March 2006 - Local Bus Adventure
It has come down to my final few weeks in Samoa so I am attempting to cram in all the places I have yet to visit. One of which was the island of Manono, a small, traditional island in between the two main islands of Upolu and Savaii.
The Bus Ride
Getting there was a mad local bus adventure, which was worth experiencing but certainly not something i'd want to do on a regular basis. It started with a long wait at the bus terminal as the bus we hoped to catch didn't turn up (or so we thought). Another bus we could have taken was so jammed packed full we wouldn't have been able to breathe so we ended up catching a third, slightly less full bus. As 'palagi' (foreigner) we were given a seat when a guy who seemed to be some kind of self appointed conductor made some other people move. That's one wooden seat between two of us, with our knees jammed against the seat in front and our thighs going numb. They then proceeded to jam in as many as possible, with up to three stacked high at the back and the entire walkway full of standing passengers getting to know each other intimately. For over an hour. Once we finally got going (about an hour after we expected to leave) we were then pulled over by the police who wrote a ticket to the driver for overcrowding. Several people got off the bus to appease the policeman, but most of them then got back on once the ticket was sorted. So apart from the fine, what exactly is the deterrant to the driver?
A little later the bus pulled over once again and most of the passengers got out. They were not at their destination though. We sat outside a shop for 20 minutes wondering how all those people plus their shopping would fit on the bus! Somehow they managed and our squashed bus adventure continued for another hour till we arrived at Manono-Uta to catch the 'ferry'.
posted by N-Lo @ 9:28 am
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