i wish samoa was all mine. not mine as in a colony or something. just mine as in my special secret. because the fact that other people who are not me are in samoa right now and enjoying it is literally breaking my heart.

i only got back this afternoon. the wounds of leaving are still fresh.

i would like to retain some mystery so you're not going to get a blow by blow account. needless to say every minute was awesome. even when it involved you being herded like cattle by police. POLICE. in the best uniforms ever by the way.

one of the things about samoa is you can always swim. ALWAYS. here i am on one of my first days in samoa. heading to the beach. taking to the lifestyle like a duck to water.




some of you* will be getting awesome postcards from me. samoa is filled to the brim with awesome postcards. anyway, i won't spoil those. but apia was SURPRISINGLY EXHAUSTING. i was offered about a thousand $10 lava lava. and had my bag checked at the grocery store. i looked suss. obviously. walking down the street took it out of you something chronic. thank god i was staying on the other side of the island. at a resort that offered afternoon tea every day at three.


at the end of the day though, it is the natural beauty of samoa that was the breathtaking part. like the waterfalls. the WATERFALLS.

this one is on upolu. after taking this photo a man made us coconut cream from scratch. touristy? yes. but he wasn't a tour guide. so there.



this one is on savai'i. we told ourselves it was the waterfall from the king kapisi video clip. but i was told otherwise by one of my new boyfs. and while i believed him MOSTLY at the time i've looked at the video clip again, and he was right. you can watch it here. and incidentally everything in this video clip i basically saw.

oh yeah, and in samoa there are lots of boys dying to flirt with you. honest to goodness. if you're lucky they will make you feel like a teenager again. leaving you giggling at the message they sent you via their babyfaced friend and having to sneak into your fale drunk on the excitement. and on the vailima. and maybe the whiskey too if i'm being honest. oh the boys! how many hearts did i break in the past week? heaps.

the biggest heart break is my own. i've fallen hard for samoa. and i won't hear a thing against it. and staying at a resort, which initially worried me, turns out to be the only way to live. refer to afternoon tea comment above. on my last day i lay on the beach and read. and slept. and listened to my ipod. and looked up at this....

and tried not to think too much about what i was leaving behind. and the characters i'd met. and the unexpected delights everywhere (like watching the sound of music on the ferry from savai'i to upolu and having a number of cute singalong moments with the guy next to me). and the bananas. have you had the bananas? like honestly they are the best thing in the world apart from samoa. and my new favourite song, i choose you. which i hope pumps in the apia clubs for years to come.

* not all of you though. my hotel ran out of stamps and the postoffice that was meant to be open until midday closed at eleven. for no apparent reason. samoa forever.