August 16, 2016
After a couple flights from Madang to Mt. Hagen we were greeted by two amazing capuchins, Brother Ray and Father Peter. They were our hosts for this leg of the mission trip and today they were our drivers for the supposed 3 hour trek from Mt. Hagen to Mendi (that’s PNG time of course 😉 We stopped for a bite to eat before we hit the road at about 3:30.
In our truck was our Br. Ray driving us, our fearless leader Fr. Christopher, my mama and myself. We made a couple stops before heading out of town. First was the gas station. Now we all know people who can just start up a conversation with anyone and everyone; well that is Br. Ray to a tee (he is so awesome). With that being said the gas station stop took about 15 min. It was then that Fr. Christopher recalled another time he ran errands with Br. Ray and how it took way longer than planned, so he got a little anxious about making it to Mendi before dark. The next stop was the food warehouse with closed at 5. Fr. Christopher tried to trick Br. Ray and told him the time was 5 and we didn’t have time to stop. My big mouth didn’t catch on and I blurted out the real time of 4:15. But even if it was 5 o’clock I’m sure they would have let Br. Ray in. Later in the trip he sweet talked the grocery store to let him in 20 minutes after it closed! We made our stop and picked up coffee, candy bars, and some other goodies.
When we hopped back into the car I learned a new Pigeon phrase, “lookem you behind”. And no…it doesn’t mean what I know you’re thinking, it means see you later. We all found it pretty funny and I used it the rest of the trip. We started our drive out of town and saw a tribe practicing for Mt. Hagen Festival, a couple markets, and of course many people along the road waving. Next stop was the fruit lady. We pulled over right along the side of the road, it was the ultimate fast fruit stand. I am not sure how you pick one person to buy from…there are at least 20 people selling the same fruit.
That was about it for planned stops. We had a few more for some pictures, it was absolutely stunning traveling from the western to southern highlands! And then of course we had some necessary stops for “picking flowers in the bush” as Fr. Peter puts it. Now this is difficult because you can’t just go anywhere. People will pop out from any direction and if you are using their bush, they will charge you. Now I won’t name names, but Br. Ray found a good spot for him to “pick flowers” and we sent him into the bush yelling lookem you behind. Next was my turn, but luckily we were near a missionary station! We hit the road again. I kept snapping pictures as Br. Ray told us stories and the sun began to set.
People don’t like driving in the dark in Papua New Guinea because the roads are so bad you can’t see the potholes or people walking along the road. If you hit anyone or an animal, the people of that tribe will stop you and do anything from asking for compensation to rioting and lighting your car on fire. So it is suggested to keep driving if you do hit someone and try to get to the police. There are also people called rascals that will stop your car and demand money. At this point we were about 20 miles away from our destination and it was pitch black out. Br. Ray didn’t seen too worried though besides the fact he was driving pretty fast for how crappy the roads were. We realized later that everyone in town knew him. I guess that makes sense since he had been in Papua New Guinea since 1969.
With about 10 miles to go Br. Ray pulls over and says that someone had been trying to get ahold of him. When Fr. Christopher asks who, the response was…the chicken man. Fr. Christopher looked back at my mom and I and was like there is no way there is a chicken man, he is pulling our leg! But after driving this far I believed him and sure enough the chicken man pulled up behind us with three men standing up riding in the truck bed. We drove along into the town of Mendi (woo hoo!) and stopped at the chicken man’s shop so that Br. Ray could pay him for some eggs and chicks. That was our last stop.
About 4 and a half hours later, we made it to the house at around 8 pm. We were just in time for dessert and coffee 🙂 Lookem you behind!
~The Pathless Atlas
The Pathless Atlas 
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