I'm back!

Hello everyone!

This past Monday was the longest of my life. Seriously! It not only felt longer, it was actually longer! Courtesy of some international date line magic, it lasted 38 hours and the sun rose and set 2 full times! I had a bad case of the Mondays. :) So, after a seriously long day (giggle) of travel, I'm finally back home.

All of the families were there waiting for us at the airport, holding signs and giving us a big cheer. I can't tell you how nice it is to be home. Thanks to this winter storm that cancelled everything, we all got to have a nice dinner together and watch a great movie. It's good to be back.

I thank all of you for your support of Laurel and my family while I was out. This blog, and your interest in it, kept her going. Thank you so very much.

I'll be putting together some pictures and thoughts on the trip that I would love to share with you any time. There are even a few lessons I learned that I can squeeze in if you wish.

I love you all.

Farrell
Fusion & Games Blog

Party!!

They're coming home tonight! Yeah!! Or as Spencer would say "Heck Yeah!" :)

So we're going to have a party for the women and children left home alone. It will be held while the men are camped out in their "long house" (aka: airplane) And then... we'll all leave for the airport to bring these men home. Heck Yeah! In keeping in the spirit of things, we'll be eating: Sago round biscuits, leaves, roots, speared fruit and mud. We'll also play some games and use our survivor skills to compete in some of our own point-earning challenges. No big buck prizes though. Probably just bragging rights. :)

(menu translation: pizza, salad, veggie tray, fruit kabobs and dirt dessert.)

Heading Home

Vance posted on facebook: "Heading home now over 2-3 days of connecting flights. We leave with memories of our exhilarating adventure, but humbled by the contrast of our lives with the Asmat people."

I do not envy these next couple of days of traveling. I guess they can try not to think about it, rather just think about the cool experiences they've had. Received a couple of texts from Farrell today: "We're at the airport in Tamika after a harrowing bus ride. On the plane to Jakarta in a couple of hours. I forgot: I played soccer in the Asmat village. Part of our gift was a couple of soccer balls, so the day we got there they played soccer. There wasn't a field, just a small clearing (half the size of an indoor field) where they piled about 25 guys. I jumped in and played with them until I chased the ball in to a large mud hole up to my knees and lost my crocs. They paused the game to help me find them. :) It was really fun."


Vance posted some pictures on his facebook account. Here are some of them:

Huge spider, about 7 inches away from Farrell's face.

Dale, Mike, Brian, Matt P, Todd on the beach.
Asmat men.

Welcome ceremony.
Their ship, the Atasita, as seen from the jungle.

Vance posts: "Zach Walker on his rock climb up this crag. Everyone did this as part of a competition. You haven't lived until you've rock climbed over the ocean."

A few more Asmat details

Rest assured... there will be pictures galore when these guys return! Here's a couple Vance sent on his iPhone.
Heading up river towards the Asmat tribe. I guess this is the boat Farrell referred to that the 12 of them were in, side by side. I'm not sure how many guides were with them.
Vance said: "The next day, instead of having sago and fish, we had something completely different... fish and sago. That was pretty much every meal. Of course there are no utensils so we ate with our hands... I was spell bound to watch their system of gathering sago. They cut down two 60 foot trees, shed the palm fronds, cut away the bark, and then chopped up the inside marrow of the tree within itself. Then they made an aqueduct off the ground out of the palm fronds, plugged it up at the bottom, and prepared to filter the sago through it."

"I wondered where they would get the water... well, right out of the soppy ground we were standing on. Dig a hole, pull out the mud, and you have water... plus all kinds of bacteria and disease I'm sure. Then they filtered the water trough the sago and the result is a sticky, pasty, white stuff. Each tree creates enough sago to feed four families for a week or two."

First night's dinner of fish and sago. (L-R) Paul, Farrell, Mike

The long house. Vance said: "Sleeping was very difficult because the ground was very hard and because we were literally sweating for hours while we tried to sleep. That, plus the smelly men, incessant drum beating and screaming kids made it very difficult. Most were praying for the sun to come up to end their misery."

Back to the Ship

It's 9:00 Thursday evening here... 1:00 PM on Friday for Farrell. They are back on the ship. Here's what he had to say in texts:

• "We're back. I've showered and scrubbed and feel better. The village was an unbelievable experience. It wasn't clear that we'd be staying with them until we got there. They greeted us with all the warriors standing up on their longboats yelling and grunting and banging against the boat. I was overcome. I'll catch you up on the rest next week. The short version is this: that experience with them was the most poignant and changing of the entire trip."
• (Context: When Farrell left on this trip, we sent him with some things to give away to children he would meet: small kaleidoscopes, glow bracelets, hemp/bead bracelets Melissa made and Silly Bands--the shaped silicone bracelets that are so popular with kids here.) "The silly bands, bracelets and glow sticks were a HUGE hit. The kids went completely crazy. Last night when the kids were running around on the pathways waving their glow sticks around in the dark was probably the best moment on the trip. It was sacred to me."
• "I wasn't dry for 2 entire days. I was just soaking wet the entire time. It was particularly bad to lie down to sleep just swimming in sweat. When I got there we had these horrific sago cakes that we choked down. I was pretty sure I could survive on the beef jerky, mangoes and water flavoring I brought. The food got better. The last night we had freshly killed boar and rice that was really quite tasty. I pretty quickly got used to scooping it into my mouth with my fingers."
• (In answer to some questions from Dallen)--"There sure didn't appear to be any bedtimes. But there wasn't much to do after 6:30 when it was dark and no electricity. They speak their own dialect of Papuan. We slept on palm tree mats in a big long house with palm roof and sides."
• "The hunting was rough. The ground never really gets dry. So here I was in my big nice leather boots sunk up to my knees in mud. The Asmat people were barefoot just skittering across the top of the ground, knowing exactly where to step. They ended up having to chop palm branches and lay them on the path so we could cover any ground. They had about 6 of these seriously underfed dogs that went out and checked the boar traps and barked when there was one. That's how we got ours. We didn't even follow them because we were SO slow. They just walked back to our clearing (where the were harvesting sago) with the boar. One of the hunters carried it piggyback (giggle)."
• "The tribe got into this big fight about how to divide up the money the expedition gave them. They are rather passionate. At one point after dark there was a guy out there screaming and banging on a house. Another one was out there with a spear. That really got the village going and it did give me some pause. :)"
• This is taken from an email Vance sent to Kim: "Everyone was dreading another night in the "man house". We ate some boar stew and rice with our fingers and began the business of suffering through the night... At one point Jason felt something crawling on his feet. He looked down to find one of the Asmat men playing with his toes. We're still trying to figure that one out."
• "They butchered the boar right there on the spot out in the jungle. They started 2 small fires and cooked some up (it was good). It was interesting to watch them unravel the intestines, cook them up and share among the hunters (along with the heart). Its a delicacy they reserve for the hunters. (I didn't get any). They also got some yummy sago grubs for us. I passed on them because I was already full. :)"
• (Talking about earlier...) "There were scorpion fish we saw on every dive. If you grab one of those just for fun you'd be dead pretty quick. They hide in the reef so they aren't a danger. We only saw one shark. :( But our group did see a ray that was about 5 feet across. Those are beautiful fish."
• "Yes. Grubs as in big fat worms. They don't have monkeys in these jungles. Just crocs, snakes and these big beautiful birds. (I haven't seen any crocs or snakes). We weren't scared when we saw the shark and ray. Wish they would have stuck around longer."
• "I was overwhelmed when they [the warriors in the long boats] greeted us. It was so loud and foreign. And I was so completely surprised by it. I have a hard time describing how it made me feel. Overcome."
• Vance's email: "As we approached the village in long canoes, we were surprised by dozens of canoes with Asmat tribesmen standing up and shouting in unison. They surrounded us and then as we came to the next bend, another batch joined them. Very intimidating. They took us ashore and into their long house which was over 100' long. Only men are allowed in it."
• "I had just a few extra silly bands and the group I was with all had some so I found these 2 little tiny girls and gave them each 4. They let me put them on and I was reminded so much of Sarah Jane with 8 billion silly bands on her wrists."
• "The break from texting was us having crab and fish curry for lunch. :) I would dearly love to just blink home right now. It's been a great trip and I'm ready to be home with my family."

So what's left? A couple more nights aboard the ship and then they'll be to Timika where they begin to fly back home over a couple of days... Remember the beginning of this trip? 40 hours of travel (25 on planes) and they still had one more flight to go. Uhg. Well, sometimes you just have to buck up and pay the price. :)

Farrell arrives at the SLC airport this Monday night... I quite like the idea of him coming home. :)

Why don't cannibals eat Clowns?

They taste funny!

In about 4 hours it will be Wednesday morning for Farrell and they will be headed to spend a few days with the Asmat tribe. When he texted me this morning, he said that they've been telling them to eat well... because the next few days, food might be, um, different. YES! More contest points!! :) Ever since Vance had the meeting for the wives and told us about the trip, this is the part that I most wanted to talk to Farrell about! How many years has he been telling his silly cannibal jokes??

Did you hear about the cannibal who threw up his arms? Message from Vance:
"Tomorrow morning early begins the last major phase of our adventure. We're getting long boats (canoes) and traveling hours up the river. We're anchoring our schooner in the bay while we're gone. We'll live with the extremely primitive Asmat tribe for 2 days and 2 nights. We'll eat what they eat, hunt what they hunt, and sleep where they sleep. We're trying to tank down as much food as possible since we don't know what or when we'll eat again. The group is excited but suffering from feelings of trepidation."

And Farrell thought I was being "way too over-prepared" that I sent toilet paper with him! (It was just so small! I found it in the camping section of Walmart.) But he texted and said Vance just told them to pack some toilet paper. Yes! I, the wife, am victorious!! I so, told you so.

I think the Asmat people are meeting them at the ship, then they will travel with them in the long boats, pictured above. I wonder if they have to stand up like that. Apparently there's serious sea crocodiles there... I don't remember Vance telling them to brush up on their balancing skills as part of their trip preparation!

So. These Asmat people. (pronounced: AWS-mot) What do we know about them? Well, the Internet has a fair bit of info available:

"The Asmat tribe resides in the tidal swamplands of West Papua's south coast. They are renowned amongst tribal art experts world wide as woodcarvers of the highest order."

"Asmat. A word that long scared people. Asmat is a word that became a synonym for cannibals. Asmat is a tribe whose members in the time of war ate brains of their enemies mixed with sago worms from their halved skulls. A son of a New York governor disappeared (1961) in the territory of the Asmat tribe. Asmat used to use human skulls instead of a pillow."

"Besides the fact that the Asmat were head-hunters, they also "hunted for names". Every person was named after someone deceased, or after a killed enemy. A child was sometimes given a name only ten years after it was born, and after its village set out to kill a man from an enemy village nearby. They had to learn the name of the man they killed, and then bring his skull to their village. Only in this way could a person get a name."

Bwa ha ha. :) At the wives meeting, someone jokingly asked "Are we going to have to go over there and collect their bones?" To which I replied, "But I will feel all right about it all because there will be a little 'Farrell' running around on the other side of the world!"

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NOTE: I also read that cannibalism is no longer practiced there.

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Did you hear about the cannibal that passed a missionary in the forest?

:)

Triton Bay

Day 8: Arrived in Triton bay--one of most beautiful and undisturbed places of Asia. Magnificent scenery.

These pictures were sent by Vance: (Farrell's in the center on the back row, with his hands on the shoulder straps of his backpack.)
I was able to exchange texts with Farrell this morning. He said

the treks are very hot, muggy and sweaty. He was completely soaked on the last one. He wonders how the trek through the jungle will go without drying out for 3 days. Catching lobster in Triton bay. They had a BBQ on a beach-- 16 lobsters for dinner. :)

Picture of some of the guys on the beach. Farrell is sitting in the center with his elbow on a log.

Message from Vance:

"I can't find the words to describe the amazing adventure we've been on. Surreal maybe. Scuba diving and snorkeling some of the most beautiful reefs in the world. Trekking through the jungle to see wallabies. Playing around fresh waterfalls that dump right into the ocean. A couple of us learning the hard way why you don't try to swim back through the waterfall after visiting the cave behind it. Eating the lobster and fish at night that you caught during the day. Everyone is well."

"We've seen dolphin, rays lobster, turltes, sea snakes, lion fish, a shark, and many other amazing creatures. The diving has been fantastic."

Day 9: Spent entire day sailing along coast of Irian Jaya.