Adventures in Papua- Day 7- Down the Mountain

The third night with no “spongy sponge” was probably the worst for all of us. Sally ended up getting sick around midnight and somehow managed to find her way out of her mosquito net and to the bathroom before it was too late. Some of the residents saw the event and determined it must be because she was cold, so then she was asked/forced to sit next to the fire for the next 30 or so minutes. Leah, unaware of Sally’s situation, also made a trip to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The only reason I know this is because I was under the same mosquito net as her and sharing the same bed as her… the mosquito net she pulled on and ripped down one of the corners from and the bed she STOMPED on to make her way back into bed. Then, about 6 am, Steph had a dream in which Sally announced to everyone that it was already 8:30, the time when they were supposed to be packed, dressed and at breakfast. Needless to say, Steph had plenty of time to get ready, and the other girls were wide awake by the time dad came in at 7 to wake us up!

After breakfast and saying our good-byes to the people at our home, our trek down the mountain began. It started with a 20 minute hike UP the mountain to get to the outskirts of the village. From here, we piled all of our bags into the truck (remember, there’s only one on this side of the landslide!), along with the people in our group who had an international flight to catch the next day. Just in WHATEVER off chance some of us didn’t make it down the mountain today to catch a flight back to Sentani, we needed to make sure it wasn’t the people whom it would affect the most! Since the bags took up half the truck, only the “internationals” (as they became known) could fit, along with Mom (in charge of getting them on their next few flights), Larry (in charge of getting them their bags of stuff they had left at the bottom of the mountain), and Sally (who sat in the cab of the truck, for obvious reasons!).

The rest of started walking… and walking… and walking. The plan was for the truck to come back and meet us Waceks wherever we managed to hike to, take us to the landslide and then go back and do a third trip to pick up the Joneses. So, despite rumors that we were hiking DOWN a mountain today, it turns out that first you have to hike UP to the peak and then go down the rest of the way. As luck would have it, after hiking for approximately 1.5 hours (3 miles) with only one orange, 2 bottles of water and 2 coconuts between the 5 of us (plus about 8 Papuans), we saw the truck and all cheered. Unfortunately, it was low on gas and had to continue on all the way back to the village to fill up. Not wanting all of our hard work to be in vain, we said we’d continue walking until it could come back for us.

By now our legs were sore and our water supply had run out. Wanting to regain our momentum, one of the Papuans suggested that he go fill up our water bottle with fresh water from a mountain stream. Thinking about cold, fresh water (and probably not using our better judgment!), we agreed and literally 2 minutes later he was back with a full water. As soon as he handed it to Dad and Dad commented on how cold it was, one of the Papuans who was walking with us said, “Kulkas Alam” (“Natural Refrigerator”). We all chuckled at the ‘joke,’ but it apparently hit this man’s funny bone because he full-out laughed for about 3 minutes and proceeded to shake each of our hands and repeat the joke about 15 times. Now, it’s important to note that this man’s nickname by this point in the trip was “Duke.” Not in the royalty kind of way, more in the “Daisy Dukes” sort of way, because of the shorts he was wearing. Duke (later referred to as Daffy Duke thanks to mom’s unfamiliarity with Disney characters) had been following us since Dedication #1 (4 days prior!) and was not about to let us out of his sight until he could help it. He even commented to Molly that “I slept by the side of the road last night so that I wouldn’t miss you all leaving!”

But, I digress. The water tasted just as good as it sounded and we were ready to continue on. We hiked another 3 miles, taking occasional breaks to listen to Duke do bird calls, rest our legs, take pictures, and finally for Molly and Leah to go to the bathroom. No sooner had they pulled their pants back up then the truck came barreling up the road, with the bed full of the Jones family, their luggage, and a handful of Papuans! Thankfully, through some rearranging and Molly’s baby knees, we were able to all squeeze in for a quick drive down the mountain. (Please note that on the hike TO the village, we hiked UP to the mountain peak before getting picked up by the truck. Then, hiking FROM the village, we hiked UP to the mountain peak before getting picked up by the truck…. What is wrong with this picture?!)

We got to the point of the landslide in no time and thankfully beat the rain. We grabbed some walking sticks and started our way down. It went relatively quickly and before we knew it we were safe and sound at the other truck where Papuans were waiting for us with fresh bananas and sweet potato chips. After a photo shoot of the boys on top of the truck (as soon as the pictures were done, the Papuans made them climb down… probably for the best because we likely would have capsized otherwise!), we climbed in and took off.

Shortly after we took this POSED picture, they made the boys climb down... oops! :)

The trip was relatively uneventful except for one episode where the Papuan sitting on the floor of the truck at the very back dropped the gas can she was holding. We stopped, picked it up and arranged it more securely in the middle of the truck. Since her hands were now free, another lady handed Larry to her, a baby with WAY more energy than I’ve ever seen! (When we first got in and dad saw the baby squirming, he said, “Wow. Larry’s really active!” At that point, Leah didn’t know that that was the baby’s name and thought he was referring to Mr. Jones! J) As soon as she handed the baby over, Ethan commented, “Yeah, that’s a good idea. She just dropped a gas can off the end of the truck, now let’s hand her an active baby!” No babies were harmed and we made it to the bottom of the mountain without any problems.

From here, the Waceks continued on to the Serui airport and got there just as the planes were about to board. It just so happened that our weights worked out and we were able to all ride in the same tiny airplane together. It was a short, beautiful flight and a lot of us slept most of the way. Since our plane was the smaller, lower-flying one, the plane that took off after us (with the Internationals on it) was actually waiting for us when we arrived in Sentani. We all headed to the guest houses, got showered up (it had been 3 days since any of us had done so, and it felt REALLLL good!), and then headed over to a highly recommended pizza place called Papa Ron’s. We had been living off of 3-meals a day of vegetables, rice, and noodles, so we were all looking forward to some “American” food.

Sally was still not feeling 100%, so she decided to stay behind and the rest of us made our way over. On the way, something started to disagree with Steph’s stomach, but she made no complaints. After ordering, we decided to pray for the food so we could eat when it arrived, and no sooner had Will said “Dear Lord,” then Steph bolted out of the restaurant, through the mall, and into the bathroom to throw up. Nurse Molly came to her rescue and got her all cleaned up so she could go back to the restaurant. With no interest in eating, Steph laid down on the bench of a booth and watched everyone enjoy their yummy pizza. About halfway through the meal, dad was up walking around, made eye contact with her, smiled and then sat down. Upon questioning him later about why he hadn’t come and consoled her, we found out that he and mom were unaware that she had thrown up and he said, “I thought it was weird that you were laying down, but you’re kind of weird, so I didn’t think anything of it.” He was so clueless in fact that when Molly was trying to come help me, she went to ask dad where the bathroom was and he motioned to my empty seat and said, “Ask Steph, she knows.” What?!

We made it through dinner with no more incidences and quickly got back to the guesthouse. While everyone else was hanging out in the living room (including Sally who was now feeling much better), Steph went to lay down on Mom and Dad’s bed, since her bed was at a different guest house. As soon as her head hit the pillow, though, she felt another urge and again ran to the bathroom. Apparently, low blood pressure is a common problem with women in my family and so standing up and puking is highly advised against. Unfortunately, I was not told these two pieces of information beforehand, and so before anyone knew what was happening (or at least before I did!), I was waking up on the tile floor surrounded by concerned faces. Falling off a six-inch step onto an unforgiving tile floor is not necessarily how I planned to spend my last night in Papua, but with the medical expertise of Dr. T and the tender loving care of Mom, Molly and Leah, it was manageable. (Notice, I did not say the TLC of dad, who walked into the bedroom where Steph was being tended, pulled the chair out from the desk as if to sit at her bedside and tend to her, but then proceeded to carry the chair out to the living room while saying, “Sorry, Steph. We have guests,” on his way out!) I did not throw up anymore and was able to walk away with just a severely bruised elbow and possibly a minor concussion. After crying over every little detail for about 20 minutes (like Mom offering me Indonesian Peanut M&Ms called Cha-Chas), I got some Pocari Sweat in me and eventually drifted off to sleep. The others partied for a little while longer (all of my commotion ruined their attempt at playing FishBowl Charades… sorry guys!) and then headed for bed.