Papua New Guinea

On July 24 we went to the Papua New Guinea consulate in Jayapura to check on our visas. The guy working there said for me not to worry and that he would help us get our visas by the following day, friday. So we went back into town and met up with our friend George and two of his highschool friends. George had to go meet with the Governor's treasurer, in order to be payed for his trip and the talks he would be doing. He invited us to come along and when we got to the governor's residence (mind you we were wearing shorts and flip flops) we were invited up into the treasurer's office. We were given drinks and snacks and the treasurer seemed really happy to meet us and eventually asked if there was "anything" we needed in Jayapura. We said no, not wanting to ask for anything, but George went on to tell him about how we were trying to get our visas for PNG and that we would be trying to get a taxi to the border. He immediately offered his drivers to take us all the way to Vanimo, the closest town on the PNG side. Then one of the guys rang the PNG consulate and 5 mins later they called me on our mobile saying our visas were ready! The next day in the morning we went and picked up our visas and then went back to the governor's residence to meet with his driver's. They took us in a nice air conditioned (not so common here) SUV, and bought us drinks and grapes for the trip. They told us in the car that there had been some shootings on the border and that they were pretty sure it would be open for us to cross but not to sure about how safe it was on the PNG side. I was starting to get a little worried about the safety issue in PNG since everyone was telling me that it can be pretty dangerous. On our way to the border we went thru two check points, in one we were asked to take pictures with the soldier there. After passing the Indonesian border we drove about 30m (no mans land) to the PNG border. The drivers did not drive thru and turned the car around, again facing the Indonesian side. They did not speak much english so they tried to explain to me that they could not cross the border but we could. Normally Indonesians can go back and forth in a day with an identity card but because of the shooting at the border they were only letting those who had a valid passport and visa through. So we walked across the border, under a big sign that read "Welcome to Papua New Guinea", and filled in the paper work and got our entry stamps on our visas. After we came out the two driver's were waiting for us and I asked them if they knew how we could get to the nearest town and if they could change us Rupiahs for Kinas (PNG currency), earlier they stopped at a currency exchange and changed over $150 in rupiahs to kinas. They handed me 500 kina, about $160 value. When I tried to give them rupiahs in exchange they refused. I think the governor's office had given them an allowance for the trip and they felt pretty bad and were a little worried that they couldn't take us all the way to Vanimo. The soldier at the border told us that we could wait for a PMV (a bus) there, but it would take longer, or walk one kilometer to the town of Watung and catch a PMV there. He said don't worry it's "safe" now. I thought of the shootings and that if they have to tell you it is safe that means that sometimes it is unsafe. So we started walking down the hill through rainforest, coconut trees and very lush vegetation. The PNG side is totally different from the Indonesian side and immediately it reminded me of all the slides and pictures from my childhood. We walked on thru a little village with the jungle on our right and the ocean to the left. The houses, made of bamboo woven walls, on stilts and thatch roofs, were built on the sandy beach. Little children, some without clothes, laughed when they saw us and ran next to us, all the adults said "gude" (good day) and some even indicated us where we should wait for a PMV. I will add that most of the adults carried machetes and some knives in their hands or stuck in their pants and all had blood red stained mouths from chewing the betel nut. I was a little nervous (about the safety issue), excited and overwhelmed at the idea of after all these years finally coming back to the country of my birth and on my birthday. I couldn't help crying, it was a very special moment. I think I was also hoping we wouldn't get robbed or worse... Finally we came to the military post where we were supposed to wait for the PMV. About 5 guys came over to us, they were soldiers in casual dress, and asked us what we were doing. They then showed us where we could wait and said they would help us get the PMV. So for the next hour we sat with these guys and they gave us some valuable info on the country, typical foods, and told us about themselves etc.. When the PMV finally came they helped us with our bags and told the driver where to drop us and after taking pictures we all said goodbye and we would see them on the way back in August. I couldn't believe our luck. First we were driven to the border for free, then given 500K and then met some really nice locals. The hour drive to Vanimo was beautiful and just what I imagined it would be, very South Pacific. The people are also very South Pacific looking, not asian. When we arrived in Vanimo we were dropped at a hotel but when they told me they charged 215K ($70) the night, I couldn't believe it. How could they charge so much? So I told Antonio to wait with the bags and I would go and look for a cheaper place. I walked on and asked directions to a Guesthouse I was told about in the hotel. The man said "oh, okay I will take you there". It was about 20 mins up a steep hill and when we arrived he said I will wait for you and walk back with you. I looked at the rooms and finally the cheapest room they had was in a little house for 98K ($33). So we went back and I said goodbye to my new friend Joe and thanked him for showing me the way. As we started to climb the steep hill, this time with our backpacks, a truck stopped and said are you going to Visser Guesthouse. We said yes and he said it's my mom's place I will take you there. The owner was from Indonesia and married to a Dutch guy, she had 7 kids almost all adults with their own families. Earlier I had seen a birthday cake in her house and so I asked her who's birthday it was and she said "mine" and I said oh it's mine too. Later she brought us birthday cake. We spent the weekend there visiting the town and the market. Everyone was super nice, they all stopped to shake our hands and talk to us. It was hard to believe that this was a "dangerous" place. Vanimo is on a penninsula and has nice beaches on both sides but when we asked about swimming we were told that in one of the bays there was a crocodile (but they hadn't seen it for a while) and in the other there were sharks. On Sunday, Derek the guy who picked us up, invited us to his friends house for seafood and drinks. We went over to John's house, a former Australian missionary. Many people came, all from either Asia or Australia. We met an Australian couple, Molly and Aaron, who were living in Vanimo. They were so surprised to meet backpackers and told us the only foreigners living in Vanimo were either missionaries, in the logging industry or expats. They invited us to stay with them and we accepted and said on tuesdaywe would move to their place. So the rest of the week we spent in Vanimo, walking around town, visiting villages and nearby beaches with Molly. Everyone in Vanimo was so friendly and it was hard to walk on the roads because everyone would offer to give us a lift. We had to wait to get our Indonesian visas and the next flight after monday was the following friday. So we ended up spending a week in Vanimo and flying on friday to Madang. In Madang we were met at the airport by our old babysitter, Elisabeth (although I did not know it at the time). We ran some errands in town and stopped along the way in Alexishafen, a mission station and then continued 2 hours up the coast to Malala. She kept telling me this is the route "daddy" took and this is what he did. Finally when we arrived at Malala we were shown our house where we were to stay and the house behind it was the house where we lived when we were there. Our house had a big window that looked right onto the bay and we could hear the waves crashing on the beach at any hour. The sand is black because of the nearby volcano. I also saw where my mom and dad taught there classes and the well my dad built. Everyone there was really nice to us and Sr. Jane Francis, a friend of the family, was so happy to see us and asked all about the family, especially Steve. One day we were taken to some of the Manam settlements (the volcano on Manam island erupted in 2004 and the people were moved to the mainland). The kids and adults were so happy to see us and everyone wanted to take pictures. Some of the little pikininis (children in pidgen) gave us coconuts and papayas as gifts. We also took a walk along the old road, just a dirt path that runs thru local villages along the coast, and everyone came out to say "apenum" (afternoon) to us. The villages are really idyllic, just like out of a movie, with palm trees, coconuts, sandy beaches, houses on stilts, naked pikininis running around. It's really something to see. After 4 days we moved to Alexishafen which is another beautiful spot on the coast just about 25km from Madang town. >From there we went to town and visited Kranket island, a beautiful island just ten minutes from town, did some shopping at the market and ate grilled fish, grilled kaukau (sweet potatoes) and bananas from the women selling them on the waterfront. From there we took a PMV, which we got at 8 am in the market, to Goroka. The PMV's drive around in circles calling out there destination until they are full and then they leave. The problem is that there are many PMV's to the same destination and they need 15 adults, children or baby's don't count, before they leave. Our PMV drove around and around the market for 2 hours before we had 16 adults and 4 children. Finally we left at 10am drove for about 20 mins stopped at a different market where everyone got out and bought what they needed for the trip. I didn't understand why they couldn't have bought it at the market in town??? The trip to Goroka, in the highlands, took almost 7 hours and most of the road is full of huge holes and is a dirt road. Hold ups on the roads are very common but luckily we didn't have that problem. In Goroka we stayed 2 days. It is a very nice town in the market with a beautiful, colorful market. The women there also loved having there pictures taken and when I showed them the photos the laughed and shook my hand and said "Tankyu tru". Antonio bought me a piece of sugarcane, for old times sake, and the women asked if I wanted her to peel it for me and of course I said "yes". So she peeled it with her teeth!!!! Then she gave it to me and of course watched while I had to suck on the sugarcane. Another women gave me one as a gift but I told her I would peel it myself. On Monday we took a PMV 4 hours to Mt. Hagen. This time we had better luck and the PMV left with only 12 adults and 5 mins after boarding. In Mt. Hagen we were picked up by another friend, Sr. Henrilena, of the family and taken to the mission station here. We were told that there was a robbery in the morning and a shooting and that the next few days the atmosphere would be quite tense due to local elections. We found this to be true. Yesterday the police closed the town down completely, no stores were open and no one was allowed to enter. But people went anyway and there was a confrontation between 7 boys and the police and the police struck out at the boys with machetes and some were injured quite badly, severing arms and legs. They were brought to the hospital at the mission station because the general hospital was closed (who would of thought). We saw many men walking to town with their machetes and slingshots. Later on in the afternoon we heard that the losers went and burnt down the oppositions homes and their was even a shoot out. Today we went to town and there was a lot of tension. We saw a big group being chased away by the police and them pushing some others into the paddy wagon. There were police on almost every corner with machine guns too. We are staying til Saturday because there is a big cultural show that is supposed to be amazing. I really hope it is worth it. You have to be really careful of your camera, wallet and money since they have a real problem with "rascals" (young men from the villages who rob people either by force or by picking your pockets). Then we will make our way back towards Indonesia and hopefully will be able to catch our flight from Jayapura on August 19th.
Overall I am very happy that I came back to PNG and it was well worth the effort. Since we still have contacts here it is alot easier for us to move around and we hardly have to pay for housing. Otherwise PNG can be pretty dangerous, expensive and not very easy to get to. All the people we have met have been extremely friendly and I hope that is the case for the next four days. When we arrive back in Bali I will post the pictures and let you know if we made it out of PNG with everything we came with.

Sulawesi, Poso to Makassar

We have had a crazy last few days after leaving our peaceful little island. We went to the town of Poso and on the second day met a local girl, Hani. She called us over and invited us into her home to practice her english. After a while she invited us to stay with her in her house and to join them for dinner. At first we were a little aprehensive but after a while decided to stay the next night with them. She lent us her motorbike and took us to the beach and then around town. That night we had dinner with her whole family, parents, husband, son and friends. The next day she came to our hotel to make sure we were going stay at there house. We later all went to the beach together and they had brought food for us, like a picnic. Then we went back to the house, they gave us a whole house to ourselves, where we had our room a big sitting area which opened out onto the sea and a bathroom with a bucket shower. We changed and they took us to a friends "baptism", they are muslim so it isn't called that. Where we ate and then everyone at the party took turns taking pictures with us. We were the excitement of the party. Then they wanted us to sing Karaoke, but I didn't give them the priviledge of hearing my wonderful voice. Later that evening there was a concert, given by a local highschool band, where we went to have a tamarind tea. The singer dedicated a song to us and then asked us to join him on stage and sing with him. Again I declined. The next day they had bought us all these typical foods which they eat for breakfast. Then the whole family took us in the van, her dad is a local taxi driver, to the bus station and we said our goodbyes. I tried to offer to pay them something and they refused. They said they were just being hospitable and that we should tell other travelers that Poso is safe and the people are friendly. It was really an incredible experience.

After leaving we prepared ourselves mentally for the 22 hour bus ride in the front row. At first everything went well but when the drivers changed and the second driver took over, I thought I would lose it. He basically sat sideways and drove in the middle of the road. I really thought we were going to die. I covered my face for the next 12 hours and wished I was somewhere else. Remarkably we made it safely to Makassar at 6am.

There we rested for a few hours in a motel. We went to then internet cafe where I left my sun glasses in the downstairs bathroom. I realized almost 2 hours later and when I went back to ask if someone had turned them in, sure enough there they were. WOW these people never cease to amaze me, so honest.

That night we left at 3 am on a 4 hour flight to Jayapura. On the flight we met George, an Indonesian studying Rocket science in Miami, Florida. He is somewhat of a celebrity here since he was one of the first to receive a full scholorship to a US university. He has also filmed 2 commercials and has come back to talk to the kids and tell them the importance of studying english. He offered to take us to the city and help us do our visa stuff and in the end he offered for us to stay at his uncles house. Which was great since all the hotels were booked solid. His uncle is a very kind man, Pa Sa, with 3 little girls and his wife. They are both teachers and he speaks english really well. We sleep in a tiny room with a single bed and no AC or fan. But we are very grateful for their hospitality. So we have been here for 3 days now waiting for our PNG visa, the embassy was closed yesterday due to a PNG holiday. We will hopefully get it today or tomorrow and take public transport to the border and then walk across and try and arrange public transport on the other side.

Togean Islands, Sulawesi

We have just returned from 10 days in the Togean Islands, actually island. We didn't island hop as we had planned but stayed on one island for the whole time. I couldn't imagine any of the other islands being any better and it was already hard enough for me to leave after 10 days. The 3 day trip to get to the island was a nightmare but that's what deter's other tourist from going and in the end if you stay for a while it is well worth it. The boat ride was exciting, or maybe others would say dangerous, as they pile way too many people onto a rickty boat. There are two levels, both just high enough to stand up (and the average person is shorter than me) and no seats to sit down. So everyone just lays down and the smart ones bring little plastic stools to sit. We chose to sit outside at the front of the boat, I figured if it sank I would have a better chance of swimming to shore from there. We practised our poor Indonesian, thank god for the phrase book, and the indonesians practised there enlish. They are very curious and so happy to talk to you. We are immediately surround be kids and adults saying "hello mister" and it always makes for an enjoyable trip. After 4 hours we arrived in the first islands port and had to wait til they unloaded and loaded the boat again, again with way to much weight. I of course asked if there were any life jackets on board and if I could dine at the captains table, phrases form the book, which they thought quite funny. The life jacket questions wasn't meant to be funny. After 2 hours of unloading and loading we headed another hour to the next island, where Leslie, an american from california who we had been traveling with for the last 3 days, got off. We could see the island across the way and the pier where people were sitting, I thought "wow that looks great, we will come back in a few days". As we waited to load and unload a German guy and his wife got on who were leaving the island. I asked him how his stay was and he said "incredible, I came for 4 days and stayed 4 weeks". I asked if he had ever visisted Melenge (where we were headed) and he said yes. I then asked which he thought was better and he said " this island". I immediately jumped up and yelled to Antonio "get the backpacks". I jumped off the boat and ran over to where Leslie and the guys from the Fadidirah cottages (name of hotel on the island) were getting ready to leave, and yelled "wait for us". Best decision we could have made.

We were given a bungalow on the beach with a nice porch with a hammock, tables and chairs. The inside had a big bed with a mosquito net, a headboard (very rare), a dresser and a shelf. The bathroom was outside, open air and was a bucket shower, where we were brouht fresh water 2 or 3 times daily. We had electricity after 6pm until we went to bed, usually not more than 3 hours. The price was 9 euros or 11 dollars daily per person with 3 meals a day included. When we arrived there was a swiss guy, francois, and a retired australian Tony staying there. So all together we were 5 tourists on the island. The people who worked there were very friendly and really did there best to interact and talk with you. Tony was a dive instructor and offered his services for free, a refresher diving course, all we had to do was pay 10 dollars for each tank. So the first day Francois, Leslie and Antonio and I went to a Bajo village, gypsy fisherman, who live on the water. The villages was about 2 hours away and we passed thru mangroves to get there, where I think I saw crocodile. The gypsy's homes are built on stilts and they have one walk way connecting all the houses. Once we got to the village we were immidately engulfed by children all walking next to us, touching us and trying to talk to us. We walked thru the village talking to the locals, visiting the market, stopping for a coffee in someones house and buying fresh caught tunas for our lunch. Then the children showed us there school and sang us songs. The chanted " Bule masuk Kampung", the white people have come to the village, learned from a show on Tv. We had given some money to Saiful, our guide and boatman, to buy some notebooks and pencils and after our visit on the jetty he passed them out. It was crazy. The kids were all screaming and then after receiving there books each one came over and thanked us personally. It was really an amazing experience. On the way back it started to rain really hard so we stopped at a near by island where we were given shelter in someones home and tea and coffee. That afternoon we snorkled around the island, which had some really nice coral and a good amount of fish. The next morning Tony did our refresher course and we were in the water by noon. After about an hour of swimming around I decided, which I already knew, that scuba diving was not for me and got out of the water. I wanted to try again but I really perfer to snorkel. So the next day Antonio, Leslie, Tony and I went out on the boat to a nearby reef and they went diving and I went snorkeling. The reefs here are amazing, Tony said they were world class, and although they said there weren't too many fish I was impressed. In fact we saw dolphins swimming at a distance. I had never seen coral that colorful and diverse and I was really impressed. So for the next few days we dived and snorkeled in the morning and read and studied Indonesian in the afternoon. My only complaint was that the food wasn't very varied and we were given egg at almost every meal. Not my favorite food. It rained about half the time but that wasn't too big of a deal since it was warm. The only bad thing was the mosquitos who seemed immune to the mosquit repelent, spray and coils.

We decided to come back yesterday to Poso, 6 hours by boat plus 5 by car, an arrange transport back to makassar from here. Luckily we came early enough as all the busses are full til Sunday and our plane leaves Tuesday at 3 am and it is a 24 hour bus ride. Today when we went to buy the ticket the only 2 seats left were the last 2 on a non AC bus, UUGGGHH. We thought about it and checked our options and finally went back an hour later. As we sat preparing to buy our tickets someone called and cancelled the front 2 seats for Sunday. I thought Antonio was going to kiss the woman. So we will spend an extra day here, which isn't so bad. The people are really nice and I think we are the only tourists here. About 5 years ago there was major conflict in the area and some foreigners were killed and 4 little girls beheaded. So as you can imagine tourists are weary about coming here. But now it is safe and they are super excited and happy to see tourists in there town.

On tuesday we fly to Jayapura and hopefully in the same week will get our visas for Paupa New Guinea and if we are lucky may make it over the border for July 25, my birthday. How exciting.

Tana Toraja, Sulawesi

In the last week we have experienced the fascinating culture of the Tana Toraja people from central Sulawesi. They are most known for their funeral ceremonies, and now I know why. The Torajan's celebrate most of their funerals in July and August. That doesn't mean that everyone dies in those two months but means that's when they have the ceremony and burial of the deceased. When the person dies the family gets together and decides when they want to bury their loved one. So until they decide the date they mummify the body and put it in a special room in thier house with them. Some keep the body for months and others for years. They believe that until the body is buried it is still alive and the spirit is still there. They give it water and food and other offerings. The funeral ceremonies are held in July and August because it is vacation time and it is when they harvest the rice, and since they serve allot of this at the funeral they wouldn't have to buy it in the market. The ceremonies are various days long, depending on the importance of the person and how many guests will be invited. The first day is a procession day where they carry the body all thru the village and the surrounding areas. The second day the receiving day, when they receive their guests. And the third day the burial day. But if there are many guests sometimes they need more than one receiving day and they also plan other activities such as buffalo fights. The guests usually give live pigs as gifts and if they are very close they give a buffalo. This is a very expensive gift and if the buffalo is light skinned, blue eyes and with big horns it could cost as much as a car. They have open bamboo platformed houses made so that the guests can sit and watch all the activities. They are served coffee, tea and snacks by the family. Each group of guests is announced and filed in by the immediate family, who is dressed in their traditional dress, and sat in a special receiving house during which time all their gifts, mostly pigs and some buffaloes, are brought out into the open middle area and the master of ceremony announces who gave what so that the family knows exactly which pig is from which village or family. The pigs are tied on bamboo posts and the morning of the ceremony we saw pigs in the back of pickups, on the back of motorbikes, on the side of the road, in the back of cars etc. The ceremony we attended they must have been given over 100 pigs as gifts. During the ceremony, out back, they slaughter the pig by driving a knife into it's heart. It lasts all of about 1 min and there isn't much blood. Then they remove the stomach and insides and throw it whole on the fire. On a different day they slaughter the buffaloes. These they slaughter in the main area with everyone watching. There is one man and he cuts the buffaloes throat, the buffalo spins around and pretty much bleeds to death. Then they skin it and cut it into pieces. They can slaughter over 20 in one day. The meat is served to the guests during the funeral days and the rest is sold to restaurants.
Later we went and visited some of the grave areas. They bury their dead in family graves in caves, or rocks and children are buried in trees since they believe the trees and childs life is tied together and the child will grow with the tree. One of the cave graves we saw had many coffins lying around the front, the richer people hang the coffins from the top of the cave but the ropes or rock has given way and most of the coffins were broken and on the ground. You can see many skulls and bones lying around. The upper class or important people are buried high up in the cave and at the base have a wood statue that is made to look just like them.
The torajan's have houses with roofs that look like an upside down boat or to me the horns of a buffalo. The roofs are red and the house is made of wood and is built on stilts. They have replica ones that are smaller for the grain. The area is full of rice fields, coffee plantations, cacao plantations. The green rice fields are speckled with big black boulders from the nearby volcano. It is quite a site to see. We took a hired car from town to take us up to the countryside to hike thru the villages. The mini van that we hired looked like at one time it had been in a fire, then rolled down into the river to be put out and sat there until our driver fished it out and fixed the engine. It was full of mosquitoes and I wasn't quite sure how it was held together. Antonio asked if there was AC and our guide laughed and said that that car was considered in good condition and was a good car. The people here are very nice and have a great sense of humor. As we walked thru the small villages the children called to us asking for candy and the older ones saying "hello mister". They haven't learned to say misses yet.
Tomorrow we leave for a 14 hour bus ride, not to excited about that. And then another 5 the next day to a town called Ampana where we will catch a boat to the Togian Islands. There is supposed to be great snorkeling there with some interesting marine life, reef sharks, turtles etc. We will spend the next 2 weeks island hopping and looking for the perfect beach. I don't think I will access to internet until the 3rd week of July.