Down to the River

Today was another typical day in the highlands of Papua New Guinea (PNG): cool in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon, and cool again in the evening after the sun went down. During the hot part of the day, I ended up going down to the river that flows near Ukarumpa with my good friends, the Romito’s. We packed up a picnic lunch and headed off (on foot, of course!) to the river.

Where we crossed the river.

When you arrive at the river, you have to wade across (very carefully—the current is surprisingly strong!) in order to get to the better swimming area. After we crossed, we got our blankets spread out and ate our lunches—I brought a peanut butter tortilla sandwich (just so you know, making tortillas with self-rising flour is a bad idea…they start out fluffy, but end up like a lead balloon; I had one for supper—bleh), carrots, and cookies—fantastic picnic food! J

Upstream a bit from where we ate;
there were some big rocks in the river to sit on.

After we finished eating, the kids and Tara headed off to swim and Tony and I made sure our stuff didn’t walk away. After a bit, I went over to where the kids were playing and went in up to my ankles, but it was COLD! Since the cold water took my breath away and I’m not a huge fan of swimming anyways, I just waded, tried (rather unsuccessfully) to skip some rocks, and took a few pictures! All in all, it was a lovely day spent with good friends in a relaxing and beautiful setting. 

No snow? No worries! Sand will do in a pinch!

Rolling in the sand to get nice and muddy!

The view as we walked back to Ukarumpa-my poor
photography skills don't do it justice!