Reminder: I am still out of town and away from a reasonably fast connection, so posting at electablog will be light until next week. I planned my trip so I would miss both the State of the Union Address and jury selection in the Michael Jackson case.

Trip updates posted when dialup access allows over at Davenetics*.

The main route across the island of Upolu (Samoa’s most populated island and home to its capital, Apia) is the Cross Island Road. The road takes you from the main town center in Apia across the island on a picturesque two lane road (every road in Samoa shares those dual qualities).

click photo for better version

The villages on the other side of the island vary in terms of wealth and modernity, but all share a beauty and a civic pride that is maintained in part through annual village landscape competitions. Even in the land of mellow, the sway of a good competition is not to be underestimated.

In nearly every village, you’ll find a volleyball or rugby game in someone’s front yard along with at least one squat shack convenience store where you can pick up a few drinks and snacks. My wife and I have always lived by the Diet Coke rule. We refuse to live anywhere where it would take us more than five minutes to get to a Diet Coke. Even the most remote village on Upolu qualifies.

Many of the residents still live in open air Fales. There is a concrete slab from which wooden posts rise and support a wooden or tin angled roof. You can see right into people’s living rooms where they might be seated on a couch watching a rabbit-eared television set.

The roads on the backside of the island are shared by cars, groups of teenagers riding in the back of pick-up trucks, locals walking beneath large rainbow umbrellas and of course, pigs, roosters, birds, cows, horses and dogs – and yes, pretty much all of them bite. It is without any jest that my Mother-in-Law advises me to bring a stick if I want to go jogging. It’s called aerobic exercise, Samoan Style.

And even though on our drives there is a Palagi (white dude) behind the wheel, nearly every person walking or sitting in a Fale on the side of the road smiles, waves, and says Talofa as you drive by. There is no road rage in paradise.

And the views? Everywhere, spectacular. From waterfalls, to mountains, to pastures, to coconut and banana groves to the simplicity of the white stripe of a two lane road, this is like Hawaii before the hotels and crowds arrived, only much more beautiful. Less lava, more Kava.

Here is a glimpse of what our voyage looked like from the passenger side of our rental car.



The full slide show will be up after I get back to broadband.

Hey, my wife is all the way in Samoa and is still getting great coverage of her company Splendora. By morning, everyone on the Island will be back-ordering copies of Sunday’s Chroncle. Check out this excellent look into the inner workings of the great Karen Bard.

Talofa from Samoa.

As you can see from the photo below, my wife and I have searched high and low for a decent broadband connection here in Samoa.

Yes, there is the occasional internet cafe, but we are Mac toting, Bay Area, techno-geeks and are above such things. We did manage to arrange a dialup account that we can access (usually after 5-6 tries) from our hotel room. I never thought I would have to hear that dialup connection sound again.

With the limited connectivity, posting will be a bit on the light side and photo sharing will be even lighter.

The photo above was actually taken on the way back from our afternoon trip to Sliding Rock, a local swimming hole where the rushing waters have created a natural slide of sorts. After we paid our 60 cents each to the people who live in the village, my wife wasted no time sliding down the steep rocks known as the “men’s slide” while I stood by and took pictures. Hey, what can I say? I knew my Nikon D70 could get me out of a few activities.

The heat here this time of year is hot. Real hot. Think of the West Fourth Street subway station in Manhattan, bottom level, late August on a particularly humid day … add direct sunlight, and you’ve got Apia, Samoa at 7am in January. It’s summer here. That means we’re looking at temps that are about 5 degrees warmer than winter. No need, in other words, to pack a sports coat (or sleeves of any kind for that matter).

Your local tip: Anything that seems unexplainably odd is known around here as Samoan Style.

An example: Yesterday, we got in a cab to my wife’s cousin’s house. We only knew the name of the village and the name of the home owner. There are no addresses here. So we drove and drove. Finally, we pulled into a driveway, knocked on the door (which seemed like overkill as the house was open air) and asked the residents if they knew where my wife’s cousin lived. They did. We found them. Samoan Style.

Other than that, we both miss our cats back home, but we’ve managed to compensate by making quick friends of the tens of cats who roam the property where we are staying. They have already identified us as their kind of guests (the fact that I put a bowl of Friskies on our front steps probably didn’t hurt).

Back with more adventures soon.

Quick trip update.

Circa: January 25

Place: Wolfgang Puck’s Express, LAX

Let me just say that nothing helps pass the time during an insanely long LA layover than a real life star sighting. It turns out that I was among the lucky few. No Brad, no Jen, no Angelina. But I did just see Tommy Chong buying a couple salads to go from Puck’s. And for a few seconds, he left his bags unattended.

Honestly, I’ve never been so tempted in all my life.

Take a look at this blurb about Hillary Clinton’s recent address on abortion:

In a speech to about 1,000 abortion rights supporters near the New York State Capitol, Mrs. Clinton firmly restated her support for the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide in 1973. But then she quickly shifted gears, offering warm words to opponents of legalized abortion and praising the influence of ‘religious and moral values’ on delaying teenage girls from becoming sexually active.

Translation: You bet your ass I’m running for president in ‘08. In one short address she managed to announce her candidacy and her strategy.