September 15, 2012
The moment we stepped off the plane, we noticed what we had heard was true: that in spite of its proximity to Western Samoa, it is cooler here. I believe the reason for this is Rainmaker Mountain, which towers over Pago Pago Harbor and creates rainclouds, which in turn give this harbor the highest annual rainfall of any harbor in the world. While the clouds are mostly clustered over the harbor, the rest of the island gets some of the effect, too. The sun does come out, but it’s never too long before you get a visit from some passing clouds and a rain shower. We ended up giving this island a nickname: The Seattle of the South Pacific.
After we landed, our first order of business was to get checked into our hotel. We were staying at the Tradewinds, a mid-level hotel near the airport that, while not luxurious or special in any way, was quite nice (think Holiday Inn). After we checked in and rented a car through the front desk, we went to the room to drop off our stuff (think backpack).
To most people, this would be a reasonably nice room in a reasonably nice hotel. To us, it was like a palace! There was a king-size bed (!), a TV with cable (!), and most fantastic of all, a shower with all the water we wanted! There was also a desk with an actual chair (sized to fit the desk) and an electric coffeemaker!
It was hard to leave this garden of earthly delights, but we had some things we wanted to see on the island and planned to get started that afternoon. -Cyndi
