PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Madang, Papua New Guinea 27 FEB 11

Hot, humid, heavenly and happy is this small village on one of the most mysterious islands in the world. Today being my 67th birthday, I feel a certain entitlement. To look at this place from the upper deck of the ship as we arrived in the rain, one would have to ask why the ship would call at such a forlorn and barren place. The tallest building is a quonset hut having seen better days, the dock area is absolutely barren and the streets are dirt and completely potholed. However, there is more than meets the eye. Culturally rich but economically poor, what is lacking in infrastructure is more than made up for with personality. While the locals may not have much, their clothing, appearance and demeanor are positive. They are friendly, very respectful and always smile. Of course by smiling they reveal the red teeth that are the result of their diet of betel nuts.

Occupied by Japan in WWII, there are said to be the remains of 37 Japanese war ships in the local waters. The people are Melanesian, the darkest skinned of the three island groups including Micronesia and Polynesia. We arrived around noon and waited until 1:30 to debark as the rain was very heavy. We got off the ship, opened our supplied umbrellas, walked 20 yards and the rain stopped, never to return during our visit. We toured the whole town in about an hour, mostly looking for a grocery store but being a Sunday, none were open. The most impressive thing was the people. EVERYONE we passed said “Hello” and smiled. Gina brought off chocolates (our evening pillow gifts, never eaten but always saved for just such occasions) choosing carefully which young people to bestow the gift upon. Every single child , or their parent, said thank you! There was no begging and the vendors were not aggressive as in the West Africa ports of which we were reminded.

Papua New Guinea has always been a place to which I never thought I would travel. Only 15% of the population lives in the urban areas, which would describe Madang, even though by our standards it is only a village. The rest of the island, shared with Indonesia in a similar manner to Dominican Republic and Haiti, is defined by the tribes that live in the mountain communities, the river people who live in stilted villages and the deep-sea fisherman who live on the coastal islands.

The sailaway in the dark was particularly enjoyable as the local inhabitants did everything they could to “say goodbye” from singing , howling and flashing headlights to beeping horns. A thoroughly enjoyable day.

BTW – last three weigh-ins – 205.6, 206.3 and 207.0 I can only use the scale when we are in port as the motion of the ocean wreaks havoc with the proper numbers. I seem to have reached a plateau and it will probably be very difficult to lose more, even with my self-imposed ice cream for lunch ban.