Fai ‘Ulu Pisupo

I was on a pilgrimage. I had taken Falealili Street from the waterfront of Apia, Western Samoa, all the way up the hill toward Mount Vaea, the engine of my ancient taxi straining at the incline. Like most visitors to Western Samoa, I wanted to see Vailima, the house that Robert Louis Stevenson, the beloved tusitala, or writer of tales, had built for himself.

Vailima is now the official residence of the chief of chiefs, head of state, and the public is generally denied admissi