After another beautiful sea day (can't believe how calm the seas have been--we feel no roll or pitch, and we're all the way aft), we sailed into the beautiful Milne Bay to Alotau, a very small port. No excursion for us, since a labor dispute shortened our planned one, cutting out the part we were most interested in (Milne Bay WWII history), so we opted for a refund and stayed onboard. The thickness of the jungle and the mountain ranges in this small country made us appreciate how incredibly difficult ground warfare was here, as the Aussi "diggers" tried to push back the Japanese on the infamous Kokoda Track. We were so ignorant about the ground (island) wars in the Pacific, and have greatly appreciated some excellent lectures. The country's landscape, however, is stunning.
On the next day to Port Moresby, the capital, which represents a huge economic imbalance in spades. Many downtown large office buildings (Deloitte being prominently displayed on one of them, no doubt related to offshore accounts 😊) and elegant apartments behind locked gates speak to real money. But other areas of town are trashed and full of grafitti and plenty of indolent folks. We were told not to venture alone in many parts of the capital. Chinese investment is everywhere, like in so many third-world countries.
Contrast that with this small village, which had trash everywhere. Note the toilet sitting in one home; however, it wasn't connected to anything.
The kids, though, were charming, and refreshingly natural; no begging, just waving and saying hello. These three youngsters had just had their bath in the 'tub' behind them, and the second group had just received stickers from one of the men on our bus--a great idea.
The second village, Barakau, seemed a little healthier, though living conditions weren't much better. But the villagers danced for us, and the kids there were fun, too. Note contrast between Granny and Granddaughter; the invasion of social media has already occurred, even here--one girl was thrilled when told her photo would be posted on Facebook. We only hope that the money received by these villages from the tour organizer is being directed to the benefit of the people.
Tomorrow and the next day we sail to Darwin.
No comments:
Post a Comment