Papua New Guinea

I’ve been in Papua New Guinea for 6 days and no one has ever been able to understand anything about a culture in 6 days but I feel like I understand less of this place and its people than most places I’ve been. I maybe have some understanding of the terrain of Port Moresby – the pictures show the mountains from the sea and the sea from the mountains. I barely understand the expat world, never mind that of Papua New Guineans. It’s been said to me many times as I was heading out here, that PNG is the most dangerous place on earth. I think that’s an overstatement but there are security concerns – maybe even valid ones – so I stayed with our new country rep here -a 50-something woman. But we’re not allowed to be out after dark, really. And they let out guard dogs at the office at 5:30 so you must leave the office and then go home. Most shops close by 5 as well. So you go home.

PNG was colonized by Australians and many, many still live here – the upside of which is the food options. Great beef, pork, fish (ok, that’s probably b/c of PNG not Australians). The supermarket is heaven. Chocolate chips and Cadbury Easter eggs! I begged for local cuisine to see what it was like, so we ended up at a Holiday Inn buffet – and the sweet potato and pumpkin dishes were really nice! Way more satisfying to me than India.

The people are ethnically more African than asian – Melanesians technically, related to Polynesians, and other pacific islanders. But even just here, there are tons of different ethnicities apparent. They have over 700 languages in this tiny group of islands. There are very few roads so not much travel and exposure to outsiders. Obviously those who come to the cities (I think they consider 3 places cities) interact with each other and us foreigners. There are continuing land disputes which is reportedly why more roads don’t exist. And while crime is rampant (60% of women report being raped and about the same % of men reported raping! The most common crime though is car jacking, which happened to our previous Country Rep) people are so friendly and polite. Drivers yield! Waitresses smile and kindly ask if they can get you anything. It’s like the exact opposite of India.

The only touristy thing I did was went diving. Due to missionaries PNG is VERY Christian. Scarily so when it comes to AIDS prevention (condoms are the devil). So Good Friday was a national holiday. Therefore I had a chance to go diving in the morning. I haven’t been diving in 7 years (!) and truly didn’t remember how. I did tell them this though and they assured me the instructors on board would refresh me. They gave me a 10 second reminder (“this is your backup oxygen for when your diving partner takes your regular one”) and then I partnered up with the instructor. There were like 20 people on the boat we went out on, which is too much. A bunch of young things who live the bizarre life at the yacht club and seem totally disconnected with the actual country and then older retired couples who keep coming back. For Australians, it’s a really easy trip (3 hour flight from Brisbane). Anyways, on the dive I remembered how and saw a little shark and some gorgeous little and medium sized fish. The coral was stunning. It’s just up from the great barrier reef. The second dive was a wreck which had the most amazing fish, huge starfish, the fish that blend with the sand, the colors were stunning.

It has definitely whet my appetite for coming back, although I can’t imagine when I will. I amazingly did not take any pictures really. I have a few of the ocean from land (our guesthouse) and a few of the land from the ocean (diving) but none of people. Like I said, I just didn’t have that experience.