Thrills and chills in PNG

We enjoyed the article on Papua New Guinea by Clark Scott (Oct. ’08, pg. 24). We were there with Mountain Travel Sobek (Emeryville, CA; 888/687-6235, www.mtsobek.com) in 1995 and had some similar experiences. We saw the big sing-sing festival, visited villages of very friendly people, stayed in spirit houses and saw the beautifully carved masks.

Our week-long trip on the Sepik River was a bit less luxurious than what Clark experienced on the Sepik Spirit houseboat. We traveled in dugout canoes and slept in local villages. Sometimes we slept in large, lovely spirit houses, and several times the villagers had freshly dug an outhouse just for us.

During our second week in the mountains, sleeping in local villages on our thin mats, we witnessed negotiations and compensations among opposing parties as Scott described. Two of those situations started out truly frightening to us.

One event happened just as we arrived at a Huli village. We started to get out of the van and some 30 men with machetes came running and screaming at us, climbing on the van. They blocked the exit, and my husband and I were unable to get out. Machetes were flying about as we crouched in the back. I thought, ‘This is how my life is ending.’

As the whole village — women with their babies and children and older men — surrounded the van, some women began making motions to calm me down, as they saw me weeping. Things calmed down a bit and the chief of the village, an old and withered man, came to lead me off the van. What a relief to receive his hand and feel his concern about our fear!

As it turned out, they were not after my husband and me but the driver, who had slept with a woman in the village. The fighting stopped as a mediator arrived. The driver was found guilty and had to make reparations by giving a number of pigs to the villagers.

The other incident occurred on our hike in the mountains. Suddenly we came upon some 100 men dressed as warriors. Their faces were painted and they were carrying bows and arrows. In their traditional woven slings were many slaughtered pigs. They were not interested in us, however. Again, what a relief!

Later we found out that several boys had tried to steal a sack of coffee, a woman’s main income, and she had killed one of the boys with a knife. Again a mediator was called and it was decided that the woman was justified in killing the thief, but the parents of the boys who escaped had to pay a number of pigs to the parents whose boy was killed.

On another day, our 9-seat plane got stuck in the mud while trying to take off on a grass runway. The nine tourists had to get off the plane and push it to firmer ground, then off we flew.

Just as Clark and his wife, Julie, enjoyed their time in Papua New Guinea, we consider our trip to have been a great adventure and a wonderful learning experience.

RITA REIMANIS

Corning, NY