DHL

At work that last few days I have been working in the Parts room as a Systems Engineer. Or at least that's what I like to call it. I have been writing a lot of little programs on the computer and working with the store guys to streamline the parts management. It has been a blast. I have also become an honorary DHL employee. They run a DHL distribution center out of the hangar which has proved very advantageous to getting shipments in and out of the country more reliably. While it has its own paperwork and logistic headaches, it makes keeping parts for the fleet much more viable. Mr. O and I have a blast working together to keep things running smooth.

Getting to work

Most of the time I take the van to work. Today I got to travel in style with Dan. The road to work is a bumpy mile stretch usually filled with pedestrians. It is sort of a horizontal pedestrian slalom course.

On Top

We made it over the pass and the sun poked through the clouds filling up Ramu valley below us. It was amazing to see the road snaking down the hill to the valley floor. We were very grateful to have made the trip and to have done so safely.

Pot Hole

This was worth a picture. I tried to get Craig to stop next to it but the rest of the passengers would not hear of it. He pulled a little ahead as a compromise and let me get a picture. Down the hole is a cliff dropping away into jungle 1000 feet or so below. You can better appreciate the drop from the next picture.

Ramu

The Ramu valley was spectacular. If you look at a map of PNG, it is the large valley on the north side of the country between the mountains on the coast and the highlands in the middle. Much of the valley is filling up with palm plantations. It was a beautiful place.

Car Wash

We thought about stopping at this car wash but it looked a little busy. You wash cars just like everything else here. Take it down to the river and scrub it.

Buai Market

On the way home we stopped back by the Campbell's POC village to see their market. It consisted mostly of Buai or Beetle Nut. If it was not a narcotic and rotted your teeth, I am sure that it would be really great. Unfortunately, many people here are addicted to it.

Sun - Rain - Sun - Rain

...and then it rained. It does that a lot around here I have noticed. Fortunately, it always clears up again too. Bob and I swam out around the dock in the pouring rain. It was a blast and we didn't even have to shower off the salt water when we got out.

Monkeys

These kids were having a blast climbing high into this tree and flinging themselves out into the water. It looked like fun until this kid went in sideways. I didn't envy the landing.

Snorkeling

Well, you can't go to the ocean in the south pacific without a swim. The water was amazing. Under that dock is a Cessna 210 and it made a great artificial reef. All around it was all sorts of amazing coral. We even found Nemo.

Bats

There were lots of them. I wish I had the time to go out and take lots of pictures of them. All day they would hang from the tops of the trees and fan themselves to keep cool. At dusk and dawn they would literally fill the sky as they set out for the night to find fruit to eat. Many of them had 6 foot wing spans and could even soar for short periods of time. They were spectacular to watch.

Market

In town we visited the market and explored all the fish, artifacts and produce. It was a very large market and it was fun to see all that the people where selling.

Duke

We were greeted at the guest house by Duke. He was a really friendly dog, which is not a desirable characteristic when it comes to guarding. Just two days before we arrived, the managers of the guest house where held up a knife point in town. We were pretty cautious when we went into town.

Madang

Eventually we arrived in Madang. We stayed at the SIL guest house which is near the water and just a little out of town. Madang has a rich history and if you have time for a good read, check out The Coast Watchers. It is about a few GI's in WWII who where trapped here under Japanese occupation warned the allies of enemy attacks. There is a memorial lighthouse dedicated to those men in the center of town.

Big Fern

I love the plants here. It reminds me of the tropical exhibits that my mom and I would visit at the flower and garden show. I am bummed that I am going to miss it this year, but it is pretty neat to see the real thing. Those ferns are big.

Red Vines

On the way down we stopped at the village where the Campbell's recently did their POC (Pacific Oreintation Course). They spent 5 weeks living in this small village. All the people there were very happy to see them. Many of the kids had enjoyed plenty of green vines out in the jungle, but they were a little hesitant to try Stephanies red vines. After a few licks I think they started to like them. :)

Aids

Along the way I saw this sign. Aids is becoming a huge problem in this country. It is spreading very rapidly and some are predicting that in 10 years more than half the country will be infected. SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) is working hard to provide literature to educate the people how to protect themselves. SIL has the unique opportunity to be able to translate small informational books into many languages and make them available to the people. This not only fights aids, but encourages literacy and provides one more opportunity to get God's word into the peoples hands. If you want to know more about aids or what is being done to fight it here let me know and I can send you stats and some of the little books in english.

Ford

We got a real kick out of the road. To be fair it is not all gravel and potholes, well, most of it is. However, here is a nice paved section with a river flowing over it. Now might also be a good time to point out that this is the main road in Papua New Guinea connecting two of the biggest cities in the country.

Freeway (I-5 if you like)

This last weekend we had the priveledge of seeing more of the country with the Campbells and the Boogaards. It was also a mini vacation of sorts to celebrate our time here in PNG being half over. I (Ian) also managed to be sick for most of it. Nevertheless, we had a blast and really enjoyed seeing the north coast of the country, meeting people, and taking pictures. Here are a few.

A different perspective

I don't have a picture for this story. However, it was an interesting experience and worth noting. Yesterday after work I was heading out to the bus that takes us from the airport back to Ukarumpa and I noticed that one of the carts we use to carry luggage to and from the planes was outside the fence near the bus. Normally, they are put away at the end of the day. As I got closer to the bus I realized that the cart had a casket on it and a national man was standing close beside it. I learned from one of my coworkers that the man's wife had died and he was trying to find transportation to her village to bury her. It is our policy not to keep bodies in our buildings overnight for sanitary reasons as well as cultural problems that have occur ed in the past. There is a lot of cultural implications surrounding death here that I do not fully understand. However, it is always an expensive affair and lots of family members and friends are involved. We could not offer any financial assistance but one of our national employees at aviation offered to allow the man to spend the night at his house and bring his wife. My coworker and I volunteered to transport them to the house a few kilometers away. The truck quickly filled up with about 20 people and we began the drive. The drive was eventful with deep mud, very small narrow "bridges" made of various sized logs spaced roughly tire width apart. We were pretty nervous about getting stuck as well as losing some of our passengers including the casket as we four wheeled along the small jungle road. Eventually we made it and the man was grateful for our help. Even so, he has a long road ahead of him to find money to get to his wife's village and make the journey. The people here have difficult lives.