Friday, January 16 – Apia

Today I’m going to visit the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. According to Google Maps, it’s a 75 minute walk from my hotel. No problem! However, the distance is only 2.5 miles. Mmmmmm. I think I have a little elevation change to deal with here. Let’s do this!

But first…

Yesterday just after breakfast I was in my hotel room when I heard some music outside. I looked out of my window to see a little parade going down the street. I asked hotel reception if it was a special occasion, but she just laughed and said the police department and their marching band go by every weekday morning at 9am. Holding up traffic along the way…

So I made sure I was outside at 9 this morning to get a couple photos.

Making my way up to the RLS Museum…

Okay, I’m in need of a break and this looks like the perfect spot! I’m on the grounds of the Vailima Fou Theological College. Pretty!

Made it! The walk actually took right about 75 minutes. Google Maps must have anticipated my two rest stops!

When I arrived at the museum there was a roughly 20 minute wait for the next tour. Perfect! I need a rest (and cool down) break!

Worked up a bit of a sweat on the walk! (BTW, besides the Minnesota couple on Wayasewa Island, I’ve so far received no shout outs for the Motion W on this trip. Bucky’s not big in the South Pacific I guess. Still early though!)

Robert Louis Stevenson was born in Scotland, but traveled widely and in 1888 he and his family began a three-year tour of the South Pacific, eventually settling in Samoa. In 1890 Stevenson purchased 314 acres of land and began to build this home, which was completed in 1891 (the first two-story in Samoa). The house had five bedrooms and a library.

This is the parlor. It contains the first fireplace in Samoa (a carryover from RLS’s Scottish upbringing). Due to the warm Samoan climate, it was never used!

…which contains the second fireplace in Samoa. It was used just once, in an attempt to dry clothes. It produced so much smoke it too was never used again!

This portrait of RLS is said to reflect his bright side on the right, and dark side on the left (reminiscent of one of his most famous works, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).

This little building in the back is the kitchen. It was kept separate from the main house due to its fire risks.

Sadly, Robert Louis only lived in the house for three years. He passed away in 1894 at the age of 44. Following his death, the family moved out of the house. It was subsequently used as the official residences of the Governor of German Samoa, then later by the New Zealand Territorial Administrator, and, finally, by the Samoan Head of State.

In the early 1990s, the home was badly damaged by cyclones. After a period of renovation, the building reopened on December 5, 1994 as the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum. (The museum entry fee is 20 Tala, about 7 USD).

Following the visit to the museum, I decided to hike up to the top of nearby Mt Vaea, where the tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson is located.

The trail begins at the edge of the museum’s property.

These steps were very helpful. Surprisingly, more so on the way down, because the ground was rather slippery after much rain yesterday afternoon and overnight.

The proverbial fork in the road. Long, with a gradual slope (2.4km), or short and steep (800m). Which would you choose? I went short (might have been a mistake!).

This was a tough hike! I took numerous breaks along the way. And was drenched in sweat.

I think (hope!) that I’m close to the top…

Yes! 45 minutes into the hike, I made it.

I have to say, what awaited me at the top was kind of disappointing. The tomb is looking rather forlorn, and the views are nothing special. It felt good to get here though, after the strenuous trek. And there was a nice breeze to help with the cool down. No regrets.

For more information on the hike, click here.

The only hard part about the walk back down was making sure I didn’t slip and fall on my backside! It took about 30 minutes. Oh, another idiot move on my part: I didn’t think of bringing any bug spray for a middle of the day hike. Well, after all of the recent rain, I ended up getting a few bites around my ankles. Ugh!

It took about 45 minutes for me to hump it back down to my hotel. By then I was ready for a shower and some rest. (24k steps for the day)

And it turns out I was done for the day!

Note to Subscribers: I apologize for the fact that you have not been receiving your email notifications whenever I upload a new Journal Entry. For an unknown reason this feature was disabled in the time since I completed last year’s trip. The function has now been restored; hopefully no more cliches! (Thanks for bringing this to my attention Kari)

So, for those of you who are just now receiving your first email notification, this is the 5th Journal Entry for the trip that started about two weeks ago. A little bit of catch up; sorry!