The road to the coastal settlement is about 9 km, most of it unsealed, from the main highway. Due to its location in the west of the country, and due to the Samoa is just to the east of the International Date Line, Falealupo has been described as "the last village in the world to see the sunset of each day". This has now changed, as the Samoan government has moved the International Date Line east of the country in 2011. Families have moved inland for the convenience of living by the main road near public transport, as well as the extensive damage to the coastal village from cyclones in the early 1990s, which left behind old church ruins along the coast. There are rock pools, caves, and sandy beaches in the area. Falealupo-Uta has small shops and facilities for Western Union money transfer while there are beach fale accommodation and a shop at Falealupo-tai. The settlement is part of Falealupo Electoral Constituency ("Faipule District") which forms part of the larger political district of Vaisigano. Roman Catholic Cardinal Pio Taofinu'u (1923–2006), the first Polynesian bishop and cardinal, was born in Falealupo and attended the village school. Falealupo is mentioned in different myths and legends in Samoan mythology. In the sea at the farthest point of the peninsula, the Fafā, an outcropping of volcanic rocks, is said in legend to be the gateway to the underworld Pulotu, where aitu, the spirits of deceased persons, reside. The ruler of Pulotu is Saveasi'uleo, the father of Nafanua, a goddess of war from Falealupo. Another legend tells that Nafanua's mother is Tilafaiga, who brought the art of Samoan tattoo with her sister Taema from Fiti. The village is also associated with the legend of Moso. Falealupo land include large tracts of lowland rainforest. Most of Samoa's land is locally village owned under customary land governed by family "matai", the chiefly heads of extended families. In 1990 the Samoan government gave the remote village of Falealupo an ultimatum to build a better school or teachers would be removed and their children would not be educated. Education in Samoa is a partnership between villages and the government, and with most of the land under customary ownership, villages provide land and school buildings with the government providing teachers and the curriculum.