We departed early and took a bus to Vailima, where the home and tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson is located. The bus ride is, as one would expect, a cultural experience, but I've got to tell you, the little kid in back of us was giving us history lessons, and the woman in front of us with two kids on her lap was contributing to our sense of wonderment. The people here have been SO friendly; everyone asks where you're from, how long will you be here...it's like they must give lessons in school on hospitality management...it's just awesome! We arrived at the RLS Museum entrance and walked the beautifully gardened road to the former plantation house of this Scottish author who was so beloved by the Samoans. It's been restored to its former glory (by the generous donations of an American businessman) and we had a personalized tour conducted by a young man named Nitro (...seriously), and he really knew his stuff. For those of you not familiar with Stevenson's works, they include Treasure Island, Kidnapped; Strange Case of Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde, The Ebb Tide, The Black Arrow, In The South Seas, A Child's Garden of Verses, The Vailima Letters and a long list of others. After an enjoyable walk around the house, we hiked up the steep, short path to the tomb on Mt. Vaea. There's a long path you can take which is a bit flatter and not so steep...we chose to exercise those soft calf muscles that haven't seen a hike in way too long. Once there, we were befriended by a group of young people in college, and we learned the names of various birds as well as enjoyed conversation with a few of the folks who had never been there before either. We returned to town by bus in mid afternoon and did a bit of window shopping downtown. There are numerous grocery, department, office supply, fabric and a bunch of other stores for Apia's population of about 44,000 people. It's been a thoroughly enjoyable day! Oh, btw, there was a tsunamai alert last night at midnight; there had been an earthquake in Vanuatu. We were awakened by the marina guard who knocked on our hull and informed us of the alert; fortunately, it was cancelled within about 30 minutes...thank goodness.
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