May 24

Before leaving Goroka we had one more stop to make. Many of the team needed that last minute gift for their family back home. I had yet to find just one penis gourd.

Rhett had us on the bus at 7:30 am for a quick trip to the Goroka craft market.

It was still a little early, even for the Papua New Guineans.

The beautiful bilums were out along with some jewelry, baskets and wood carvings adorned the street in front of the Bird of Paradise Hotel.

No penis gourds were to be found.

As I boarded the bus I expressed my displeasure to Todd. "You were serious about wanting penis gourds?" Yes...I replied.

"I know a lady in Lae who has a curio shop, in fact, it's the same lady who is taking us all on the boat ride tomorrow!"

Hmmmmmmmmm.

Hope remained!

Our drive down to the highlands was uneventful. Once again, answered prayers.

As we headed down the Kassam Pass and into the Markham Valley smoked filled the valley. With every kilometer we felt the heat and humidity get stronger and stronger.



There is a unique smell to each area of PNG - Lae's smell's filled the bus and the heat lulled us all to sleep.

We arrived home in the early afternoon.

Rhett needed some laundry done, everyone with a bilum wanted to wash them to get the unique smell out of the fabric.

Jordan and Whitney agreed to manage the laundry project.

I started to rummage through the kitchen to find something to cook for dinner.

We ended up having a delicious lamb stew served with rice.

Todd had invited some friends over for dinner. Although they weren't home when he went to get them, Jacob Luke did come by and he stayed for supper.

It was good to sit down with him and tell him of our journey. His gift of transportation made this trip possible. We were glad that we were able to thank him.

Todd's friends came later in the evening and cleaned up the leftovers.

The energy in the house was low. We'd enjoyed the relief in temperature and humidity while in the highlands. The Lae heat hit us pretty hard.

We all needed a day at the beach.