The Island Village of the Sentani People

For the next three days we would be catching at least one flight a day as we made our way to Bali. Today we would be traveling back to Jayapura, just a short one hour flight. We endured that terrible road from the lodge one last time and then said goodbye to Rufus. We then did another beard check. Mine was coming in nicely although I was a bit depressed in the number of gray whiskers. Riley on the other hand was still very much in the research and development stage.

We then boarded our Wings Air flight.

As we taxied for take off I looked out the window and hoped we would do better then this flight.

We arrived in Jayapura and met our new guide. She was friendly and very good about introducing us to new things, for better or for worse. She also had very hairy arms and I kept waiting for her to say "Goonie Goo Goo". We picked up a local boat to visit the island of the Sentani people.

The island was within sight.

We first went around the outside checking out all the houses on stilts.

We were then told a horror story about how the kids on this island have to go to school six days a week and all year round.

And while they live on the water they bury their dead on land and those are graves going up the hill.

We passed a few kids playing soccer.

This island is known for the bark painters. They peal a thin layer of bark off the trees and use that for a canvas. While you can buy these in a number of different places they are quite a bit cheaper here.

While Riley never needs an excuse to go shopping the thought of cheaper prices just means he would need to buy more.

After our purchase we headed to get lunch and our guide would introduce us to Papeda. A white glue like substance that was suppose to be good for digestion. It's basically the starch from the sago palm tree that has been boiled down the the thick slime you see here. It was in a nice lemongrass broth and tasted good. However it would sit in the pit of my stomach for the next four hours and then slowly work it's way through the rest of my system, clearing anything in its way out.

We next visited the local market as it was closing for the day.



Our guide then wanted to introduce us, well me, to Betel Nut. I think mostly because she wanted some for herself. I have seen this many times in Southeast Asia but never tried it until now. It's an addictive combination of the seed from the Areca tree wrapped in the leaf of the Piper Betle vine and coated with lime. It basically gives you a burst of energy and numbs your entire mouth. You chew on it and then spit out the juices, and these are red stains you see on a lot of sidewalks and roads.

OK, I think I'm now ready for a root canal, or did someone already just give me one?

We then headed to our hotel for the night. The Swiss-Belhotel Papua. This place was awesome with hot and cold running water, great beds, a beautiful lobby, and most importantly a functioning bar.

We enjoyed some food.

The local band did their best to create some kind of music. And no matter how many glasses of wine I had their best was not all that good.

We headed to bed looking forward to a good night's rest as we would not have to get up early tomorrow morning. The view from our room.