The culmination of my adventure in the Highlands was at the annual festival that takes place in Mt Hagen, the most unsafe city I have ever seen (PHOTOS INCLUDED BY ERROR IN THE PREVIOUS CHRONICLE). Three bodyguards accompanied me, one for my (my guide) and two more for my guide, I say no more …
This festival emerges with the aim of pacifying the moods sharing their own culture among the remote tribes and valuing the wealth of each other thinking about a peaceful future between all of them, which is complicated by the fact that this is a country with more than 800 different languages And infinity of tribes before rivals, reason why many of these tribes directly nor are understood. Cultural richness everywhere in a festival where, out of their luxury hiding places, tourists made their appearance to take thousands of photos and disappear again with their escort.
Fortunately the taste of mouth so bitter that I carried highland fully convinced not to return to this country (at least not in this stressful way) I was removed during the last days in the region of “Tufi”, the land of faces Tattooed on the coast of the country, living with fishermen and remote villages where they know little about tribal confrontations and is that it seems that the sea, the breeze and life around a canoe and a hook calms the warrior spirit of these people .
In spite of everything, it has been an unforgettable trip and I take many new friends willing to give their lives for the white man and whom I will most probably never see again. “My brother” as he came to consider me Maima (“Bugs” for friends), after many days living with his family, (who took me running from the mountain).
I will not be the judge of them when in our past history perhaps we were even more savage than they could be. They also thought we were savages when I told them about the attacks that religious fanatics are carrying out in so many supposedly “advanced” and cultured cities. Everything follows its natural process and with a bit of luck, time and less corrupt politicians the wealth of Papua New Guinea can be preserved to share it with the rest of the world without the need for bodyguards … my first beer when you get home will be giving for it. Cheers!
