Shortly after 8 we were escorted down a hidden stairway to deck 3 where we boarded the first tender of the day. A short 20 minute ride later we were on shore and greeted by native drummers and dancers. We found our guide, Mary, and driver, Edward and the 4x4 Toyota LandCruiser that would be our beast of burden for the day. In these vehicles I should add that except for the left front seat, all of the passenger seating is in the covered pickup bed on lengthwise running benches. Every bump is immediately transmitted to one's spine!! But what adventure would be good without a 3 hour bone jarring ride?
Mary was from Port Moresby the capital city and we chatted throughout the journey. Did I mention it was bone jarring as we drove up and over the mountain range on our way to Angoram located on the Sepic River which is about the 110th largest river in the world. At the meeting point on the River we were met by a local guide and we had to do an adjustment to our schedule now that we knew it was nearly 3 hours to get back to the ship.
The 6 of us and our two guides boarded the banana boat (named for its narrow long shape) and we headed up the Sepic River. The river is pretty muddy and has lots of debris floating down the river. Our driver skillfully guided us up the river past numerous houses built on stilts, many birds, fishing nets, and an overall very primitive culture. At the turn around point there was a large village on stilts with crops growing on floating rafts, pigs on rafts, and lots of people waving to us. Many of the younger children were buck naked. Seeing the village and the way of life was a total highlight of the trip. We were in a totally primitive society with the only reminders that this is the 21st Century with the occasional outboard motor and western clothing.
Back at the docking point, we enjoyed some watermelon and headed back. About halfway to the dock we were coming down a steep hill and a PMV (Public Motor Vehicle - essentially about a 2 ton flat bed truck with a tarp roof and bench seats running the 20 foot length of the bed) appeared to lose traction or have brake failure and started rolling backwards. The driver cramped the steering wheel to the right and the truck went up on the left side tires before slamming the rear of the PMV into the bank ejecting the rearmost passengers. We stopped but could render no assistance. We continued on for a few kilometers and reported the incident to the construction crew who headed back along with three more packed PMV's to render assistance. It was totally surreal to have this happen in front of us. For about a half an hour even our driver temporarily reduced his speed, but eventually he was back up to his typical fast driving which led to some pretty sharp jarring in the back seating area.
We made it back to the port area by 3:50pm where there were lots of locals hanging out. Unfortunately they didn't have any money changers so we couldn't purchase anything but we walked around a bit and caught the next to last tender.
Back onboard we cooled off with showers, watched the retrieval of the starboard side tenders, ate a leisurely Lido dinner and then attended John Shively's 6:30pm lecture on PT-109 (JFK's boat that was sunk in WWII) and both main stage shows by Colleen Williamson. She's probably the best female singer we've seen on a ship. If not, she's in the top 3.
Tomorrow in Madang, PNG is planned for something totally different. Stay tuned. And I'll leave you with a few pictures from today. I have many, many more.
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