Wow, so this morning I got up very early after virtually no
sleep at all. I need to be ready for the bus across the island to Apia.
I need some internet access and to make some return flight arrangements.
This bus was one crazy experience, the early morning bus
also act as the school bus and since it was raining this morning the bus was
jam-packed with people and kids trying to avoid the rain. It's really difficult
to explain the "bus" experience, but I'll try to paint a mental
picture of the bus....
Think about the bus as a decommissioned flat bed truck, the
interior, roof, seats and everything has been handmade from wood. The interior
have small wooden benches bolted to the floor and looks much more like a
chicken coop than a bus.
So when I got on the bus was so full that I was not sure
whether I'm going to fit, let alone the 12-17 students waiting on the side of
the road with me. We all rammed in there. I'm lucky that some guy took pity on
me and elbowed a small kid off the bench next to him so that I can sit there.
At this point the bus is loaded with about 70 people some sitting, some
standing and plenty sitting on each other's laps. One would think the bus is
full, but no... every now and then it will stop and more and more people will
squash in. Everyone just sitting on everyone else and all you see is just
heads...
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| Some buses in Apia... you get the idea... |
The bus eventually stopped at the schools and a lot of
passengers and students got off, it was really funny because at this point the
buss would have well over 100 people onboard, and as people are exiting the
buss it seems like it is a never ending stream of people getting out of the
bus.... almost like it's a funny Youtube video and an optical illusion ... but
there's no illusions here... the amount of people now getting off is just
staggering.
The man I was sharing my bench with also hopped off and I
moved to the position against the window. It's still a long distance to go to Apia
and the buss will fill again very shortly... but this time I want to be next to
an open window.
As we were making way and the bus filling I knew that before
long I'll have someone next to me and in time people sitting on us... It seems
that I got lucky though. On the next stop a giant Samoan man mountain and a
real building size man sat next to me. He took nearly the whole bench and I was
squashed against the window, it was lucky despite my squashed position... This
man mountain was so large he blocked the entire entrance to our bench, haha, so
no-one could get past him to sit on me :-D
I made it safely to Apia after just over two hours on the
bus I did not freeze in a panic and did not vomit, however I was all sweaty and
my bum was sore from the combination of
the hard bench and bumpy roads, (but bit less sore than when it was cycling
up the mountain that day :-)
I think I was actually happy to get out of the bus, even if you're stepping off it right next to the Apia fish market..
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| Apia morning fish market |
Will I take the bus again? Mmm, I guess I might if I really
have too.
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