The drive to the ferry terminal on Upolu brought us by some beautiful vistas, and a chance to witness traditional Samoan village life at 30mph.  Our very nice fafafine driver was happy to tell us about island life.

The ferry from Upolu to the neighboring island of Savaii takes approximately an hour.  Now, the ferry ride itself became a mini-cultural experience for us.  There is an open air section, and an enclosed area that is (mildly) air-conditioned and has a flat screen television.  The ferry is pretty old, and due to the fact that it lacks stabilizers, can be a bit rocky (both forward/backward and side-to-side).  Travel Gal, Travel Boy chose to avoid the smell of exhaust, and sat inside.  As we were only traveling to Savaii for one night, we had small backpacks.  The indoor room on the ferry filled quickly, and the local Samoans were not shy about situating themselves in the middle of the aisles. They would put down a sarong, lay down flat, and fall asleep immediately. If you wanted to walk around the ferry, you had to step over some rather large, sleeping Samoans.

You can tell that the big daily events on Savaii are the ferry arrival.  It seemed that the entire island was out in force, ready to welcome everyone.  And, definitely every taxi on the island was lined up, hoping for some clients.  Before we left Coconuts, we asked Albert to call ahead and reserve us a car.  After disembarking from the ferry, we grabbed a taxi for the short tide to the rental.  Now, I understand this is Samoa, and I didn't necessarily expect a nice, shiny car rental office with a fleet of new cars. However, I did not quite expect what was about to occur.

Our taxi driver happily drove us the two miles or so to the 'Car Rental' office.  After turning onto a dirt road, he drove us through a small neighborhood of simple houses.  He finally drove up on the grass of a modest, ranch home and delivered us to the back yard.  Out of the home came an older woman, with a curt but not-unfriendly 'Talofa'.  I informed her that we had a 'reservation' through Albert, and she grabbed some keys.  No paperwork, no license check, no formalities at all.  I handed over my credit card. It was as though I was asking her to touch fire.  She said, "No, no, I can't take that. Only Tala."  She wanted close to 100 Samoan Tala for the rental, and a bond of 300 Samoan Tala.  No way was I handing over all of my local currency.  Asking if she would take US Dollars, she shrugged and unenthusiastically agreed.  She traded the keys for US$60 bond.  The only car in her back yard ended up being similar to the Suzuki jeep-type car we rented on Upolu.  However, this one was . . . how can I say . . . a giant P.O.S.  As we hopped in ready, to explore the island, her parting words were, "Oh, only half tank of gas. Bring back with half tank, OK?".  The three turns it took to get to the main road had me wondering if I should have splurged for a car that actually had power steering.

Now, Savaii is a beautiful island.  Beautiful.  Large, relatively undeveloped (except for the cookie-cutter Mormon churches every 4 or 5 miles), and seemingly a step back in time.  Our plans to grab a quick bite before leaving the first town was shattered when we realized there really was not market to visit.  Oh well, lets start our adventure and see how it goes.

Our first stop was one of the large lava fields.  Big, black fields of lava rock reminded me of that portion of the Hawaii IronMan when those poor saps bike and ride by this barren environment.