Taxis

This past week we decided that since we still don’t own a vehicle and we’re tired of bumming rides off of the owners all of the time we’d start becoming more self-sufficient and use taxis. Of course the art of getting a good fare on a taxi in a foreign country where you’re seen as the rich American can be a frustrating business. On Monday, Suzie, Lindsay and I wanted to go into Apia to have lunch and look around at the shops. Andy just so happened to be coming home from town in a taxi so we used his to get back. Andy had already called around to find out what a decent fare should be and told the taxi driver that if he gave us that rate we’d get his number and use him regularly. So our taxi driver’s name is Wiser. We’ve called him several times now to pick us up to go get groceries in town or to pick us up in town and take us home. However, I’ve noticed that his fees seem to be going up each time he takes us. Originally it was 10 tala for a ride into town. But when he had to come pick us up from town it was 12 tala instead. Then when we asked if he could take us to the ATM for 2 minutes on the way home yesterday, it suddenly became 15 tala for the trip. So I’m not sure how wise it will be to continue to use Wiser. Although, his is very friendly and prompt and helps us with all of our gear with the babies. Another taxi driver we used one day told us it would be 10 tala to get home but when he saw where we lived he added on another 2 tala for the extra block it would take to get to our house. I told him I’d never use him again if he charged me that rate so he gave it to me for 10 tala instead. I guess you just have to be tough but I do understand that the price of gas for these drivers is outrageous right now.

Yesterday Suzie and I really needed to get some food in town so we put both boys down for naps at her house and had her sister-in-law Lindsay watch them while we took a taxi into town. I had brought my big beach bag to put our food in while we made our way around to the different stores. Needless to say after just going to the outdoor produce market we’d already filled that bag. Luckily they sell these really big bags made out of the same material tarps are made out of – that have big handles and are only a dollar or two. They sell them everywhere on the streets so we each bought one – and we filled those completely too. We looked pretty funny carrying around 3 huge bags filled with food that were pretty darn heavy. (I had to choose that day to buy 4 lbs of rice and 4 lbs of flour). Everyone kept trying to flag down a taxi for us, but we kept telling them we’d be fine or that we had already called a taxi that was coming for us. I felt pretty good though that we had figured out how to get into town, make our way around, and get home all by ourselves. We also discovered that going to the food market early is a good idea. There’s more variety and not everything is picked through.