Pago Pago, American Samoa- roadtrip!

Pago Pago, American Samoa- roadtrip!

Pago Pago on the island of Tutila is the capital of American Samoa, about 2,300 miles from New Zealand and 1,600 miles from Hawaii. The two primary sources of revenue are tourism and processing tuna. The island consists largely of a mountain running its length with very little flatland, so some of the traditional tropical crops cannot be grown for resale.

If you are a native of the island or a knowledgeable visitor, you pronounce the name as Pango- Pango, otherwise, you are just a tourist.

It was a dark and stormy day at the beginning of our visit…

As noted, tuna is a major source of income. There are two huge processing plants, one with a familiar name…

Starkist Samoa

with a colorful representative.

Charlie!

We engaged the services of a local cabbie to tour the island and we took off in his pickup truck, cleverly disguised as an “Airport Cab.” The weather cleared a bit, with the rain mostly stopping, but continued as a threat.

The rain chased us along the island

An unusual site: many homes had familial burial sites in front of the home

A fallen breadfruit

A four-legged gang just out lookin’ for trouble.

One of the many, many churches. It seemed like every village or even wide spots on the road had a church or churches. We were there on a Sunday, and almost everything on the island was closed. Stu, our driver, said everyone except cab drivers went to church on Sunday.

Stu told us this ruin, adjacent to the church, was the original building, destroyed in a storm.

Road house?

View of the port. The very top of our ship can be seen in the middle. Because it is in a lagoon, the port is one of the safest in the islands… one of the reasons the US chose it for the capital of American Samoa

Back at the port