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.