Samoa: Busses and Churches

Busses are colorful and loud in Samoa, and stop wherever people want to get on or off. 

As a result, they don’t follow schedules, stop frequently, and you might find yourself waiting for an hour or so for a bus to come along (remember, there’s only one road around each island, so walk down your street to the ‘ring road’ (my name, not theirs) and wait for a bus going in your direction)!

If you take a bus, I hope you like loud reggaeton music!  :-) 

These busses weren’t the most awesome, they’re just what I saw in the bus depot on the day I flew out:

ME STYLE – the best kind of style!

(Yes, that’s a Samoan flag out the back of this bus.)

 

This bus driver was “Born to be Famous,” though we’re not sure why.

And finally, a “school bus” which in all cases (almost) is just a personal vehicle that is a sort of “carpool” to get kids to school, often a work pickup truck:

 

Churches are uber-important in Samoa, with most being Christian, and a visible portion being Mormon (LDS).  On one 30 minute drive, going roughly 20 mph (max), Meagan and I counted 60 churches.  That’s one church every 500 meters.  Very important to the culture.  Here are some photos that I took from our moving car; note that they are not special specimens, just a random sampling:

And finally, this shot shows a fancy, ceremonial fale (beach hut), and a burial site; it is common to see folks buried in front yards of houses, churches, or villages (usually the village chief, etc.).