the other Samoa: Apia again

We went back to Apia for the rest of our trip; the draw of semi-urban-ness was just too much to resist!

We stayed in a fancy hotel: Manumea Resort. It has real walls (unlike our house), hot water (unlike our other "hotels"), a pool with a lava rock waterfall, traditional designs carved into the doors, an indoor/outdoor bathroom, and an ocean view. I've never stayed somewhere that nice so I would have been impressed anyway, but coming from our screen-walled housing for government employees and all its resident critters, it felt like heaven!

We went to Palolo Deep.

We weren't impressed with the snorkeling there, but the sunset sure was beautiful!

Of course, no trip to Upolu is complete (at least for a nerd like me) without a tour of Vailima, Robert Louis Stevenson's Samoan home.

Tired and happy, we headed back home - just in time for the Arts Festival!