traveldiary.stracke.us

We spent the last 6 weeks south of the Equator and had some interesting encounters with the “animal kingdom”, above and below the surface.
The “Hitchcock birds” at the Aggie Grey Resort in Apia, Samoa:
Gabi and I were sitting on our balcony at dusk when suddenly hundreds of chirping birds descended into a huge Banyan tree, about 6 feet away from us. The commotion lasted for a good half hour, with the first birds getting the best sleeping spaces, until everybody settled in for the night. Fortunately, the birds kept the noise down during the night.
Cats, centipedes and roosters at the Hotel Kitano, Samoa:
The cats were surrounding our table at the poolside restaurant, jumping up on the diners’ laps and trying to reach the food on the plates. The centipedes were only outdoors on the walkways and easily circumnavigated. The roosters were living on the hotel grounds, welcoming us to Polynesia every morning around 5 AM!
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We have been in our Fare ( bungalow) at the Pension Fare Maeva ( meaning “house of welcome”) for 3 days now, and we had very little sleep. The roosters ( at least three) start their crowing competition between 3:30 and 4 AM, and there is no getting away from them. Chicken and roosters are roaming free all over the place, including right around our house!
It poured buckets for 2 nights and the deluge hitting our corrugated tin roof kept us awake for a good part of the nights! We also have a “spirit” in our bathroom!
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We are on Huahine (The Sauvage), and things are very quiet after sunset (at5:30). We are star gazing, looking at the Southern Cross and the Milky Way. Barking dogs make the only noise at night, before the roosters start in the early morning. The Polynesian Heiva dance competition is under way this week, with teams from different Polynesian islands performing songs and dances. We make several attempts to catch a show. One evening, we walk through the pitch-black night, with our flashlight guiding us to stay on the path from our Fare Maeva to the stadium. When we get there, the place is dark and deserted. Show canceled, thanks to the rain. The only thing left for us to do, is to turn around and go to bed, since there are no other diversions to be found!
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We are living with all kind of creatures!
Last night, I encountered a huge brown spider in the open-roof bathroom at our Fare Maeva bungalow. It was about 3 inches in size and pretty mean-looking. Our guide books claim, that there are no poisonous land animals in French Polynesia, but this guy is giving me the creeps. I decide to give him until the morning to vacate our premises or else…
I also make sure that our bedroom door is closed. Next time, I enter the bathroom, the big spider had moved lower on the wall of our shower. This was it. I returned with my $7 Walmart flip-flops, and, with one big whack, the spider was history.
Our Club Med bungalow also had open-louvered bathroom windows. This enabled the local wildlife to share the room with us: mainly ants and a good-size lizard. The lizard kept to himself and our DEET spray took care of the ants’ autobahn across the sink and bathroom.

Today is Monday, July 16th ( I believe that is the correct date), and we spent already 3 days on this laid-back island in the Leeward Islands of the Society Isles.
We left the Bora Bora Club Med on Juillet Quatorze, Bastille Day.They served us a glass of red wine on an empty stomach, as we walked into the restaurant for breakfast. Refusal was out of the question. ” Vive La France!”
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