Thursday, 25th September.
I am waiting for a PMV on the side of the road. I see a line of people - the village chief, the priest and even the teacher who had set a homework to her students to come and say goodbye. Nice!
Good luck, the PMV is a coach!
Here are some photos taken en route to Lae.
Note the bandages! I suppose the baby wanted the same as her dad.
We follow a vast plain between two mountain ranges. Industrial plantations are invading all the good land.
Palm oil plantation.
Sugar cane plantation.
How to make a basket from a palm leaf.
We arrive at Lae where there is a religious meeting. Papuans are very gullible, so they are overwhelmed by all the missionaries and all the sects of the world. I even saw the Baha'i.
Sometimes there are more epiphytes than the leaves of a tree. This is quite common in equatorial areas.
After arriving in Lae (pronounced 'Lay') I go to the port, but all the dinghies to the surrounding villages have already left.
The man in charge of the petrol pump at the Yacht Club invites me to sleep at his place. It is in the largest (infamous) slum (settlement) of Lae. Later on, he returned drunk and snored in the hut. Four-year-old children were watching television until one in the morning. I decided to sleep outside. It is impossible sleep, eaten by mosquitoes with lots of drunk people around who won't stop shouting.
It was only later that I understood why they got drunk on a Thursday. The sale and public consumption of alcohol is prohibited on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So they get drunk some other day! ...
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