June 15 Monday:This morning my primary goal was to get online and go through a checklist of things on there. So to that end I got a ride with Andrew and three of his coworkers in the morning. They dropped me off at an internet cafe and I would call them when I was done to be picked up. But before getting dropped off we stopped at a gas station to fill their work vehicle. At the gas station was a man with three cuscus' in small cages, selling them. I got a picture. He was selling them for K100 each and the guys in the car said they would be used for food. They are so cute I have a hard time imagining eating one. I did get online for nearly 3 hours and got most of the things on my checklist done. When I was done I called Andrew and he said they would come soon. I waited on the balcony of the cafe and read my book. It was an hour and a half before they arrived. It was partially due to traffic, but I am not complaining since it is free and they are doing me a favor. We stopped at the Boroko district market and I purchased a PNG shirt, a mask and a couple other craft items. Then they dropped me off at the Lodge. A little bit later I walked up to the nearby supermarket to get some supplies. There was a man outside that had an awesome mask, but it was nearly five feet tall. It was a good price for that size and had feathers, pig teeth, shells, and more incorporated into it. I talked to him a little and he said what others had already told me: you cannot take feathers out of the country. Which of course begs the question: why put them on if you know it is going to cause problems? I told him I loved the mask, but it was too big for what I was looking for. When I came back out of the supermarket, he walked back to the lodge with me and saw what I already had to get a size comparison. I did buy a few other items from him and he said he would stop by on Wednesday morning with some pieces in the size range I had shown him.

June 16 Tuesday: I stayed close to the lodge most of the day, but did venture out in the afternoon with another guy at the lodge to go to the Air Nuigini office that is a short walk from where we are staying. The distance was not a problem, but I would not have found my way without help. I have asked a number of people where one gets maps either of all of the country or of individual cities like Moresby and no one knows. But they sure know their way around the city themselves. At the airline office I checked on ticket prices to Madang, Wewak, and Rabaul. Since the leg from Madang to Wewak is only a 20 seater, it was booked up the whole time I was looking at, but I could have paid nearly $500 for standby tickets. Sorry, but no thanks. I did get tickets to Madang and Rabaul, so that will get me a short exposure to two more provinces before I leave the country.

The collected churchs in Moresby are hosting a two week revival that started on Sunday evening. It is located within walking distance of my lodge but tonight is the first night I ventured over there. It is located in a large field next to a major road and they have erected three large screens for people in the back to be able to see better. They are needed as the crowd easily surpasses six thousand. There was a session of singing, a segment where the children from one of the churches put on a little morality play, then a health lecture on tuberculosis and a spiritual talk by the conference president Tony Kamo. I was seated front and center in a section of lawn chairs, while most people sat on the grass. I would have been content to sit in the grass, but I was quickly ushered to the chairs when I did sit in the grass.

June 17 Wednesday: I got another mask this morning, made by Samson Kamali and set about the adventure of the day getting my souvenirs in the mail to America. First we went to PNG Art an artifact dealership that does packing and shipping. They would only do the packing if I bought an item from their place so I did and had it all packaged up. They said I was better off taking the box to the post office myself because it would cost twice as much to use their service. I should have gotten a price quote just to see if that were true. We took a taxi to the Boroko post office and despite them having a sign that they accept Visa, they do not accept Visa. The total for my box was K580 (close to $250) and that was more than the value of the items themselves. I only had K400 with me and had left my atm card back at the lodge. So we took a taxi back, got my card and returned to the post office. I had to wait in line for the ATM and got the needed funds. Then back to the cargo office, fill out a bunch of forms, and eventually the package was secure and ready for a journey back to the US. I am starting to seriously keep track of my spending here and should be able to keep it to the limit I have set if I am cautious and I do not have any more large items to cover. I am seeing how when I return to this country there are a number of ways to keep the costs down and had I known them before it would have saved me quite a bit of money. I also have made enough contacts that I could quite easily have help getting to many parts of the country if I only ask. I do not regret the cost one bit though, it has been an amazing trip so far. I stayed around the lodge for most of the afternoon making sure I had everything ready for my flight on Thursday.

I went to the revival meeting in the evening and enjoyed the music and lectures. Afterwards, I walked back to the lodge with two local church members who will watch my extra bags while I make the trip to Madang. If I did not do this I would get some major bonus charges for carrying too much weight. The church members only condition is that I attend church with them the Sabbath after I get back. Done and done. I took a nice cool shower and got to bed a little before 11pm after confirming my ride to the airport in the morning.

June 18 Thursday. My alarm woke me at 4:30 and by 5 I was in the transport with another guest with an early flight and we headed to the Airport. My flight was scheduled for 6:55, so I had given myself plenty of time. My bag was 2 kg over the 'limit', but they did not charge me for it. Book in hand I waited with the rest of the passengers. Our plane was delayed and eventually at 9 am we were allowed to board and get underway. The delay was simply because a crew member had slept in and they had to wait for that person to arrive. I stared out the window for the bulk of the flight and the terrain passing below was fascinating to see. I really want to come here again and do a lot more exploring.

Once we landed at the small airport, it took a while to get my baggage and by the time I did the shuttle that would have taken me to my lodge was already gone. It was almost 40 minutes before another one came and I got a ride to the Lutheran Guesthouse. This is a nice location, close to the center of town, breakfast is included in the room price and even that was reasonable. After getting settled in my room (which is shared with three other people), I walked down to the Madang Resort, where one of the two dive shops in Madang is located. They were out of the office on a dive and would be back at around 1 pm, so I walked around the Resort itself, very fancy, and had a lunch at one of the restaurants there. I could have saved myself some money and had a better lunch just down the street at the Fish Market, that I visited later in the day. The dive shop people did not arrive until nearly two, but in the mean time two Aussies came by looking for information on refilling dive tanks and that is how I met Jordy and Rueben. They are actually staying at the same place I am and are part of a group from Australia repairing a large wooden sailing ship to take back to their home country. After I made arrangements to do some diving in the morning and they got the information they needed, they asked if I wanted to hang out with them, so they took me around town, which was really helpful for the rest of my time in Madang. We also checked out the boat where the rest of the group was working. This is a serious boat: all wood with living quarters for twelve, a large galley, etc. The two guys that own it had been using it in Kavieng to do dive charters until it needed work earlier this year. They brought in a team of their friends from Australia and once it is repaired in the next couple weeks they will all sail back Down Under. When talking about my trip, they all say I seem like a person that would really like Melbourne and that I should spend as little time as possible in Sydney. The two that own the boat have done world tours themselves, but the others are younger and interested in adventure where ever it takes them, which has not been around the world yet. They had all been staying on the boat, but had torn up enough of the sleeping quarters and galley that it was not practical for living on for a while. They like the Lutheran Guesthouse and so they have stayed, even though they could be back on the boat now.

Another interesting thing that happened today was that another man checked into the guesthouse and he recognized me from the Transit Lodge in Moresby. I only had met a few of the other people staying there, but being the White Man, I stick out and everyone knows who I am within a few hours or days apparently. And so he knew who I was, and that prompted him to talk to me. It turns out he is also SDA and took the later flight from Moresby. His final destination was Wewak where he lived, where I had wanted to go, but he had to wait until tomorrow because of the small number of passengers allowed on that jump. He was able to give me detailed directions to where the SDA church was, for which I was grateful.