I braved the stares from strangers and brought my camera with me while running errands with Gabby last week Friday. I definitely felt awkward at first but it felt liberating to pretend like I didn’t care what anyone thought.

Someone we bumped into actually told me they thought I was a tourist… which is impossible because borders have been closed since last March, but I found it funny that just because I had a camera, I was pegged as a “tourist”. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but a quick lookup in the dictionary defines a tourist as “a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure”… which I totally vibe with! I’ve been starving for new travel adventures… so I’ve embraced that notion.

Anyhow – I’ll be spamming the interwebs with some of my attempted ~StReEt PhOtoGrApHy~ hahah… I say it like that because ever since I was in high school, I was obsessed with street photography… particularly street fashion photography. And while I’m not on the streets in American Samoa for the fashion, I did want to capture the local flair candidly. Plus, I’ve also been refueling my creative juices and I just want to shoot as much as possible whenever it makes me happy!

Which brings us to the Fagatogo Fish Market….

Open only on Fridays from 10am until whenever they sell out (usually within just a few hours), and located at the Fagatogo Market, the Fagatogo Fish Market is owned by our friends, Dustin and his wife Tumuai. They’re good people who appreciate great quality food, and I love to get out and support them by eating all the yummy food. They get all their fish locally, and they have an array of options from fresh raw fish loins, to sashimi, shoyu/spicy/California poke, and sushi rolls, then there’s Samoan oka, smoked fish jerky, and baja fish tacos… all made fresh! My favorites are the California poke and the baja fish tacos… mmmm.

When Gabby and I got there at near-noon, they had pretty much sold out of almost everything including my usual favorite, the California poke, but we were lucky to get baja fish tacos and oka (thanks Gabby!). I also picked up a couple of wooden tealight candle holders, from the Tropical Trees and Seas mini-booth. They’re made from local hardwood and are perfect to be given as gifts. We had lunch up at Gabby’s parents’ house and scarfed down our meal like nobody’s business.

[02.26.2021]