Tattoo

Well ladies and gentlemen, 4 and a half hours and $900 tala later I
have my traditional Samoan tattoo. I went in for my appointment at
12:00pm on Monday and in true Samoa fashion my tattoo started just
after 3:30pm. Of course I have been here long enough to know better
but like a rookie I didn't bring anything to read. At any rate the
time passed and before I knew it the tattoo began. For those of you
who are wondering or are concerned, the tattoo artist family, the
Suluape family, comes recommended from the Peace Corps Medical Officer
because she knows them and that they clean their equipment
appropriately.

As far as we (the volunteers) know there are two guys in the Suluape
family that do the traditional tattooing, the father who is usually
called "Senior" and one of his sons who goes by "Junior". Junior is
the one who did my tattoo. Junior usually does his tattoos in their
tattoo parlor while Senior only does them out in the village. While
it would have been interesting to have it done in the village in a
Samoan fale i have heard in the village the artists and their helpers
usually smoke while doing it and I hate smoke and I think I would hate
it that much more if I have jagged metal going in and out of my skin.
The parlor was nice because there was air conditioning and of course,
no smoke, so no complaints from me.

The tattoo process I am sure depends on the artist to some degree so
please don't take this as a universal practice though I am sure some
of it is standard for most traditional tattoos. Junior made a few
marks with a yellow Sharpie on my right shoulder and upper arm took a
second to look over my arm and shoulder and then it was go time. The
traditional Samoan tattoo required the artist and two helpers. The
guys helping are in charge of stretching your skin tight like canvas
over a frame and making sure don't move. The artist and the helpers
have an amazing rhythm and sometimes it is a mere fraction of a second
between the time they stretch the skin and the artist resumes
tattooing. The process of the tattoo was very stop and go. Junior
would start the tapping and go for about 10-15 seconds then get more
ink, readjust or review the line he just made. Every time there was a
break the helpers would wipe the extra ink and the blood from the
area. A few times in the four and a half hours the helpers would get
new rags for wiping the blood/ink away. This was a great time because
the rags were wet and cool. Unfortunately they quickly became dry and
felt like sand paper on my freshly ravaged skin.

The tools they use are wooden sticks with metal comb like ends. There
are different sizes of tools depending on the design they are doing.
The process of inserting the combs and ink into the skin is a rhythmic
tapping. Of course the first 30 minutes were quite painful as the
body adjusts to the assault but you do adjust somewhat. I have heard
some people feel little if any pain once they get into it for a
while. Call me a Sally if you want but it hurt the whole time, just
less. Of course on the boney parts and near the arm pit were very
sensitive and that always hurt no matter the stage of the tattoo. I
found the key to getting past the pain was exhaling as Junior would
start tapping the tool into my skin and then inhale when he would
break to get more ink or readjust.

The positions I found myself in were very odd but that seems to be the
usual experience. It's not about your comfort, it''s about the artist
getting the best angle at the skin. Most of the time my head was
turned away from Junior and often times smashed in between the
cushions they use for Junior and the helpers to lean on while
working. I one point I noticed that my face was only a few inches
away from on of the helper's big gnarly toe. This was a fleeting and
almost funny thought to me because in all reality it had been right
there for quite sometime but i was so focused on the tattoo and my
breathing that I was oblivious.

I have included a picture of the process but I want to wait to post my
final tattoo pics until after I show my friends and family back home.
I would rather them see it in person first. I am very happy with it
and have had nothing but good comments. The thing that makes me
confident it is a good one is the reaction I have been getting from
Samoans. When a Samoan is like "Ooooohhhhh manaia!" (manaia means
nice) and it is genuine you know you've got a good one.

Well, 9 days and it's vacation time. Wow, under 10 days, ridiculous!
Quick FYI, I probably won't be posting much over my 4 week vacay but I
might throw a few up just describing my experience being back and my
reactions. I won't be able to spend too much time on the computer
because I am going to have to exercise my ass off due to the enormous
amounts of food I plan on eating. It's going to be great!