It had been a long week, but we were getting excited. Early in the week we found out that East Timor's Labor Day was on Friday, May 1st, so if we could take off Saturday we would have a 3 day weekend to try to go to Baucau and visit the Polish VOICA volunteers.
After some confusion where our ride fell through, we decided to attempt the public bus on Friday morning. It was an option we'd been dreading because we'd heard not-so-nice stories of the conditions, but we decided the extra day in Baucau would be worth it.
First of all, some background on the public transportation in East Timor. I think that the government here is pretty lucky with the situation because all their public transport is privately operated and maintained. The taxis, mikrolets (minibuses), and full-sized buses are run by a driver with the help of one or two friends who help passengers in or out, put baggage on the roof (sometimes even live animals), and collect fares. The average prices are 10 cents for a mikrolet ride, $2-3 for a taxi (malae price, Timorese pay less), and $4 for bus rides between cities. The drivers and workers can constantly be seen driving, cleaning, or repairing the means of their livelihood. And somehow it all works out - the taxis patrol everywhere, the mikrolets pick a route and paint the route number on the front and back where people can see it, and the buses are labeled by the starting and final destinations (example. Dili-Baucau). There is no set schedule, but because transportation provides a steady job there are many options and you never have to wait long before the mikrolet you need comes by. It's a pretty interesting system.
So Friday morning we each piled our stuff into a backpack and taxied to the bus station on the other side of town. We were very lucky because even though it was a holiday, there was one bus at the station. We got out of the taxi and a man ushered us onto the bus and gave us seats. We were sitting in the very back row with our backpacks on our laps while we surveyed the situation.
The bus was surprisingly clean, had pretty comfortable seats, there wasn't much space but there was enough, and they even had music for the trip. I wondered where the catch was. The answer came as we got ready to leave, the driver honked the horn and 15 more people crowded onto the bus to stand in the aisle and hang out of the door for the 3 hour ride. My big sister radar went through the roof as I watched young men my brother's age struggling to hang on through the open door. Usually there were 3 or 4 in each door, grabbing onto one thing inside to steady themselves.
Sometimes while everyone in the open doorway jockeyed for position, one person got pushed outside of the rest and hung on dangerously. When this happened usually the person, while the bus continued driving at top speeds along the seaside cliffs, would try to make it to the ladder on the back of the bus and climb up to the roof. I was so glad that no one got hurt on our trip, but we were told by one of Brendan's basketball buddies that many of the crosses along the road were because of deaths of the men on the roof and sides of the bus. It sounds like the police are beginning to pull the bus over when they see those riders, but there's only so much they can do.
So that was hard to watch, but there were pleasant distractions. Two guys that Brendan had met were sitting close to us so we got to talk with them. Secondly, there was an amazing range of Timorese music and Indonesian country and rock. And then we were surprized to hear an Avril Lavigne song and even the Numa Numa dance song. You never knew what was going to be next.
During the ride we got to do a lot of people watching which was interesting. There were men and women from villages in traditional dress, students in jeans and English t-shirts, and everything in between. One thing that we found impressive was how the guys treated the women and children. If a seat opened up one of the aisle-standing guys was happy enough to fill it, but when women or children entered the bus on the way to Baucau they stood up immediatedly and gave them the seat. I love that - it's a sign of respect for the women and a good example for the children. At home some people seem to think chivalry is when you see the other person as weaker (and that could be the mindset for some people), but when the person's motivation is treating someone with a special respect because you care about them, it's beautiful! So if it's done right, like it appeared to be on the bus, it's appreciated and super-cute to watch.
Eventually we made it to Baucau in just 2 and a half hours. We got dropped off in Old Town at our friends' house and started our free weekend!
Hope all is well with you guys! Congrats to the college kids finishing finals!
Love,
Rachel and Brendan
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