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Number of days of toil and sweat it took me to cover the final 100 miles to<br />Port Moresby: 12“Present fears are less than horrible imaginings? - William Shakespeare<br /><br />“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome? - Samuel Johnson

The Long Struggle to Port Moresby- The surprises of Papua New Guinea

Rob Lilwall
2007-12-01 15:13:45

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also remind myself of the more positive encouragement I was also given... but I was still very frightened.

So what is this boundlessly unique and exotic country like? Six months ago, all I knew was that the people spoke lots of different languages (in fact, around about 700 languages spoken by less than 10 million people), there is lots of gold (and all sorts of other minerals, which is being exploited by various foreign multinationals) and that there are lots of rainforests and mountains (I was definitely right about this) I have also since discovered that, like many other former colonies (but perhaps even more so), it is struggling to transform itself from the traditional ways of tribal villages to the modern world of governments, laws, guns, jobs, money and roads.

It is no wonder that this change is proving painful. Just 100 years ago a large chunk of PNG's population had had no contact with the outside world and still used stone-aged tools. The people were loyal to their own tribes and customs - but often hostile to the neighbouring village. Before there was no money - and even today it is perfectly possible to live a healthy village life without it. As the saying goes: "if you stick something in the ground here, it grows?. Thus there is an abundance of locally growing vegetables and fruit. The coastal roads are lined with coconut trees and if I thirsted as I pedaled, I could merely mention this to a friendly looking passerby, and he would scamper up a tree and return moments later with an armful of coconuts with which to fill my water bottles - before announcing with a grin that he was the local pastor (I've never seen an English vicar climb a tree like that!). Other things like herbal medicines are available too - the plant sap which was poured in my infected tropical ear seemed to do just as much good as the painful penicillin injections in my buttocks!

Perhaps it is because the land provides such bounty, and because nothing ...