A'iga buses, running with the dogs, and other forms of transportation

As volunteers, we don’t have access to cars. However, we can always find a way to get where we need to go. American Samoa has a pretty good bus system and once you know the ins and outs you can pretty much get wherever you need to go as long as it’s between 6am and 6pm Monday through Saturday. A'iga (ah ING ah) buses are not the standard buses that we would expect in the US. They are basically pickup trucks with a bus-like thing built on the back. To truly understand what it is like to ride an a'iga bus you have to do it, but the 2^nd best thing is to follow these simple steps/virtual reality guide:

1. The flag-down: Stand on the side of the road where there is some space for a vehicle to pull over. It might take 10 seconds or 15 minutes for a bus to come, but when you see one approaching stick out your arm and flick your wrist and hand in a downward motion. Then get out of the way so the bus can pull over.

2. The dilemma: Picking a seat can be complicated at times. There is definitely a tacit set of rules understood by all Samoans. It is not uncommon for passengers to rearrange every time the bus stops, depending on who gets off and who gets on, and this is all done very quickly with seemingly no communication. Generally I’ve noticed that older people people and white people are offered the front seats while teenagers sit in the back. No seats? No problem! Sit on someone else! Although, there also seems to be rules about this.

3. The seats: If you really want to try to experience this, find a hard wooden bench to sit on that hits you in the back in exactly the wrong place. The benches are big enough to comfortably fit two people my size (or slightly larger) or uncomfortably fit approximately 1.5 Samoans. To add realism to your experience, find a large person to squish you into the seat, or pretend like you are sitting on the outside and place half your butt on the seat with your feet out in the aisle to brace yourself against the bumps and turns.

4. The music: Download some popular Samoan tunes, such as JBoog (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXeaaIkC8sQ), and play it at the highest volume possible. If you think you are going deaf, it's perfect. Don’t expect to be able to have a conversation on the ride.

 

5. The ride: Bounce around on your hard bench while squishing into the large person next to you. The potholes on most of the roads are terrible, but a lot of bus drivers are very skilled at avoiding them by swerving from side to side on the road. Don't worry; the bus driver has not been drinking (probably). Also imagine that you are looking out the window at some of the most beautiful tropical ocean scenery that you have ever seen.

6. The stops: There are very few actual designated bus stops. The general rule is that if there’s room for the bus to pull over, then it is a bus stop. To stop the bus, either pull the cord attached to the top of the bus that rings a bell or horn or simply knock on the side of the bus about 10 seconds before your stop. The bus route is also not set. It is not uncommon for passengers to request detours: “Blah blah blah fa’amolemole (please).” I’m not sure how the bus driver can even hear these requests (see #4), but all of a sudden we will veer off on a side ride, kick it into 4th gear (the bus will normally stay in 3rd because everyone drives about 25 mi/hr), drive for a while, and then drop off a passenger at the requested spot. Sometimes it seems like the fa’amolemoles are endless. Also as a result of the idea that any place can be a bus stop, the bus will frequently stop to pick up/drop off people and then stop 10 ft farther up the road to pick up/drop off some other people. Why walk when you can ride?

7. The exit: When you reach your stop, squeeze past the person next to you and continue down the aisle toward the front of the bus. If you pass people who are older than you, you must duck your head down and say “Tulou” (too LO) as a sign of respect. It’s sort of like saying “excuse me” in the US. Then hand the bus driver a dollar as you exit and say “Fa’afetai!” (thanks).

If buses are not running and the distance is too far to walk, there is always hitchhiking. Hitchhiking does not have the dangerous connotations as it does in the states and it is very commonplace. Everyone here has a pickup, and everyone who has a pickup always has people riding in the back. I’ve seen some pickups with probably 15 people in the back. It’s like the game of seeing how many people you can fit in a phone booth, only it’s how many Samoans you can fit in the back of a pickup. If you’re walking along the side of the road, inevitably someone will pull over, ask where you are headed and tell you to hop in the back. Often there are even chairs or benches in the back. And the bonus of riding in the back is that the music might actually be at a comfortable listening level.

Walking and/or running are also options. Sometime I run to go places, but a lot of the time I just run for exercise. Jogging is kind of a foreign concept for many Samoans. When the little boy next door sees me or Quinn getting ready for a run he’ll ask us, “You running?” And when we respond, “Yes,” he’ll ask “Oh. Where you going?” And when we explain we aren’t going anywhere, we are just running for exercise, he’ll say “Oh. But where you going?” It’s hard to understand that we are exercising. In two months that I’ve been in American Samoa, I’ve seen one woman jogging and she was white. The only other people I’ve occasionally seen running are the army reserves. And a lot of them looked like they could benefit from a lot more running.

One of our guard dogs, Brownie, when she's not in attack mode.

One of the drawbacks of running or walking anywhere is the crazy dogs that live everywhere. They are extremely territorial and can be very vicious and attack anyone or anything that comes near there territory. When a growling, snapping, barking pack of dogs (or even just one) is closing in on you, it can be pretty scary. The best way to handle the situation is to yell “Halu!” which means “go away” and is used only for dogs. Then bend down and pick up a rock and throw it at the dogs. Depending on your level of panic, the level of viciousness of the dogs, and/or your general level of love for dogs, it also works to just pretend to pick up a rock and throw it at them. Fortunately or unfortunately they’ve been hit by enough real rocks to back down when they see the familiar motions. Neither Quinn nor I have gotten bitten yet, but we’ve heard some stories from the locals and heard warnings of particularly bad areas to avoid. We’ve worked out some relatively dog free running routes and haven’t encountered too many bad situations.