Elisabeth Hesse’s Blog

2-10-09: Back to civilization

I’m back!  Well, not back–I’m at the Mapang Missionary Guesthouse in Port Moresby, but I’m back to the world of electricity for 24 hours a day and, more importantly, internet.  As I had 425 unread emails waiting for upon my return, that’s kinda a big deal.

The day has actually gone fairly smoothly.  I headed over to the “airport” (this must be another Pidgin word, which roughly translates to “wooden shed at the side of the airstrip”) at 9 to confirm my ticket and get a boarding pass, and was told to return with my luggage at noon for my 1:45 flight.  So I finished packing, settled business with the hospital, cleaned the house, said my good-byes, and headed down the the airstrip at noon.  As luck would have it, the plane was early–we took off at 12:30!  “Security screening” consisted of, well, nothing.  I didn’t even have to show my boarding pass, as there were only two passengers, and the station’s one agent definitely remembered issuing a boarding pass to one of the white doctors.

Our flight took us into Western Province (I forget the name of the village, but it starts with an S), then back to Kerema (the capital of Gulf Province) and back to Port Moresby, landing around 3:45.  God must keep sending me people to watch over in my travels, because this flight also had a passenger who was very helpful, and even offered to drive me to the Guesthouse.  I declined, as I still had to go to the international terminal to confirm tomorrow’s flight, but I was touched that she thought to offer.

Everything went smoothly at the Air Niugini desk, so I headed over to the Red Dot taxi stand to request a taxi, and there was no one there.  Fortunately, being watched over in my travels continued, and one of the security guards at the airport saw me standing there, asked what I needed, and went to the Red Dot stand back in the domestic terminal to get a taxi for me.  Then it was short drive to Mapang, where I got to meet Ruth and Grace, the students on my itinerary 6 weeks later.  They’ve been reading my blog, which was nice to hear, and had many questions and enjoyed hearing my stories.  I’m glad I was able to help them even with that slight bit.

Unfortunately, not all continued to be so smooth.  One of my emails was regarding a change to my flights tomorrow, asking that I call Orbitz.  It’s not easy (or cheap) to call the States from here, and I ran through an entire 20K phone card before even being connected to a live person.  Seeing my struggle, the host of the guesthouse let me use the landline, so I was able to get in touch with someone and get everything straightened out.  Now I just need a lot of prayers that I will make all my connections and actually arrive in LA at 9pm on Wednesday.