Arriving in Pago Pago — An Elegant Sufficiency

Or rather, “Pongo Pongo” as they say here.

I looked out as I drew the curtains back. Land!

There was a small welcome in the form of a rainbow as one of those rainclouds passed over the island of American Samoa and its capital Pago Pago.

Breakfast at our favourite table confirmed that yes, it was indeed hot hot hot out there already.

As the ship turned, I thought that we appeared to be arriving in a lush, green area of the city, where I could see what I thought was a huge display of orange and yellow flowers.

Closer inspection revealed it to be a pile of those bright yellow floats, however! And the area we were headed for was far from beautiful…

It was more of a container port, with hardly any green to be seen.

But we heard - and saw - something going on down there. It seemed Pago Pago was putting on a bit of a welcome show. Actually, quite a large welcome show!

The youngsters of the city had turned out to sing and dance. For the next thirty minutes or so, their enthusiasm and wonderful music accompanied our arrival. We marvelled at their ability to sit down and stand up, perfectly balanced with no hands at all, even when the concrete surface on which they were standing barefoot must have been searingly hot.

Miss American Samoa was introduced as she sashayed along to the music.

I had watched as the youngsters had the support of their parents/grandparents during the performance. They had been standing behind the group, clearly itching to dance themselves and swaying gently or waving to the music throughout. But most of all, I was intrigued by the elderly gentleman who took down one of the palm fronds on the backdrop and began to work with it. What was he making? a hat? a bag?

I never did get to find out, because the performance was coming to an end.