My feet are still recovering from yesterday in Alotau where we walked close to three miles as Jim and I rambled through the markets and streets after the girls went back to the ship. It was about the best day as far as interesting people and port activities were concerned.
The town and likely the whole country is struggling to get into the 20th century, let alone the 21st. Most people, even in the town, are barefoot and personal vehicles are just not seen. The roads are adequate, barely. It is either trucks for long range people transportation or vans for locals who are in the villages and need to get to town.
Everybody appears very friendly and most speak at least a little English. There are 6,000,000 New Guineans in this island that is shared with Indonesia whose total population is around 300,000,000.
This country is very, very rugged with a narrow coastal strip and high mountains between the coasts. The heat and humidity are draining to us and it is difficult to keep hydrated. In the 'Highlands' as they are called, apparently it is more primitive still. The public schooling of children is optional, some preferring to teach their children in the 'traditional way' which is likely the reason that the country is stuck where it is.
Mining has changed things somewhat but I am not sure how much trickles down to looking after the outlying areas. Copra, which is merely somewhat dried cocoanut meat, and palm oil are amongst the major export crops.
A large portion of New Guinea was a German 'possession', acquired by them in the 1800s and came under The League of Nations until after the WWI, when it became an Australian Trust or the equivalent, until it gained independence in the 1960s [?] So, it is an independent country of 6,000,000 people stuck in the jungle just south of the equator with primitive uneducated people. Not a good prospect methinks.
Tomorrow: Madang, New Guinea.
Pics:
Typical house
Bus shelter
Community rentable units for village people to come to town, self contained and secure
People waiting for boats to take them to their villages
Super market
Waterfront
Copra warehouse
Long distance transport
Cooking pots of clay
Market
Souvenir market set up for ship. [Beautiful work!]
Fish stalls at market; fresh, smoked, cooked.
Yours truly, taken by our next door neighbour
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