A huge group of us caravaned out through the bumpy dirt roads three hours outside of Moresby to Kalo. As we entered the village of stilt homes, we were greeted by every child living there. Half-dressed little brown babies ran beside the cars waving and shouting - ecstatic that these car loads of white people (and a few Papua New Guineans) had arrived.
As we stood down by the river organizing ourselves to head off to peninsula children swarmed us. A group of little girls stood behind me gigling and trying to touch my hair. I turned around and gently tugged one of the little girl's pig tails which induced belly laughs from the girls as they ran away - only to return in a few more moments when they each tried to touch my hair. After they would "sneak up" behind me, they'd wait in hopes of me touch their pig tails back.
As the small boats from the village were loaded with food, tents, and coolers for the long weekend, women and children were bathing and doing wash just next to us. Giant pots were being scrubbed down with the black sand from the river. What a contrast in lives - simplicity right next to excessiveness.
We ferried ourselves, a heap of kids, and a few dogs across to the camp. Tents began going up near a shelter that was built for shade and a decent distance from the "bathroom" that had been fashioned for us expatriates I am sure. The kids immediately jumped int he river as the adults grabbed a cold drink. I would love to say the weekend was perfect, but I can't. It would be very accurate to describe this trip as the camping trip from hell when one looks at the specific details.
On a side-note: why I thought taking an eighth grader and a tenth grader camping with us or why I thought camping with a group of families bursting with children would be a relaxing way to spend a three-day weekend...I have no idea!
It rained nearly all weekend, the wind was horrific, and the normal warm PNG weather was nowhere to be found. Lying in the tent the first night, Ninja - an outside dog, tried to get in. I forcefully unzipped the opening and he curled up for about ten seconds while I rezipped the tent closed. He then proceeded to freak out from the shear volume of the wind ripping at the sides of the tent. A large, nine-month old, german shepherd puppy attempting to escape a two man tent at two in the morning is not a pleasant interuption to attempted sleep. Ninja finally found his way out of the tent and apparently decided spending a night in the rain was a better option than noisy shelter. The lot of us woke up to ripped tents and broken tent screens.
On top of the eratic precipiation, we had adults and children alike vomiting. I spent the weekend in the elements running a fever - with flu symptoms to boot. Parents were getting up and pacing with over-tired crying kids trying to get them back to sleep. Back to that side note: It was at this point in the weekend in which I was thankful for the kids with us being teenagers.
We brought a few dogs with us - a fuzzy little white puffball, an older mama dog, and a nine-month old german shepherd pup. The white puffball, being an unneutered male, did not like the uncoordinated german shepherd - also a not-yet neutered male - large portions of the weekend were spent keeping the fuzzball from trying to attack the twenty-times his size shepherd.
The one redeeming factor to the weekend was that all of the kids that came along had a blast - even the teenagers that tagged along with us. I love camping, but I will definitely do a better job of checking the weather before I pitch my tent again.
As we stood down by the river organizing ourselves to head off to peninsula children swarmed us. A group of little girls stood behind me gigling and trying to touch my hair. I turned around and gently tugged one of the little girl's pig tails which induced belly laughs from the girls as they ran away - only to return in a few more moments when they each tried to touch my hair. After they would "sneak up" behind me, they'd wait in hopes of me touch their pig tails back.
As the small boats from the village were loaded with food, tents, and coolers for the long weekend, women and children were bathing and doing wash just next to us. Giant pots were being scrubbed down with the black sand from the river. What a contrast in lives - simplicity right next to excessiveness.
We ferried ourselves, a heap of kids, and a few dogs across to the camp. Tents began going up near a shelter that was built for shade and a decent distance from the "bathroom" that had been fashioned for us expatriates I am sure. The kids immediately jumped int he river as the adults grabbed a cold drink. I would love to say the weekend was perfect, but I can't. It would be very accurate to describe this trip as the camping trip from hell when one looks at the specific details.
On a side-note: why I thought taking an eighth grader and a tenth grader camping with us or why I thought camping with a group of families bursting with children would be a relaxing way to spend a three-day weekend...I have no idea!
It rained nearly all weekend, the wind was horrific, and the normal warm PNG weather was nowhere to be found. Lying in the tent the first night, Ninja - an outside dog, tried to get in. I forcefully unzipped the opening and he curled up for about ten seconds while I rezipped the tent closed. He then proceeded to freak out from the shear volume of the wind ripping at the sides of the tent. A large, nine-month old, german shepherd puppy attempting to escape a two man tent at two in the morning is not a pleasant interuption to attempted sleep. Ninja finally found his way out of the tent and apparently decided spending a night in the rain was a better option than noisy shelter. The lot of us woke up to ripped tents and broken tent screens.
On top of the eratic precipiation, we had adults and children alike vomiting. I spent the weekend in the elements running a fever - with flu symptoms to boot. Parents were getting up and pacing with over-tired crying kids trying to get them back to sleep. Back to that side note: It was at this point in the weekend in which I was thankful for the kids with us being teenagers.
We brought a few dogs with us - a fuzzy little white puffball, an older mama dog, and a nine-month old german shepherd pup. The white puffball, being an unneutered male, did not like the uncoordinated german shepherd - also a not-yet neutered male - large portions of the weekend were spent keeping the fuzzball from trying to attack the twenty-times his size shepherd.
The one redeeming factor to the weekend was that all of the kids that came along had a blast - even the teenagers that tagged along with us. I love camping, but I will definitely do a better job of checking the weather before I pitch my tent again.
2 comments:
Jeanette, I love the way you write, and I love reading about your adventures.
Thank you! That is a huge compliment!
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