Wamena - a gateway to another world

Six other tourists on the plane to Wamena. Small plane, and the flight schedule is here treated more like ‘guidelines’ than rules, if you know what I mean :) All six tourists got their luggage in Wamena, a very VERY small airport. Guess whose backpack was lost? ;) So, I was standing there (at the airport field basically), the tourists left, only local people around and there comes an old man wearing nothing but a ‘koteka’ (just google it). I smile, he smiles, comes over, gives me a firm handshake and leaves. 

Me – with my Indonesian dictionary in the hand – was trying to explain to the ‘airport staff’ that my luggage was not there. They didn’t speak English, told me something in their language. I was pissed and decided to have a smoke, a guy standing next to me also reached for his cigarettes, so I smiled and offered him a cigarette and a lighter. I do not encourage anyone to smoke, but cigarettes really are a great ice-breaker, especially when you’re traveling alone in some remote areas of the world. And now - turned out - since 25 years the man has been a guide here, he has just brought some other tourists to the airport, he spoke good English and gave me his phone number, just in case. 

He said he could be my guide for the next days, but I should first find my backpack which would surely come on the next plane and check in at a hotel. Indeed, the backpack arrived. I went looking for a hotel. Wamena is really expensive (OK, maybe not really for European standards, but rooms were about 40-50 USD…) I checked in at a nice place (after seeing some rather creepy rooms priced at 40 USD I decided to pay a little extra for a more clean and bigger room). Then I called the guy I met at the airport. He met me at my hotel, gave me a reasonable price (for the Baliem Valley) for the hike.

Over a cigarette he told me that he could actually show me around that day (he didn’t want any money, just said ‘tomorrow is work, but not today’). Very nice of him. We took a local minibus (kind of) to a market. And this was the beginning of yet another adventure… 

In short: I smoked a local tobacco (they first cut a piece of the tobacco then roll the joint in a leaf), tried to chew the ‘binang’ (much to the applause of the men at the local market, it doesn’t taste good though…), met a few guys wearing ‘kotekas’, also got in a middle of a police intervention due to illegal gambling (rooster fights – luckily, I didn’t bet this time ;) Then we bumped into his friends who were driving to another market with a pickup truck, so on the back of a truck I got to that second market. And, on the way we stopped by at the friends’ house. I got invited to a New Year local family gathering.

I don’t understand why everyone kept telling me that people here were violent, dangerous, that I should be careful, avoid eye-contact - the last point was recommended also by my oh so wonderful guidebook which let me down already several times on this trip – the information is far from being accurate… Anyhow, Papuan people may look as if they were angry, but once you don’t avoid eye contact, smile and share a smoke – you’re obviously welcome :) 

Tomorrow I’m heading for the trekking and should be back to Wamena just in time for New Years Eve.