The missing photos from our time in Taigei...

Well, I know we sort of disappeared for a couple of weeks. We have been out at SP11 these last 2 weeks having a great time. But I have to start with our trip to Taigei. As you might remember, I left my camera in the taxi after our trip, and by a miracle of God, I got it back. So here are some photos from our trip to Taigei.

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Taigei is up in the mountains and it is actually cold there. We left the house here in Manokwari at 3am and took a taxi to the end of the road and then hiked another 2 hours onto Taigei. It was 6am, 52 degrees, and we were barefoot in the mud…it was COLD. There is apparently no middle ground here temperature wise.

First off… I have heard several comments about going barefoot here, but YOU try hiking in this in flip-flops and then we can talk. Believe me, I’m a sissy little white girl with sissy white girl feet, and if I could have kept up with the boys in my flip-flops…I would have, but it was too slippery to do anything but kick off the sandals and suck it up.
This is Joerg, Hengki, Lazarus, and Agus. It was a weekend with the boys. For a girl with no brothers, it has been interesting learning to live with these guys the last few weeks.

Taigei is beautiful. In some ways it reminded me of a little bit of home. All of the mountains, a little drop in temperature, and their main staple food there is potatoes (YEA!!!!). And, to top it off we had piles of pineapples. I loved Taigei. It is a beautiful place with very friendly people.

The second day in Taigei we hiked over the mountain to the lake on the other side. I liked this picture because it gave a little perspective to the incline of the mountain. I was a little slower than the boys, but I did alright for hiking that sucker barefoot.

This is looking back over the village of Taigei from the mountain. It is always awesome to hit the summit of any mountain, but it was awesome reaching the summit of the mountain that day…I think for me it was reaching a summit of my time here in Papua. The start is always hard. But, we are finally hitting a place with our language where we are able to joke around with them and lead them in devotions. It’s still not pretty to listen to for sure, and we are definitely still playing charades with them, but we really are able to talk with them, and that has been huge.