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Greetings from Wewak, Papua New Guinea ! Our 14 hour flight from LA to Brisbane was fantastic, Virgin Australia on a 777 in Business Class lie flat beds - excellent service and a very smooth flight. Immigration into Australia was a breeze, and some layover time before the connecting 3 hour flight into Port Moresby Papua New Guinea. All together, 17 hours in the air and several hours in airports, and here we are ! We spent the night at a great hotel in Port Moresby, just to get acclimated, relax a bit , and get ready for the adventure to come - and a 3 hour series of massage treatments in their spa facility helped smooth out all of the travel wrinkles. On a side note, this blog site doesn't embed the photos the way I prefer, but you can easily click on the photo album to the right, or on the "photos" tab and see the various photo albums. A video production will be coming in about 1 week after our Goroka Cultural Show adventure.
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED
After hearing this phrase "Expect the Unexpected" a few times in just a couple days, it seems to be the underlying theme here in PNG. The fun begins for our domestic short-haul flight over to Wewak, PNG on the ever favorite Air Niugini. Once again, as experienced 3 years ago, upon check-in 2 hours early for this flight booked 9 months ago, they inform me that we are on stand-by and can't be issued boarding passes yet. "just wait an hour, and we'll be able to issue the boarding passes then" With my futile attempts at reasoning with them, I tried to nail down the reason that my seat was given up spontaneously, explaining that my booking was made 9 months prior. But the only PNG conclusion to be drawn was I should "Expect the Unexpected", wait the hour, and hope that we don't get bumped from this flight that only operates once per day. All worked out, and onwards to Wewak.
While on that Virgin Australia flight, Rosanna was cautioned to be careful over there in PNG, as women are not treated well at all. And of course, right away we see the classic display of this affection toward women while boarding. Next to us we see a local man with his boarding pass, signaling to his wife, but apparently she isn't following quickly enough. With her about 6 feet away, he throws her boarding pass on the ground for her to drop down and pick up ! With the other westerners like us watching with jaws dropped open, I told Rosanna that I'm going to try that one on her to see how hard she really can hit me in the head.
THE DEATH MARCH
From Wewak, our next trek involved a 4.5 hour bus ride to Pagwi, where we would get into our dugout canoe for a 1.5 hour trip downriver. Keeping in mind that carjackings are a problem around PNG, the guide explained that one of the guys on our bus is dressed in a fake police uniform, just in case a deterrent is needed, but nothing to worry about -- uh huh, ok, yeah. What we did not know was that the roads were filled with potholes galore, twisting and turning roads, uphill downhill, for 4.5 hours . . . oh boy ! ! Now, the open window where Rosanna was seated certainly gave some views for the long ride, but was immensely helpful for the 2 rounds of projectile vomiting she experienced from motion sickness during this Death March to Pagwi. The bus stopped both politely and promptly, and she got cleaned up, but not looking or feeling well at all. Unfortunately, the motion sickness and aftermath during our Death March kind of did her in, and created a migraine that kicked in the following morning. She's not feeling the PNG love at this point, trying her best by all means. Vertigo from the migraine kept her laying down most of the entire first day in the muggy heat, drenched in sweat under a mosquito net in the village with no electricity and the wonderful pit toilets. Maybe one of these setbacks affected her time in PNG thus far, it's hard to say !
EXTRACTION MISSION and THE HIGHWAY TO HELL
We've spent 2 full days and evenings at Kanganaman Village, and also made a trip over to Kimindibit Village. The people were wonderful with us, and she did get to spend a little time here and there with the people and spirit houses, but the migraine just wasn't getting better and suffering in those conditions of muggy heat, mosquitos in full force at times, and not being able to get relief by jumping in the river - this is not fun for her, and I need to get her extracted. Now, I'm fast forwarding a little bit, and there were indeed some cool things that I/we experienced, and I'll share those shortly. But onto the extraction mission . . . Discussions all made with the parties and phone calls made to mainland to send a driver down to Pagwi -- time to arrange the 1.5 hour canoe trek upriver, all of the belongings packed and loaded. We said our farewells to all of the very pleasant Village People, including our guide Shane, "goodbye my friend", and "Young Man, there's no need to feel down". She's feeling some light at the end of the tunnel, knowing that it will be a matter of time now to be back in civilization and some air conditioning. But not quite yet . . . first, there's the Highway to Hell. No slow Death March this time in a 20 passenger bus. No, this time we're in a 4x4 Toyota, both of us crammed in the front seat with the local driver high on betel nut, local guys in the back, and game is on. This guy is on a mission from god, balls to the wall, white knuckles, both of us holding onto the dash handlebar, literally 4x4'ing for 4 hours straight. Swerving, bouncing, dodging pot holes, stray dogs, kids and adults on the roads, no seat belts, speed up & brake hard into the potholes, going 45-55 mph on this 1.5 lane Highway to Hell into the dark hours. But we're definitely ok if anyone tries to hold us at gunpoint, remember, we have the guy dressed up in police costume, red teeth and dripping from betel nut, so I'm not concerned at all ! Rosanna is focused on keeping her eyes straight ahead and fight off that motion sickness, and she survived. We somehow both arrived in Wewak, and can say we traveled both the Death March and the Highway to Hell. Yes, this is Papua New Guinea, and "Expect the Unexpected" - Got it !
Couldn't get out of Wewak fast enough, and Air Niugini created more adventure for me in this s***hole of a 1 room airport. I'll spare the details and I certainly wouldn't want to complain at this point ! But a scene ensued in Wewak airport with me at the center and a whole lot of locals watching, with arguing and raised voices and thank goodness for the help from some Czech foreigners that saved me and got us on that only flight back to Port Moresby. Back to luxury at our favorite PNG hotel, for now. . . . Be on the lookout for the next story coming up, with the actual cool and interesting things we discovered at Sepik River & Kanganaman -- yes, there were actually some good things that came out of this turbulent beginning to the adventure. Cheers for now !
- comments
Nick Thanks for the warning, I will make sure Wewak is crossed off my list of places to visit. Fiji, Loreto up next for me. Nick
Heidi This is sad, yet hilarious. I hope Rosanna is feeling better. Can't wait for the next one.
Judy (mom) And u spent a lot of money for such abuse! What made u think a “city girl” would love that horrible place! Well ,hope the rest of the journey is much better. God bless. Love
Bob (Dad) Let’s hope that the worse is over and the adventure improves. Have fun & enjoy.
Alasdair Thomson And you're still married??! That woman has the patience of an angel...
Sandy Glad to hear that you guys are safe now. Hope Rosanna is feeling better. Happy Anniversary .