WAMENA VALLEY, IRIAN JAYA

I can't believe I even boarded this plane let alone flew in it from Wamena Valley to Jayapura.

It is loaded with empty gas drums. Gas fumes filled the cabin.

One spark would have blown us out of the air.

The need for fuel in the high valley caused unsafe decisions about cargo.

Don't even think about taking this flight.

IRIAN JAYA: CANNIBAL VALLEY MUMMY

The chief sitting in the chair is about 400 years old--mummified by smoking him over the cooking fires for years. His skin feels about the same as soft tar.

When I asked the living chief if I could see him he said, "Yes, but very expensive."

"How much?"

"Two dollars."

"I can afford it."

You'll notice the men don't have much of a wardrobe. It's an orange gourd. It's also where they keep their tobacco.

WAMENA VALLEY PORK CHOPS

Pork chops anyone? We are at the main village market in this near-stone-age market.

I bought two stone axes here--the kind they used every day.

This is also the place and day I got a good dose of malaria. It was one of those female mosquitoes that bit me that evening that got me.

Not much fun having malaria.

About three years later (why did we take so long) Jean and one of our council members prayed for me. Ten years later I have never had another attack of the spiking fevers and ague since that night.