American Samoa is a land of opposites, a land of contradiction. It is a land of incredible beauty, but struggles with abject poverty. It has the oldest and one of the most beautiful marine preserves in the country, if not the world. Yet is waters are being depleted of fish by a nearby Starkist factory and local fisherman. I don't know if I will ever wrap my head around that experience. It was majestic and harrowing. It was unadulterated beauty and man made piles of trash and sandals. In most places there is a separation between the two extreme of the world, in American Samoa there was not.
The time there was incredible, the people were some of the most generous, kind and good natured people that I have ever met in my life. It was wonderful in so many ways and sad in so many others.
