We're all back to the ship now safely. Showered, shaved, fed... Feel human again. That was a remarkable experience. As we approached the village in long canoes, we were surprised by dozens of canoes with Asmat tribesmen standing up and shouting in unison. They surrounded us and then as we came to the next bend, another batch joined them. Very intimidating.

They took us ashore and into their long house which was over 100' long. Only men are allowed in it. I know... it ain't right. We sat down, surrounded by strangers as they argued about the size of the donation we were to bring... renegotiations in third world countries are common:) Funny how being surrounded by dozens of men wielding weapons motivates you to meet their demands. From this point forward, we would eat their food and sleep in their "man house."

Man House (Jason Howard)

They divided us into small groups where we went into their homes go eat with them. They fed us charred things filled with white powder which none of us knew how to eat. Apparently you're not supposed to eat the white powder but most of us didn't know that.

Segou and fish

Sleeping was very difficult because the ground was very hard and because we were literally sweating for hours while we tried to sleep. That, plus the smelly men, incessant drum beating and screaming kids made it very difficult. Most were praying for the sun to come up to end their misery. The next day, instead of having segou and fish, we had something completely different... fish and segou. That was pretty much every meal. Of course their are no utensils so we ate with out hands. Then we got in the boats and headed upriver with a hunting and segou gathering party. We trekked forever through the thick, muddy jungle. We tried to stay dry but all eventually gave up. If you stepped on the wrong mud, you went up to your knee or waste. It wasamazing how inadequate we were for this travel compared to them. I was spell bound to watch their system of gathering segoa. They cut down two 60 foot trees, shed the palm fronds, cut away the bark, and then chopped up the inside marrow of the tree within itself. Then they made an aqueduct off the ground put of the palm fronds, plugged it up at the bottom, and prepared to filter the segou through it. I wondered where they would get the water... well, right out of the soppy ground we were standing on. Dig a hole, pull out the mud, and you have water... plus all kinds of bacteria and disease I'm sure. Then they filtered the water through the segou and the result is a sticky, pasty, white stuff. Each tree creates enough segou to feed four families for a week or two. We personally experienced each of the thousands of insect species while we watched. You try to fight it but eventually give up. We finally limited our bug swats to only large spiders. It's amazing how they go long distances to the tree, create a processing plant out of the byproducts of the tree, and process it right there. Conserves calories. While they were processing, the hunting party got a wild boar. They brought it over, butchered it, and started cooking some of it right there. Tasted pretty good when you've been living on segou. We all waded back through the mud to the canoes, amazed at how efficient and skilled they were, but humbled by how hard they work to sustain life. Everyone was dreading another night in the "man house". We ate some boar stew and rice with our fingers and began the business of suffering through the night.

Man House

Some slept some of the time. During the night many were awakened by a loud argument outside the house. A guy came in the "man house" to get a spear to help "settle" the argument. At one point Jason felt something crawling on his feet. He looked down to find one of the Asmat men playing with his toes. We're still trying to figure that one out. With the first hint of light, everyone was up, packed, and ready to head back to the comforts of the ship. As we journeyed for hours back down river, we contemplated the contrast in our lifestyles and left with keen appreciation for ours.

Vance Cook

A couple more nights aboard this ship and we'll be to Timika where we begin to fly back home over a couple days. See you all soon, Vance

Here are some random pictures that were sent after they got back on the boat. Thanks to Facebook :-)

The only proof I have that Petey was on this trip. I did receive two random texts from unknown phone numbers claiming he was Petey and that all was well. Thankful to all of the other wives who kept me up to date about what was going on during this trip.

When in the world is Petey coming home........

Petey's family has all been sick. Millie has stopped wondering when her dad is coming home and has replaced it with "when will this cough ever go away"?? Mom's usually never do get a sick day in but single mom's definitely don't have the time.

Some of the other wives heard from their husbands on Tuesday and here is what they sent my way.

Vance Cook:

"I can't find the words to describe the amazing adventure we've been on. Surreal maybe. Scuba diving and snorkeling some of the most beauriful reefs in the world. Trekking through the jungle to see wallabies. Playing around fresh waterfalls that dump right into the ocean. A couple of us learning the hard way why you don't try to swim back through the waterfall after visiting the cave behind it. Eating the lobster and fish at night that you caught during the day. Everyone is well.

waterfalls at Kiti Kiti - Day 7

We've see dolphin, rays, lobster, turtles, sea snakes, lion fish, a shark and many other amazing creatures. The diving has been fantastic.

Raja Ampat - Day 2

Tomorrow morning early begins the last major phase of our adventure. We're getting long boats (canoes) and traveling hours up the river. We're anchoring our schooner in the bay while we're gone. We'll live with the extremely primitive Asmat tribe for 2 days and 2 nights. We'll eat what they eat, hunt what they hunt, and sleep where they sleep. We're trying to tank down as much food as possible since we don't know what or when we'll eat again. The group is excited but suffering from feelings of trepidation."

Jason Howard:

We went lobster hunting a couple of days ago and caught about 20 lobsters. We built a huge fireplace on the beach. The next day we sailed a couple of days and spent a lot of time playing cards and Yahtzee.

Triton Bay - Day 8 (Petey is the snorkeler in the brown Hawaiian trunks)

It's around 7:00 am now in Indonesia and we are in a very poor, small village. Very surreal. In the Muslim countries, there is a prayer signal that goes off all day and night. We woke up to one at 3:00 am.

Petey:

Headed home. Just got a text from Petey. They are loading up on the Atasita and beginning their long trek toward the airport. Didn't get too many details but just relieved he survived the Asmat experience. (Tal - the Asmat people wear those fun nose rings because they feel it is a decoration that makes them beautiful and expresses who they are.)

Atasita - Roughing it!!

Where in the world is my Dad??

Millie has been asking non stop when Dad's coming home. She doesn't quite understand the concept yet of weeks so her Grandma helped her make this calendar. The darker pink squares show how long Petey will be gone. The stickers represent the days he has been gone. She gets this!!

Since I am not sure which part of the journey Petey is on, there is one part I would like to share that was fascinating to me. I believe this is the final destination of their trip, which Vance was most excited for. It is in the Asmat Regency in Papua province. Its capital, Agats, is the destination. As their ship docks, the Asmat people are going to come and greet them in their boats and take them back to their village.

Here they will live among this ethnic tribe for several days. They will have opportunity to kill their own food and live amongst these interesting people. Their history is quite fascinating. Asmat people were cannibals and head-hunters. They also "hunted for names". Every person was named after someone deceased, or after a killed enemy. They had to learn the name of the man they killed, and then bring his skull to their village. Only in this way could a person get a name. They still live pretty true to their culture today - except for the cannibalism :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmat_people

Where in the World is Petey???

I have decided to once again jump back on the blogging train. My purposes will explain the title of this post, making this post a little lengthy. Several years ago, Vance Cook sold Headgate Studios to Electronic Arts (EA Games for those of you in the gaming world). When he sold it he promised his original 11 guys that he would take them on a big adventure. Here we are, two years later and Vance has held true to his promise. But, there was a catch. He didn't tell anyone where they were going. So, for the past year he has been having "reveal" meetings in which he would give them little hints of how to prepare for this last hurrah. For instance, in the first reveal they were told to get a passport and start getting in shape. Further down the line they were asked to get scuba certified if they already hadn't.

A week prior on them embarking on this "Super Secret Trip", Vance pulled the wives together and told them his plans for the dirty dozen. I came home from this, raised our Life Insurance, made sure our finances were in order, and told Petey to get off his butt and get in shape (a little too late in the game but never hurts to start). We are now one week past when Petey left so I will post where he has been since last Friday.

Vance's Facebook Entry (November 7, 2010 - they actually left on November 5): Vance Cook is happy to finally have the whole group gathered in Makasar, Indonesia. They have been traveling straight for about 40 hours so they resemble Zombies more than suitable companions. They get 4 hours of sleep and then we're off on one more flight to where our adventure begins!

Vance and the group have finally arrived at the beginning of their not-so-secret destination in Sarong, Indonesia. We have boarded a beautiful, hand-made, wooden, Phinisi schooner. Loved the moment as they discovered this surprise. We have the schooner and a crew of around 17 to ourselves. Not quite rough'n it just yet. Tomorrow we trek into the island of Batanta and do our first practice dive.

Post: Vance Cook and the group are passing through a rare reception zone. Having a wonderful adventurous time scuba diving the most beautiful reefs I've ever seen, jungle trekking, snorkeling through caves in the dark (shiver), rock climbing over the water and jumping in (1st ascents I'm sure), and eating and living in better conditions than we deserve. Everyone is well

I am hoping to accomplish two things here: 1- Journal Petey's trip for him as we see it from thousands of miles away  2- so many of his family members and friends have no idea "where in the world" he is and have been curious.  So, here we go.  I will post more as I hear more.