Aiga Bus

There is a form of transportation in American Samoa that is unique to anywhere else I'm aware of.  It's the aiga bus (pronounced ay-een-ga, meaning 'family'), built and operated by entrepreneurs on the island. A typical aiga bus is a converted Ford F450 with wooden seats, plastic working windows, and a pull string running the length of the roof used to notify the driver to "pull over!"  All aiga buses have a colorful paint job, with or without a message of faith or advice, like "You listen I talk", or "God is good".

There is a bus with an emblazoned pigeon. There are a few buses with flames running down the side. There is a blue bus with a portrait of Bob Marley. My favorite artwork however is the one with an airbrushed desert scene straight out of the 70s, complete with an illustration of a small green aiga bus transporting locals around the landscape.

When I don't have a ride into work, I'll catch an aiga bus.  There is a bus stop at the end of my street, and there aren't too many detours or stops on the way into work, so we make pretty good time, about 30 minutes.  Plus, I like being able to read and not having to drive.

And the buses have a variety of entertainment on board; sometimes it is ear-crushing Samoan music, and other times it might be a rugby game on a TV installed above the driver (!). One time I caught a ride and was entertained by a series of ABBA videos on the way in to work.  

It seems like the unspoken rule of the bus is that no one talks.  Of all the trips I have taken, there have been no conversations, not even with kids.

The aiga buses have a handful of routes they run around the island, as designated by the name of the village printed on the front of the bus, usually by a cardboard placard in the front window: Tafuna, Aua, Leone, etc.  In the central village of Pago, there is a parking area which acts as a turnabout for the routes; they head in from the named village, make stops along the way, and turn around in Pago to return back to the village the way they came. Rides cost a buck.

One time I caught a bus after work, but it was full of tuna plant workers.  Not until that moment had I truly experienced the phrase "packed in like a can of sardines".  The close quarters were one thing, but the worst was the smell. I thought that as we drove along the ocean, perhaps the smell would dissipate, but I was wrong.  My face transformed into a permanent scowl.  My nose hairs curled. I stopped at the next stop and awarded myself with an ice cream cone, walking part of the way home.

Today the whole family caught an aiga bus. We let Levi flag the bus down, and the kids really enjoyed the ride.  Finn said a couple of times how cool it was and how he wanted to do it again.  We will be riding in style again soon, I'm sure.