Wednesday 3rd August 201
We walked through and then around Nusa Island.
We walked through and then around Nusa Island.
There are, I think, 300 villagers, and they were all
thrilled to bits to see us. Well they APPEARED
to be thrilled to bits!
They are such very hospitable people, and they do seem
to like to have a chat with newcomers.
As we walked along the track through the jungle we
came across two boys with wooden spears, probably about ten years old. They looked very pleased with themselves and
Pete asked what they were hunting.
“Pigs!” they said and disappeared into the trees.
A few minutes later I heard footsteps and turned to
find a whole line of men running along the path, all armed with spears and
machetes, leaping off the path and rushing of into the bushes, beaming with the
joy of the hunt.
We asked Hansi, who we met further up the path, if
they were all off on a pig hunt and she said yes indeed. They do this every Saturday and usually catch
one or two very big wild pigs, for the Sunday island BBQ.
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| Hansi and her wares |
Along the track at the other side of the island we
found an unexpected little market. Four
nice young ladies with stalls set out with beautiful necklaces they had
painstakingly made with shells, and other useful pretty items to be found in
the sea. Do they sit there all day every
day, or do they just rush to set up when there is rumour of dimdims coming
along the path?? (Dimdims is what they
call whitefellas, in the PNG islands…In Irian Jaya we were Balandas, a
derivation of Hollander – they use this term in Arnhem Land too, strangely.)
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