As always we have to wait. This time not on a non-working ATM, not even on our forgotten lunch, but on our driver. At half past eight we have arranged to meet at the guesthouse, now it is half past nine and no trace of Crazy Steve. The name should have warned us, but hey, we like a bit of silliness. Wait, we don’t like that a bit. And especially since it is already the third day in a row that we are waiting for at least an hour. But this is Papua New Guinea, not the Netherlands. Crazy Steve arrives at 10:30. “Problems with the car” is his excuse. He had it yesterday too. But today is Sunday and nobody is working. Still, he managed to find someone who would even make his car for us on Sundays. Why didn’t he do that yesterday? Then he was too busy. Of course…

Drink & drive in Papua New Guinea

Two hours later than planned we drive with Crazy Steve and Jack the guide to Kesesugl. We skim the road. At least share. Other parts we ride jerkily over the many potholes and holes in the road. Along the way we see stalls that function as petrol pumps, pigs that are walked and many green and yellow SP (beer) houses where drink & drive is not discouraged but welcomed. In Hela, where we were before, alcohol is prohibited. No alcohol is allowed to be consumed or sold throughout the province. They seem to compensate for this ban in Hagen and Jewaka by selling alcohol every 200 meters.

Until you spit red blood

What we also regularly encounter are women who sell betel nut. Crazy Steve loves it and therefore stops regularly to buy some. Betelnut, a stick they call mustard and lime. First you bite the betel nut well. “Don’t swallow” Crazy Steve addresses us sternly. When you have chewed well, stick the stick in the lime and mix it with the betel nut in your mouth. You do that a few times and then you spit out the juice. The color turns bright red and this makes your lips and teeth very red. All over Papua you see red spit, which we first thought was blood, lying on the ground. Crazy Steve spits a lot and because I’m behind him my clothes regularly catch some nice splashes.

No wealth without pigs

What we also keep seeing on the side of the road are pigs. Sometimes they sniff around, other times they lie under a sales stall and sometimes they are even let out. Pigs have a special role in PNG (Papua New Guinea). They are not only food here but also determine the wealth of the owner. A large, fat pig can yield 4,000 kina (1,060 €). So if you have 4 pigs in PNG then you are rich man. Man yes, because women cannot own anything. After all, they are a property themselves. This way you can already buy a woman for 2 pigs.

Buying women

The amount of pigs indicates how rich you are, the amount of women you have as well. For example, if you have 8 wives (which happens regularly here) then you also have 8 houses, a lot of children and of course you also paid a dowry 8 times. Land, pigs and women. The first is the most fought over. Still now, hence the police escort we got in Tari. But more on that later. Men also sleep in a kind of man’s hut. The men (often family members, sometimes the people you work for) come here to eat, sleep and tell tall stories together. When they feel the need to sleep with their wife (s) or to see their children, they visit them. The woman is expected to educate the children, earn money in the market and cultivate the land. They find a fair distribution here. I see that differently.

No more diesel

In the last village before we start the road up there is still to be refueled. The first petrol pump seems to be closed “no gasoline, no diesel”. So out of order. The second petrol pump also runs out of diesel. Three times is a charm and fortunately, at the third gas station they still have some diesel. We get the last bit of diesel and hit the road. Diesel is also quite expensive here. For 1 liter you pay 3.80 kina (1 €). Very pricey for the people here. Incidentally, you can also buy diesel on the side of the road in old jerry cans. For a bottle of 4 liters you pay about 20 kina (1.30 € per liter). Then you need a lot of bottles to fill your car and they often don’t have more than 4. We are on the way and soon we hear loud crackling under the wheels. We have experienced this a few times before. We then drive over almost flat cans of soft drinks. People throw these on the road to have cars run down completely. Then they take it to recycling and get money for it. A convenient and easy way to earn some money. You cannot buy land, pig or woman with it, but you can buy some betel nuts.

At the foot of Mount Wilhelm

We drive up and leave the fairly flat land of the Jewaka province behind. We are now in the Simbu province, where not only the landscape but also the language is different. Fortunately, they speak Picin everywhere (their own made-up version of English), which I now speak a few words about. It is beautiful, with a deep valley on the right, a high cliff on the left, and breathtaking views. Everywhere we see houses with beautiful fields, no matter how steep the ridge. Small roads wind up where the women walk with large bags of vegetables hanging from their heads on their way to the market. Men walk by brandishing a machete and children are chasing or fighting each other.

The road is gone

Where we used to ride on an asphalt road, with a lost hole here and there, it now seems the other way around. Immense bridges are interspersed with craters in the road. Occasionally even an entire road surface has subsided. Unfortunately it starts to rain and the road soon turns into a mud pool. Umbrellas come out and people huddle together under the little shelter they have. We drive further and the higher we get, the more we leave modern life behind. The road and bridges are not getting any better. Sometimes only the skeleton of the bridge is left so that we brave it at walking pace. I wonder how long it will be before the bridges, with car and passengers and all, break down and plunge into the ravine. The road is strewn with stones so big that even Obelix would have a hard time moving it. And then after a 4 hour drive that would actually take 2 hours, but yes road works, we arrive in Kesesugl. The place from which we take up the challenge to climb the highest mountain in Oceania . Greetings from Papua New Guinea