IN THE ROAD

One Sunday afternoon we decided to go for a drive and take as many pictures of what was in the road as we could. We have found that driving on the left side is tough enough but add pigs, horses, cows, dogs, speed bumps, chickens and people. The hardest time to drive is dusk. It is cooler out so everyone uses the roads as a sidewalk to walk around and visit.




We have had some very close encounters with trucks parked in the driveway with the truck bed still in the road or Mama Pig and her little ones running to the other side of the road to get to the other side (I guess). There is a saying here, “If you hit a dog no one notices, if you hit a chicken someone might pay attention but if you hit a pig, you had better go straight to the police station for protection”.  There really isn’t a speed limit but you really can’t go very fast with a speed bump on the road for every village.




We see chickens walking over the top of sleeping dogs and the dogs don’t even move. I think long ago a dog was shot for eating chickens so all the dogs in Samoa have taught their little ones to leave the chickens alone.





Another interesting thing is the Prayer time. Around 6:30 the fathers stand on the road to keep anyone from turning into their village so the mothers can read scriptures and have prayers uninterrupted. Some villages in the past have even stopped traffic on the roads for 15-20 minutes so that it is completely quiet during prayer time. Most of the villages in Savaii let you keep driving if you don’t stop. I sometimes wonder, “Why aren’t the Dads in with the children reading and saying prayers?”

Elder Budgett(Jim) does all the driving and Sister Budgett (Cherri) does all the navigating. “Pig on the right”, “People in the road”, “Cow!!!!!” is the conversation as we travel the narrow roads to go to the market, ferry or take teachers home after a class that we have taught.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

We have been in rural Savaii long enough that the city of Apia over on the other island seems like a metropolis with so many cars, buses and people. Most of the residents of Savaii don’t have cars and rely on the bus system. More about the buses on another blog!!

I don't challenge him when he stands in the middle of the road.The birds perch on the backs of the cows.

There are mangy dogs everywhere

Rubbish is placed up high so the animals don't get into it.