Sleepless in Samoa

I am back on island in the welcoming arms of Samoa, but I cannot sleep at night!

The people of Samoa are gentle and quiet.  

So why am I not sleeping?

  Dogs bark, howl and fight.

This is not our dog, he almost was but the cat of our house kept chasing him off, thus he became known as Butch the Chicken Heart and the one in the background is our neighbours dog Maxine.  

Roosters crow day and night, I read somewhere that the slightest hint of light sets them off.
I couldn't find a rooster to photograph, they must have all been asleep (the bastards).
So I inserted a photo of our hen and her chicks, check out the attitude, you can imagine the Roosters!

At night pigs make revolting noises.

Every morning at 4.30 someone bangs a gas cylinder, they are used to wake people to prepare for church, prayer, etc.

At least they don't ring these bells near our house, they belong to the old Catholic Church that is being rebuilt down on the harbour.

I thought these were "can bells", but I my husband tells me it is to stop the dogs and rats from pulling the rubbish apart, check all the plastic bottles on the ground, does that really work on dogs?

The rain on the roof in wet season is loud.

My boys seem to enjoy the rain

This is them playing with the water that was coming out of the down pipe and in the waterfall that happens off our roof (the photo doesn't do it justice).

When the rain stops an eerie light sometimes appears.

Speaking of light, daylight savings is depriving me of sleep.  In Samoa the sun doesn't come up until 7.00am and is still up at 8pm.  Waking up in the dark and dragging the kids out of bed for an 8am start at school. Cooking and eating dinner in the hot afternoon, and finally putting kids to bed when the sun is still out!

I feel exhausted, no wonder so many people sleep during the day.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz