Sliding Rocks

A group of us went back to Sliding Rocks today to go explore further up the river. The four guys on the group went, as did two Samoans and two Fijians. Last time most of us had been a little hesitant to slide down the nearly vertical ten foot drop of the highest rock, but today it was viewed as just a means to cool off after the hike up the mountain and before heading up stream. Most tourists and visitors come for the sliding rocks- several deep pools of water fed by small water falls. You sit at the top and *whoosh* the water takes you down into the water below. It’s lots of fun, but we wanted to go up further to another waterfall the Fijians had told us about. We hiked for about 45 minutes, following the river bed and climbing over stones and fallen trees. It was so unlike most hiking where you follow a trail. Here the river was quite literally the trail. At one point we came to a place where the river flowed between two thirty foot cliffs. It looked like a fun place to go bouldering. We reached the next waterfall, not nearly as dramatic, but covering a small cave. We didn’t slide or jump from this waterfall though because there was a rock in the middle of the pool. That’s why you go with people who know the area! There are no warning signs. From this waterfall the path got a little more tricky. The goal was to go as far as possible before it got to the point where it was just not safe to keep going. Mala, one of the Fijians, went to the river’s source last year. He said it was just a trickle, and we got pretty close. We turned back however because it would have required some pretty dangerous moves. The furthest most of us got was ten minutes past the waterfall cave. We pulled a superman climb to get to another big pool and then decided that we didn’t really want to do a climb that required standing on Mala’s back to reach the next foot hold. That’s when we turned around and came back. It was a lot of fun though. Days like this are among my favorite here in Samoa. They are so relaxing!

Ok so now I have to tell a funny story that just happened about two minutes ago. You might not find it as funny as I do, but it had me laughing out loud in the computer lab. I was copying some pictures from Sliding Rock off of Jared’s CD and onto my memory stick. I finished opened the CD drive and turned to put my memory card into my backpack. I looked up a minute later and the drive was empty. I was so confused. I looked at it for a second, looked around me at the desk, opened the CD case. That’s when I hear Dan cracking up next to me. He’d gotten me good. I really had no idea what in the world had happened to that CD!!! Anyways, enough of that.

I’m really excited because the trip to Apolima just might work out. If it does it would be awesome beyond description.

And now I just have to make one little disclaimer. I know I refer to a lot of my friends here by their nationality- Tongan, Fijian, Samoan are the three big ones. This was something we’d actually talked about in class a few weeks ago. Back in the States people are only given the chance to identify themselves as Pacific Islanders, but that really isn’t an accurate description. While its true that there are some similarities between the cultures and uniting gives them more of a voice in international discussions they do not necessarily view themselves as the same. Their islands might not be large by world standards but they have extreme pride in their national identity. And again, even though to an outsider all Pacific Islanders might look similar and indeed it is hard to tell some of them apart due to inter-marriage etc, you don’t really ask someone what country they come from. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked “Cant you tell?” They can see the physical characteristics that set them apart very well. That and I guess there is a difference in language and diction but ya know…

Note: in the time its taken me to finish typing up this entry I just got an email from one of the guys at EPC and it looks like Apolima might be a go!!!! AGHHHHHHH YES YES YES!!!!!! You’re probably wondering what in the world I’m so excited over. Apolima is a really small island between Upolu and Savaii. Only nine families live on the island and its really hard to get to and you have to have special contacts and it costs quite a bit of money to go out there and I’m getting to go with EPC and maybe help them with a project and this is like way super cool.