Goroka Eco Trek DAY 3

Here is where i slept, with all these folk and and Sam and Kevin, on the traditional sleeping platform. We had sweet potato for breakfast, with a great helping of broad beans. We  bagged some sweet potato for later. Water was boiled then allowed to cool before pouring  into my plastic bottle. I tested my foot and the swelling did not effect my shoe, so i gave balloons to kids and decided to go on. I slept quite well after making it known i was a mountain man myself and didn't need fires at night, same with lights. But Kevin didnt sleep well. He had toothache. I told him about my ankle and we split some panadol.

Boomai (L) shows us around

The way out of the village was more of a track, not so much a jungle footpath. It still went up for impossible distances then down down... but it was evident that a vehicle had passed this way, but a long time ago. At the bottom of one valley we passed a broken down Toyota Hilux, one of my favorite trucks. Latter i spied a stick planted by the road with a big knot of palm leaves looking like a head. A warning to trucks i was told, go back.

 Then out of jungle to magnificent views. And the pmv stop. People may have walked prodigious distances to be here, to get a ride into Goroka town . Everyone looks down into the valley. Great views are magnetic. We part with Mr Boomai but only after promising i would remember his name and call it loudly when i next visited his village. We walk on. I note that Sam And Kevin dont require water as much as me. They think whites drink more water too. Mind you i sweat more than they do. We set off after lunch and the walking is easy. I ignore my ankle. Sam gets FM working on his nokia and shares some classic rock.

 This is the home of Gilbert and Jessica. It is in Firuri and I was the first to stay here for two nights and the first Australian traveler through! This house has a louver window opposite the door for ventilation, most unusual. But then Gilbert is an innovator and mechanical whiz. Jessica says it is a gift from god. Gilbert has a fish farm fed water from a stream, he hand dug huge pools, now full of carp. He has rigged up a cold water shower and is now planning a hot water system. But best of all he constructed the guesthouse. And to the guesthouse was brought a huge plastic bucket of hot water and i washed ladle style. Heaven. The water ran through the mesh floor.

The guesthouse.

Scattered around the guesthouse were various traditional artifacts, a drum, some spears and the wings of an owl. Gilbert had killed the owl a couple of weeks before with a slingshot. He was said to be a very good hunter. The guest house had been built on the suggestion of Sam, as part of Sam's planned Eco Trek.

Gilbert had built it against advice from many in the village. No tourists will come they said. But he went ahead and the first tourist that came broke down in tears a little way before the village. Gilbert had to carry this guy over a stream and up to the guesthouse. Poor Gilbert i said, even you must have had doubts then! Gilbert is 4 square church and doesn't drink but didn't mind us hitting the WildMan after dinner. We went down to the family home and Jessica cooked a fine meal of sweet potato and rice.

Story time was just us and the family. Unlike previous nights nobody dropped over. Jessica is a Registered Nurse and attended university in Port Moresby. She has a clinic with no panadol and teaches family planning. She delivers babies and has no amoxicillin when pneumonia sets in. What a huge bride price, Gilbert! He grinned.

These aint toys, i almost killed someone with one of these.