Yeah Baby!

This is the 3rd entry from the Trobs. Check out the two below if you want some sense of continuity. It starts with "Get on the Boat" then "snubbed by the chief." Enjoy. We hope to hear comments from everyone.

It was a day among days. Yet again, we waited out the cool hours of the morning for our transport to arrive and take us away in the blazing sun (105 degrees as usual, plus humidity - putting as at a drenched and sweaty stupor). You can apply this description to any morning or blog from here on out.

The previous night's activities had uncovered a new plan & destination. Hail Julius, the Greek mob boss of PNG, and his crew of construction workers ended up at Butia Lodge along with a letter from the owner of Butia to make sure that they were treated as 'special guests'. A party, complete with traditional dancers, booze, boobs and some wild dancing, was thrown. In the mayhem we managed to secure a spot on their barge that would be departing for Kitava island the following day along with seven of the Paramount Cheif's kula investigators (spokesmen for the chief who were sent to negotiate for the best shell valuables with the chief's kula partners).

We finally arrived at Linus' hut and gave him the new agenda. He informed us of a death in a nearby village and some upcoming funeral activities so we headed that way before our afternoon departure. At the funeral site the women were preparing bundles of dried banana leaves for distribution. The banana leaf bundles act as a currency in the villages and are the women's contribution to the funeral proceedings. remarkable: the family of the deceased is responsible for giving goods and valuables to the deceased's in-laws.

We got some beautiful 16mm shots of woman gathering bundles under the coconut trees, but unfortunately we had to race off to the catch the barge and we missed the actual distribution of goods. (Of course, the barge didn't end up leaving until the following day...) Ah well, some good imagery and on to the next adventure.

PS: Favorite shot from the banana bundlers was a pregnant woman wearing a t-shirt that said 'Oh yeah, me so horny!' and on the back side 'YEAH BABY!!'