Happy Wanderers: March 2019

March 24, 2019 - Kitava, Papua New Guinea - Sunday, Day 77

Today we arrived at Kitava. This is a small island not far from Alotau. It is overcast and this is a tender port so we chose to have breakfast in the dining room before going ashore. This worked well because the tender line was very short when we left the ship. We were ashore in 15 minutes. And the rain had stopped.

There is a small island very close to Kitava. It is ringed by a reef. The water color was beautiful. The camera does not do it justice. Locals sell rides to the island for swimming and snorkeling. The captain had warned us not to try to swim across because the current could be up to 5 knots. The boats did a good business.

On the shore men, women and children had turned out to greet meet us. Some sold their wares. Others just gathered and visited. Several school groups performed to raise funds for their schools. They all had places under the trees well away from the sun.

We walked the long line of people a few times, but were only able to find a few things to buy. We had been told onboard that only Kina, the local currency would be accepted. In fact US dollars were freely taken. They would also accept Australian dollars, but then the vendors would try to find someone willing to buy them with Kinas at a very favorable rate.

We were content to stay under the shelter of the trees to avoid the sun. They even sheltered us when a gentle rain fell. People were very friendly and not at all pushy in selling their things. It was all very low key. After a few hours we returned to the ship feeling enriched by the experience and the beauty of this place.

We learned later that the home of all of these people was a village over the low mountain. It was very primitive with no running water. We regret that we did not make the trek over there.

March 23, 2019 - Alotau, Papua New Guinea - Saturday , Day 76

Greeters

We arrived in Alotau on time at 8:00 this morning. The sky was overcast. Alice and I are taking the highlights tour from the ship. We had been alerted that the buses would be small and the guides might not speak English very well.

After a delay of 15 minutes until the buses arrived, we left the ship to start our tour. Alice and I were very fortunate because we were directed to the largest bus, a 25 seater. And our guide, Rodney, spoke perfect English.

The buses left the port in a convoy. Rodney explained what we were viewing along the way. Our first stop would be at Top Town for a panoramic view of the area. First we made our way through Bottom Town. This part of the city is closest to the sea. I houses industrial and commercial businesses. The markets are located by the sea, and the lower class live here.

In passing through Middle Town, where the middle class lives, he showed us the hospital and housing where doctors and professionals live. Progressing up to Top Town we passed very fine housing with spectacular views.

Hospital

Middle Town

Top Town

Then we descended a short way to the Top Town Overlook. We exited the buses to take pictures and then gather around the 3 tour guides. Each took a turn describing some aspect of the city. They welcomed questions before getting us to rebound the buses. We retraced our route to Bottom Town, and followed the waterfront until we reached the school we were to visit.

View from Top Town

Toilet at View Point

This public school has 900 students. They come from all around Milne Bay Province. 200 students board here. The rest live at home. The grounds were quite expansive.It was Saturday and most students had gone home for the weekend. Those still on campus were in remedial classes to prepare for examinations next week. We were being guided now by the Top Student. This young is a high school senior and has the best grades and shows the greatest potential. He is the leader of the student body.

He took us to classroom buildings, dormitories and dining rooms. He explained that the music we were hearing was coming from the music classroom. Five instruments, trombone, keyboards, drums, lead guitar and bass guitar, were taught. The teacher plays trombone in a local band.

Dinning Room

School Bell

Dormitory at Back

Dormitory

Shop and Woodworking

Typical Classroom

When we had toured the facilities, he took us to a sports field where a tent was set up to shelter us from the sun. It was finally making an appearance. In front of us a dance group was gathered. Before they performed for us, their leader stepped up to explain several aspects of their lives and the tools and utensils they used. Then they performed several traditional dances for us. There were members of all ages. Before we rebounded the busses we had an opportunity to purchase wooden and fiber handicrafts. There were some beautiful hand carved bowls, walking sticks, coasters and wall hangings.

We started back towards the port with one ,ore stop at the local market. We were limited to 10 minutes here because we had stayed overtime at the school. This was a bit frustrating because this market was unlike any of the others we had visited. Sure there were fruits and vegetables, but these were different in many respects. Yams and limes prevailed. Dried and braided tobacco was available. We were told it is nicotine free. Dried fish was also abundant. A few vendors sold clothing and hard goods.

Then there were the betel nuts. This nut grows in certain palm trees. It is eaten with mustard stick, a kind of pepper, and lime powder. The powder is made from branching stag-horn corals. This is pulverized. The coral harvesting is carefully controlled. The mustard is dipped into the lime powder and chewed along with the betel nut. This results in creating a red juice that stains the teeth, gums and lips. Spitting this yields horrible red stains everywhere. It curbs appetite, generates a feeling of euphoria and is addictive.

Betel Juice Spit on Road

Betel Nut Shown to Lady Who Taught at the School

Ten minutes after returning to the bus we were back at the ship. Alice and I got to chat with Rodney. He told us that he is retired, and he volunteers to guide whenever a ship comes in. The rest of the time he is at home with his family. He also said that while in the city people wear conventional clothing, people living in the mountains above Top Town wear native clothing. This is grass skirts for the women and loin cloths for the men.

This reminded me of what I was taught in grammar school geography some 68 years ago about New Guinea. It was a wild and primitive place with natives that might be hostile to visitors. We are happy to say that there was no hostility in evidence today. We were overwhelmed by their friendliness.

So, after a quick salad in the Lido we walked back into Bottom Town. It was hot and steamy, but we were enjoying it. All along the way following the water we were greeted by hello’s and hi’s. This might be all they knew to say, but they did it with feeling. Our first stop was the Informal Market. This is the old market with a very mixed offering of hard, soft and food items. It was getting close to closing time and some of the vendors had already shut down.

Walking on, we came to a nice handicraft market in a grassy park. It filled the space between the road and the sea. We made our way through it slowly. We had noticed a very nice shirt on a man walking in front of us for a while. It was extremely colorful, and I wanted one. In the market I watched for one as we inspected the varied wooden objects and the fabrics. We got to the sea without seeing any shirts. Here one lady had beautiful fabrics hung on a line and blowing in the wind. We actually found several we liked. This made decision making difficult. We passed for now and walked the rest of the market. We did finally see a vendor with shirts like the one I wanted. Curses I am just too big. None fit me. We made our way back to the fabrics and after the lady held out several for us we bought one piece. We really liked it. So much so that we did not even haggle with her as we had been told we should. The few dollars we may have overpaid will do more for her than for us.

Bought Fabric Here

Shopping over, we headed back to the ship. Along the way we saw several very nice shirts. We finally stopped a man and learned that they were rugby shirts for various teams. They were purchased in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. This cruise will not visit there. Maybe another time.