To Mount Hagen

 

 

July 8,  2014 

 

Up at 5 a.m. for the drive back to the airport ...

Shiva checked us into our Air Niugini flight....

... while Sebastian demonstrated his skill at taking photos from unexpected angles.

The weather was overcast,  as it often is, but, once we took off, we did see the peaks of the Owen Stanley Range that runs like a spine from southeast to northwest.  In colonial times these mountains marked the boundary between Papua and the Territory of New Guinea.

The sun was shining when we landed in Mount Hagen ....

 July 8, 2014 9:42 a.m.     VJ_DSCF0476

....  and by the time we walked across the tarmac of the airport our luggage was already being delivered to baggage claim.

Again, friends of Alicia and Sebastian were meeting us.  This time it was Danny's family.  His little nephew was eager to help take my suitcase to their van.

Somehow we all piled in.

 

There were three stops on the way to Danny's house.  The first stop was the Poroman Hotel where Shiva, Alvilda and I  dropped off our bags.  We had planned to stay there while the WTYSL team stayed with Danny's family.  

 

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Danny waited in the hotel lobby while we took our luggage to our room.

 

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Next,  Alicia and Seb called for a stop at one of the many roadside stands.  They felt it was high time for us to be introduced to betel nut, a pleasant stimulant that they had enjoyed using on their previous trip.  In their experience, it had proven to be a good way to be accepted by local people.

 

I was, however,  skeptical:  when I had been in the Simbai Valley in the past,  this particular habit had not yet been part of Maring culture.  

 

I was much more enthusiastic about the peanuts that were still attached to their stems......

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.....and the fresh vegetables.

 

The third stop was a Digicel store.  This was the place to top up cell phones.

I was the only person in the group without a cell phone.  Though I had been working with computers since 1984,  and was used to cordless phones, I really had no idea, even in 2014, of the multiple possibilities offered by cell phones. I wondered why they would be useful in PNG where, so far, my recent communication had been via email.  As soon as Sebastian had gotten his cell phone charged up, he turned his attention to the little screen.  I was astonished to see that he was reading the most recent edition of the Swedish daily newspaper!

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