Not having a vehicle is one of the better parts of our current location and situation. Whether it's for 1 hour or 8 hours, leaving the house routinely includes running through a quick checklist as not to forget any essential items.
Checklist items:
- umbrella (rain or shine... because it will rain)
- nokan (long strapped woven bag carried by local men & women)
- company ID card
- camera
- keys
- extra cash
- phone
- extra layer
- water
- snack
Now, to be perfectly honest, some walks require much less... like when we walk the jalan panorama to look for birds, check the rise and fall of the rivers and scope out new jungle trails to explore. These walks occur 1-3 times/week and last anywhere from 1/2 - 2 hours depending on how distracted we get or who we run into.
Two weekends ago we shared a long walk with our friends Steve & Donna. We walked down the road, through the gate, along the tailings river to the local village. Banti is our nearest village and is made up of an interesting collection of indonesians from different islands such as Java & Sumatra, police & military, local Papuans and Papuans from villages as far as 8 days walk over the Sudirman or the Dugunduguoo mountain range who have all come to pan for gold in the tailings river! Our long walk was accompanied by two young friends of ours, Mario (9) & Samuel (10). Mario is from Banti and he was very excited to escort us to his village to meet his sister and friends.
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| Walking down the road to Banti... about 2000ft lower elevation than our town. |
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| Mario explaining the workings of the tailings river to Steve |
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| Foot bridge to Mario's village |
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| Mario on a ridge before his village |
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| Cuties! |
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| Mario & Samuel, our guides, standing in front of Mario's house. |
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| A warrior-in-training |
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| Some of the village kids showing off their bow and arrow skills! Mario's sister on the far left |
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| Dave & Donna taking the non-foot bridge option! |
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Making our way back on our long walk to Banti!
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Where some walks take us down to bustling villages, others take us up to towering mountains...
These past two weekends, with a much longer and more critical checklist and heavier packs, we have ventured on some long walks at higher altitudes.
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| Early morning break with a low fog in the valley. |
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| D and friends scrambling up the pass. |
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| D coming down the pass with a Papuan family watching closely. They had been traveling a few days already from another village. |
Many thanks to you for walking through this journey together with us... whether from near or far, we enjoy walking through this life with you!
