Santy works with me. He likes Beyonce and to dance. Enough said. He's a nice...guy'sh...and sometime ago invited me to his family home in Savaii, to get an experience of fa'asamoa- the samoan way as lived in a village, not in the town. So last weekend we went.
A cruel 5:30 wake up on Saturday, to catch the 8am ferry was an inauspicious start to a relaxing weekend.
At Savaii we stop at the Saleolongo fish markets and split the cost of some provisions for dinner tonight and tomorrows to'ona'i (lunch).
We buy a fe'e (octopus), lua ula (2 lobsters), and umi (a leatherjacket like fish)...and about 20kg of talo (kalo or taro). By the time we spend 80 tala we have enough food to feed 20 people (or 10 Samoans)...
Santy's aiga own a small shop near Afu A'au- a popular waterfall (afu), and tourist attraction. The 2 solid block fale's have a view over the neighbours to the ocean. His fathers crypt captures the view- built into the main house's deck, in the tradition of front yard burials. The home's are shared between 4 of Santy's siblings and his mother and nephew...5 cats, 3 dogs, some big pigs and a handful of chickens.
In the afternoon we swim at the waterfall- as the heavens open and pour buckets of rain. Santy explains that the 4 men sitting in the fale's at the road entrance collect the tourist fees- $5 tala per person. This is shared among the village and used to keep the waterfall clear of rubbish. The men sit in the fale's all day. Sounds fair, but I become dubious of the rubbish collection roster, as the tyres of our ute crush beer bottle tops into the gravel in the carpark...last time I came here with Leanne, I cleaned up the carpark using a plastic bag- and tied it to a visible tree. This time I find a rocky area nearby waterfall with a collection of litter...and try to ignore it.
We enjoy the swim, and I watch and relax- waiting for the others to finish. One of the dumpling shaped samoan boys we're with, finishes his soft drink, rinses the bottle carefully, and overarm bowls the empty at a boulder in the river. The glass tinkles into the pristine water, and pieces blink at me from the dewy grass bank...the men beside him talk and laugh, undisturbed.
Back at the fale, Santy prepares dinner with his family- there's fried fish, fa'ilifu, chicken soup, tinned fish stew and more...fresh coconuts are opened, and grated, and crushed for pe'e pe'e (coconut cream) in an exhausting process.
The hard work is repeated from 5am the following morning, when Santy and his brothers and sisters get up to start preparing the umu (hot-rock “oven”). They make yet more coconut cream from scratch, wrapping fish, making palusami, preparing the umu, peeling taro and breadfruit (ulu), dodging dogs and cats and chickens all the while. The process is intensive- over about 4 hours.
As the fe'e is prepared, I'm interested to watch the octopus gutted and brazed in a pan on the fire...I'm marginally less impressed later when the gut is revived to be squeezed into pe'e pe'e, to create an inky cream sauce for the second cooking phase where the octopus is cupped in banana leaves before being put into the umu to casserole. It tastes amazing- tender and fresh, that afternoon,..just one part of an immense, rich table of lobster, fish, chicken, vegetables, soup and fresh fruit.
Aso Sa is spent between Sunday School (where Santy teaches), Church, to'onai and a moe (sleep). During the day, we discuss the time and effort put into the food- and the long trip from Apia to home, which Santy makes every weekend that he can. “I like the old ways” he says...the collecting of the taro and leaves, the making of the coconut cream, the preparing of the umu with his brothers and sisters. “...and like the exercise”, the physical effort is rewarding...as is the time simply to be with family- to work together or simply to sit, sleep, eat and talk.
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