PNG Walkabout

We go on one wokabaut (walk: aka hike) each week during our training.  Last week we hiked through the rainforest of PNG all day.  Rumor has it that we did 8 miles!  Holy cow.  My legs hurt after that.  I tried to imagine that I was a part of LOST.  The terrain is so similar.  And there are plenty of bamboo trees to hide behind.  I just knew any minute that I would come across a polar bear, a smoke monster, or one of the Others!  That did not happen.  But that doesn't mean they're not out there, okay?!

This week we packed up all our gear we think we'll need for the 3-day hike (which is next week), weighed it, then replaced some of the weight with water bottles.  That way if we decided that we couldn't handle the weight, we could pour out some of the water and sacrifice some of our stuff for the actual hike.  I never had to pour out any water.  My pack weighs 26.3 lbs!

It's not uncommon for a Papua New Guinean to have to go on a wokabout for a few miles just to get to their garden every day.  Can you imagine?  And it's not flat by any means.  We'll change elevation by anywhere from 500 to 1,500 feet during one hike.

I think on one of our first hikes that I broke the bone just below my pinky toe on my left foot.  That's my self-diagnosis.  It hurts a lot when I hike and it's sticking out a little.  Not good, right?  But there's nothing you can do for a broken toe!

Here are some pics from my hikes so far.  Most of the time I'm just looking down at the treacherous path, so I don't get to take a lot of pics.  But some breaks are long enough for me to get a drink of water AND snap a picture.  So here you go...

A few of the many PNG bugs

 A two-story PNG house.  They're usually 1-story, but made with the same materials.

On our all-day hike, we stopped in a village for lunch.

We are often the stars of "Foreigner TV"

We get to wade through many water sources.  The second day of our 3-day hike will involve hiking through a river almost the whole way.

We stopped for a rest in a village school.  I took a math quiz and got a 100 (of course...)

A normal site along our hikes.  And a normal house (like what I'll be living in for my 5-week village living).

Next week I get to tell you all about my 5-week village allocation!  Get excited :)