Aunu'u

This is the post of our great day in Aunu'u. Those of you who've been there will have the same pictures of the same lovely sites, even same cute village kids. Hope your trip there was as nice as ours.

Aunu'u is a small island off the southeastern coast of Tutuila. We went on Saturday the 9th with our friends Lauren and Scott. The weather was perfect. Here's our "vessel of suspect seaworthiness" the Blue Angel. At only $1/person, it was probably the most enjoyable dollar I've spent.
The boatride takes about 15 minutes. It's really like a bus ride. Many people commute everyday for school and work. Look at that amazing blue water. Samoans call the color lanumoana. This is looking toward Aunu'u.
We waved to a boat making the return trip.
This shows the whole span of the island. It's almost 2 sq. miles.
This is an Aunu'u resident who caught a little tuna off the back of the boat. He gave us the tuna, which we shared later on.
First stop, beautiful beach on the northwestern side, looking back to Tutuila. Here we paused for directions and shade. Isaac somehow upset a big chicken and got scolded (by the chicken).
Here's Lauren practicing Samoan with our young tour guides. We asked the village kids to take us to the palapala mimiki (quicksand), and they followed us around the entire island. There's not much else for them to do on a one-village island. The little boys entertained us by galloping like animals, racing down the trails, posing like rappers, and randomly yelling their mantra: "Go, Go, Power Rangers!"
Ephraim cut open the fish with a stick and cleaned it out. The kids helped Ephraim watch out for the eel in the shorebreak that wanted some fish. They tried some fish, but didn't really like it.
"The Precious will be ours once the hobbitses are dead." (gollum, gollum)
When we reached the quicksand lake, I took a few steps off the path to get a different view, but the girls scolded me. Here's Raiders in his 7 year old glory.
They told us not to continue from there, that we'd need to go with a dog to protect us from the wild pigs that could eat us. We took our chances. And they were happy to follow. Who needs a dog when you've got little boys running around?

We climbed the trail heading up the mountain and at a clearing Ella climbed a banyan tree (with help).
We started the trail that goes to the crater lake, but it was too long and hot for our band so we'll explore that another day.

This is the south shore where we paused for a break.
I asked the girls to sing. They sang one of Ephraim's favorite Vaniah Toloa songs.
Circling north again along the western shore we passed the LDS church. I was hoping to find a drinking fountain there. But, no. I was wearing my CTR ring (Choose the Right) and one of the girls had one too. So we discovered most of them are LDS.
We were happy to get back to the boat dock and eat some lunch. Except that when I pulled out our PB&J, the kids said, "Oh, I love peanut butter. It's my favorite." I said, "Good, go ask your mom to make you a sandwich." Same with water. "Oh, I'm so thirsty!" I said, "Go home and get a drink." Silly kids.

Finally we went swimming in the boat wharf. (If you go there, let me warn you that the ramp is slippery. Isaac and I learned that the hard way.)
When the boat came to the wharf the kids climbed up the side and hung on for a ride. They seem so comfortable with all aspects of their little island. We boarded the boat and headed home dirty and tired.
Until next time...