (but no shark):

If you like Starkist tuna, this is their main packing plant on American Samoa (“The Home of Charlie the Tuna”):

We saw a bunch of bats in the tree and I got this pic as one of them took off (note that there are scores more hanging upside down in the tree in the pic):

This rock formation is known as Camel Rock:

We stopped at Tisa’s Barefoot Bar:

We went up to the top of the mountain pass on our way back into town:

The local official let me take my pic with him.  His skirt is known as a ielavalava (or something like that):

The local buses are converted trucks and are privately owned and often colorfully painted:

Some local high school girls posed for a pic:

…then told me to take a pic of these guys:

…and this guy (note the ielavalava):

And yes, there is even a McDonald’s here:

The Sadie Thompson Inn is famous, although I’m not sure why.  I think there was a movie either about it or with that in the name?  This lady asked if I wanted to take her picture, so I said yes and snapped another one with her in it:

Local fruit market:

Local wares being sold near the ship:

Two park rangers came onboard the ship to talk about the local national park and local culture:

He pointed out the leg tattoos on the other ranger:

Our sailaway was just as pretty as the sail in that morning:

Sunset was interesting, this was the best shot I could get:

Tonight at midnight, we skip Saturday altogether and it becomes 12:01a Sunday morning.  We are keeping the Sabbath from sunset to sunset, although the second sunset will be on Sunday, due to crossing the International Dateline.