Hello from Savai'i - Part 4

Here is the Part 4 addition to our blog.  We are trying to put some pictures on that will give you a small taste of what it is like here in Samoa.  When we first arrived some of the seasoned missionary couples told us that we would get a $200 ticket for not wearing seat-belts. After seeing how people ride in the back of trucks and in buses we didn't worry all that much.  Here are some pictures of interesting vehicles.

We were following this truck on the highway and hoping someone didn't get bumped out.

This is at an intersection right by the temple.  Sometimes we have seen as many as 18 people in the back of a pickup.

The truck has a load of something, I'm not quire sure what it is but then there are 4 people sitting on top.

These are some rugby players.  Whenever there is a game they will all pile into a big truck to go to the game.

One of the parents picking up kids at school.  He will haul 8 or 10 kids in that little pickup.

This is a pickup load of guys riding around in Apia.

Notice the truck with all the people in the back and the policeman standing right there looking at a taxi cab.

Another truck load of people and they tell us that the police are worried about seat-belts.  I did a survey of 100 vehicles we met on the road and counted how many had seat-belts.  I only counted 7 with seat-belts.

Another truck in front of us, it really is amazing that more people are killed.  The one thing they have going for them is low speed limit, it is 35 mph on the highway.  In the 17 months I have only been past 50 mph five or six times.

Here is one of our buses and they are loaded.  They will have students with standing room only.

They don't bus the elementary students here, the parents have to arrange rides to and from school.  Here is a bunch of elementary kids getting a ride home from one of the parents.








This next section is looking at the bridges and water flowing over them.  All the bridges I've seen do not have culverts and the water rises and runs over the top.

The rain water comes down so heavy that the water washes over the bridge.  This is the bridge we go over all the time and you don't want to be caught on the other side because you won't be able to get home.  This is the start.

This is about the middle and the water is probably two and a half feet deep.  A few years ago they had a bus that was washed down stream so everybody is very conscious about it.  This is the upper bridge.

Before this got full blown the principal called the buses in and sent the bus students home.  It was lucky for them because we couldn't cross at this time.

This is the North Coastal Highway, the main highway around the island and after a big rain storm it gets flooded in several places and you just have to wait it out.

Kids every where love water and they are no different in Samoa.  They are out enjoying the water.

This is another rain storm where they had to sent the students home early.  It wasn't as bad as the first one.

This is one of the staff who is taking our course and after class we drive her back home. The water was a little high at the upper bridge so we went down to the lower bridge and made it across so we could take her home.

The water really ruses over that bridge and it tends to keep people from trying to cross it.

The water is quite forceful.











We don't have hardly any wild animals in Samoa.  But one thing we do have is wild donkeys.  Many years ago they were using donkeys to move things.  When vehicles came to the island the owner of the donkeys just turned them loose and they have been wild ever sense.  Every time we catch the ferry we go right by them but we had never seen them.  Lots of the missionary couples saw them several times.  Well we finally saw them and here they are, only two of them.

This is the first donkey we saw

So I had to get a close up.

This is the second one and we are all happy.

Amazing the only wild animal and its a donkey











Well that the end of Part 4, hope you have a great day.

Hello from Savai'i - part 3

We are finally getting some of the pictures we have taken posted on the blog for you to see.  Sorry for any typing errors you might find as it is getting late here in Savai'i.  Our kids were thinking that they had some small stores in their towns.  We just wanted to share some pictures of the stores that we have here in Savai'i and in Apia on the island of Upolu.  The first pictures are of our open market down by the wharf in Savai'i.

Just the starting of the food section.

This is teh non-food section as well.

This is Sister Stonehocker  bargaining.  There is really no bargaining at all.  There is the Samoan price and the palagi (white people) price and our price is always much higher.  Occasionally you will get a bargain if you walk away and then come back and ask what the price is.  if they want to sell it you might get it for a better price.

This is part of the food area and most of it is locally grown.

They have a lot of Samoan oranges for sale.  

This is there fish market.  People bring in their fish to sell.  No refrigeration so you have to get there early.  They keep the flies away with big fronds.

This is one of our favorite ladies to buy from, her produce is good n she is always happy

This is a farm supply store and you have to buy through the window.  Not quite a Home Depot or Canadian Tire Store.









The next pictures are of our big store in Apia called Farmer Joe's

Sorry, this one is Frankies in Savai'i just across from the open market.  The store part is on the right hand part of the building.

This is one of their big supermarkets.  Notice it has four lanes along with a meat market on teh right that you can't see

It was always a thrill to be able to go shopping here.










Now we move to our middle sized stores.  It has two isles and most of our 7-11's at home are quite a bit bigger

As you can see they are not over stocked too much.

Here is the other isle, again not a lot of variety.











These next ones are our smaller stores.

This is the size of most of our stores

You don't go in, you order through the window.

They have to watch the merchandise in front of the store because often times it can just walk away.  

This is where you buy your goods from and you can tell that sometimes it is quite limited.










These next stores are in Tapuele'ele which is the village closest to us.  Most of these stores are within 10 minutes of our house.

This is our smallest store and it doesn't have very much.   Megan are you glad you have a bigger store than this??

They often run out of food and then they close it till they get more.

These two pictures are of our newest store.  Its prices were slightly lower than the other store and it caused hard feelings in the village because the other store had to lower their prices.  It took quite a while before everyone got a long.

These 3 pictures are of the old store in the village and you can see that they don't have a lot of options of what to buy

The next pictures are of swimming with the turtles

This is me with the turtles.  You have to be careful because they will slap the heck out of you with their flippers

This is Elder Layne and he got smacked a couple of times on his legs.  We were both laughing but I'll tell you that those turtles slapped hard.

When the turtles came in to eat the papaya, they came right at you and it was a bit unnerving so  Elder Layne pulled his hand back and the turtles lunged and bit his finger a bit.  So after that we both were a bit more cautious.

 These were both pictures I took with my underwater camera.  Surprisingly enough it actually worked.

I don't know if it is going to work but here is a video of me trying to lift one of the bigger turtles and I got slapped good for doing it.  Hopefully it will work.







Well that's all for now, Part 4 will come tomorrow.