An old man who was wearing just a hollowed out Penis Gourd and a few feathers caught my eye, said 'pagi' and stretched out his right arm in order to shake hands. I stopped and put my right hand in his hand. He smiled, I smiled and he shook my hand, moved his hand and thumb around in my hand and kept shaking, shaking and shaking. Five or ten minutes later I managed to disentangle my hand, hoping I wasn't being rude by breaking off the greeting too quickly! The people of the Baliem Valley are a friendly lot. I'd been looking forward to this break. It seems a long time since I was able to take some time off work. We've been busy with a total rebuild and relaunch of the school in Cirebon. Papua
... read more
