A Trip To The River.

Ever since the first day that we arrived in the village pastor Paul had been promising to take us to the big river to bathe. Yes that is right bathe, when you live where there is no running water this is how you shower/bathe. We had set a day to go but when the day come it rained and ruined our plan so they promised to take us the next to day. But the next day did not go as planned so we did not have time to go to the big river, but we were told that there was time to go to the small river. Since we had not showered in 3 days we excepted this offer and went to the small river. Our interpreter Peter took the guys to the river, and pastor Paul 's wife Helen took the girls. The river was only a short distance down the road, through some fields and down a small hill. When we arrived at the river we set up to bathe. This is how one takes a bath in a river,(well this is how you do it if you are female) First of all you will need to be wearing a long skirt. Pull the skirt up to your arm pits and then you can remove all other clothing. The skirt now works as your swimsuit and you are ready to bathe. The river we were at had a small pool at the bottom of a 2 foot waterfall. The waterfall worked as our shower, we would take turns emerging ourselves under the waterfall while the others stood by to make sure you did not drown. We rinsed off, soaped and shampooed up, then rinsed off again. And that is how you bathe in a river in a village in PNG.
Although we had  just bathed in the small river pastor Paul promised he would take us to the big river tomorrow. So the next morning right after breakfast we headed out for the big river. The walk to the big river took us through fields.

We walked through the fields until we came to the edge of a ravine, which we would then have to climb down. Before heading down we stopped to take a team picture.

  The path down to the river was a little slippery from the rain the night before. But we all made it safely to the bottom.

Upon reaching the bottom of the hill we found this bridge.

 When we all safely crossed the bridge we walked a little way down river and found our bathing spot.
Where we all proceeded to enjoy the river.

After an enjoyable hour at the river pastor Paul announced it was time to head back. And so we crossed the bridge, climbed up the hill and walked once again through the fields. And if your legs happened to be a little to short and tired to make the climb there was a helping hand near by.

On the walk back I found a friend.