Arriving to West Papua, Wamena

First I start with how I decided to go to West Papua and who I'm travelling with.

My auntie Merike once called and told me she found cheap tickets from Helsinki to West Papua. The plan is to hike in Baliem Valley for 5-7 days and then visit amazing Raja Ampat. She said it has been her dream to go there for a while now but she has some doubts and wanted to ask advise! Of course I encouraged her to go, it sounds amazing, I said. If not now, then when? She done the decision, booked the tickets and going with her husband to amazing Papua.

Life goes on and couple of weeks later she is calling me again to ask if I'd like to join them. She knows I love travelling and I don't say no for adventures. I didnt think long and decided to do it! YOLO (You only life once).

At the end her husband is not coming due some work issues. So the game is changed now we are going together - just two of us and no guide while hiking! It's exiting but we don't know what to expect. We have never hiked that many days and deep down we both have doubts are we able to do it.

There wasn't anything exiting about travelling here so I just start from when we arrive...

After one ferry and five flights we finally arrived to Wamena, West Papua. It took us "only" 3 days travel here.

We didn't really expect our host Leo to pick us up but there he is, welcoming us at Wamena airport. We found Leo from rbnb and i think he was pretty much the only one who offers accommodation in Sogokmo.

So, he is here but came with a scooter so obviously he can't take us both on a scooter with our big backbags. Then he found us a "good offer". Only 1 000 000 idr with taxi to Sogokmo from where starts our hike in Baliem Valley next day. This seems way too much to pay so finally we got the price half less. We were too tired to negotiate the price lower so we accept to pay 500 000 idr which is a bit over 30 euros. Sogokmo is about 25 km from Wamena airport. Now this "road" is something to remember! Bumpy, lot of big rocks

Basically there isn't any road in some point. Poor car! Now Im thinking, no wonder its so expencive if they have to repair the car after every drive. Everything around us looks old, very poor neighbourhood, local people with dirty and broken clothes and everybody are barefoot. But looking out the window I see around us only happy people, kids playing volleyball, running around or swimming in handmade pool kind of thing located just right next to the road. Locals driving with scooter more then two people on it, sometimes even all family and maybe friends too haha.

Same with cars, some of them has around 20 people there - inside, on the roof and on the side holding with hands. I see many women washing laundry in the river and when they see us driving by they wave to us. 

Yes it's something I imagined but this is just the start  I'm wondering... 

Finally we arrive to Sogokmo. Now Leo is telling us he is hosting two german girls at the moment but he already found us a place to stay. Our new host is lovely Mr. Derek - eldery man with the biggest and warmest smile.

First night will be in pretty decent place. We have our own room with a mattress but there is no toilets or shower of course. 

Now when settled down, Leo invites us to visit him, have some dinner together and meet the germans. We are all sitting on the floor and speaking. Well mostly is Leo speaking but sometimes also playing a bit of guitar. Leo has has 1 small child and his adorable wife is pregnant.

Sometimes we have an opportunity to speak as well, so we are curious to know what the girls are planning to do. They are not really sure about their plans but probably not going to hike in Balim or maybe just for a day with a guide. They think it might be too dangerous without the guide. In fact Leo is recommending to take a guide as well and of course he is recommending himself.

We are going to stick with our plan to do it on our own.

Leo's wife made us a lovely dinner - rice with chilli and water spinach. Before the dinner the tradition here to pray so we all are sitting together in the circle and closing our eyes for the time Leo is praying in indonesian. We didn't understand much but when he finished he said Hallelujah, Amen!

After few hours it's time to say good bye. We are exhausted and have to wake up very early.

We find out that Mr. Derek have a "special" toilet down the little hill and next to the river (like literally just do it in the nature). After seeing our surprised and confused faces he is sending us a bit more far to the church where are public toilets. Of course it's closed and gentleman like Mr. Derek is, he trying to break the lock until we stop him. Well, we will figure out something later, we don't need toilet so much anymore.

Back at home Mr. Derek is offering us some food. Again, food! We couldnt say no as it looks something very interesting. Wrapped inside banana leaf there is something we think like sweet potato - in indonesian ubi. It's cooked with chilli, garlic and onion and it tastes lush.

Now started to rain heavily. It's not surprising as apparently its raining almost every day here starting from afternoon. We are prepared for that with raincoats.

When rain calms down we decide to have a "shower" in Papua style. Like i said before there is no shower here but outside, next to the house is a big barrel full of water. This is our new reality for next 2 weeks and this is only if we are lucky. Mr. Derek's daughter is also coming outside with us. I dont know what is the reason for that. Maybe to protect us 😊

As I still need a toilet, I'm asking her to show me the place for that and she is pointing me again this downhill riverside. She is kindly sending me there too. Oh no, I'm with flip-flops and it's extremely slippery and muddy. Like coming back from the war but still alive I recommend Merike, not to do it.

Lucikly Mr. Derek allows us to leave some of our stuff in his place for the days we are hiking on the mountains. When we packed at home we tried to take as less as possible and only the things we really need so we didn't manage to get our bag a lot lighter. Still about 8-9kg to carry.

Now very tired but extremely exited about upcoming adventures, we are falling a sleep...