My First Tongan Bus Ride

September 15, 2012

My first experience on a Tongan bus was today! We all wanted to use our free Saturday to hangout and get caught up with the internet since we don’t have it in our villages plus I wanted to buy another Topenu that isn’t black- Katy’s host mom told her that all I wear is black, which is partly true since they made such a big deal about bringing a lot of black clothes in all the blogs a majority of my collard shirts are black. My group all scored a ride into town with our teacher that catch was we were on our own for the ride back. When we got into town we all met up for lunch with some of group 76 at the most developed place I have been to yet. It was very westernized from the fancy leather chairs, a list of blended coffee beverages and apple pie! Eating at restaurants in Tonga is super expensive so I just ate my packed lunch (that my mom made (-: ) and indulged on a coke and some tiramisu. We had planned it so we could all get into town at different times and use the internet at the PC office at different times, therefore not backing up the connection, this plan did not work out as well as hoped. After lunch a few of us went to the office and long story short that is when I realized a blog would be the easiest solution to staying connected with home! Anyway, frustrated, we left the office in a hurry thinking we were going to miss the last bus to the village, we made it and luckily all got seats! Now Tongan buses are not exactly up to the standards of American public transit, which should give you some idea of their operation capacity. The buses are about the size of the short bus and have seats for maybe 15 people our bus tried to leave the stop with maybe 38 people on board… of course we couldn’t just drive off, that would be too easy, the driver had to make boys get off the bus and push it to a start and then run to hop on. At each stop the same thought ran through my head- we can’t possibly fit any more people on here- I was wrong. By the second stop into the ride (maybe 15 minutes) my face was inches away from 3 Tongan’s asses with one resting on my shoulder and all the while Nelly was playing loudly on someone’s phone. At each stop everyone has to exit so the 2 people that want to get off can, then the bus accepts more riders and we move along. As we get to the outer villages one of the “stops” (the quotes are because when you get to the outer villages that stops are more just when people need to get on and off) is by a falekoloa- roadside store of sorts… The guy who rides on the side of the bus out the door (I can only assume his job is to make sure people don’t fall out because I don’t think the door of the bus works) picks up half a fifth of some shitty looking vodka and hands it to the driver. Between the musty air, cackling women and potentially intoxicated driver I could not stop thinking how it could possibly be that I would still take the Tongan bus over ACT transit….