Let our adventure begin. Day 1

It was raining heavily all night. I'm wondering, is it gonna be like this all the time? We heard it was rainy season here, but deep down I was truly hoping it was not going to be like that.

We slept well. Finally a decent sleep after a long travel. Its not even 7 am yet and we hear very loud music coming from outside. We are wondering is it a alarm clock for all the village or maybe to send the hikers on the road.

For breakfast we are having porridge and a cup of coffee.
We brought some porridge from Estonia and muesli batons with us. Last night from the little shop in the village we got some noodles and coffee- we wanted to be prepared because we knew there were no shops on top of the mountain. 

Now we need to figure out our exact route and distance between the villages. As Mr. Derek doesn't speak much English we are lucky that Leo is coming over.
We only have a small printed map with the Baliem villages on it. We are thinking we shoud have bought a local sim card in order to get conection to make phone calls or download an offline map in case we get lost beacause the paper map we have is very basic.

Unfortunetly, it is too late to go back. We don't want to lose a day driving back to Wamena for the sim card and they don't sell any here in the village. Oh well... How difficult can it be? I asked myself. Hopefully we won't have any trouble finding the villages and prevent having to sleep outside in the middle of nowhere.

Its about 9 am and our adventure is about to start. Before our trekking begins, we all gather in circle to pray. Mr. Derek is praying for our safety and good luck. Hallelujah! Amen! It's very touching.
Now we begun walking with Mr. Derek as he wants to guide us in the right direction. Once we reached the beginning of the path,  it is time to say goodbye. See you in about 5 days, Mr. Derek! You are a good man!

We are on our own now. The start is easy, we are enjoying the views and are very exited. On the way we meet some locals who probably have been in the shop or market in Wamena and now heading back to their villages. Everybody is barefoot. Women are carrying heavy crocheted bags filled with food on their head while simultaneously crocheting another bag. Everybody is very friendly. All of them have a big smile, shake our hand gently and say, "salamat pagi" which means good morning in Indonesian. They also are keen to know where we are going and where we are from. Estonia... North of Europe... Ok Europe! Maybe they know, maybe they don't.
I really would like to take a photo of these two ladies but when I asked them they wanted money for it. Clever, but no. I secretly took a photo of them from far away, although it was not the best quality.

Leo informed us that people deep in the villages dont like to have their pictures taken because they belive their lives will be shortened. However, they will gladly agree to have their pictures taken if you offer them money.

We have only been walking a few kilometres when we spot a small village decorated with beautiful huts. We then crossed a large bridge towards the village with the powerful Baliem River flowing below.

A local man who has been walking behind us for a while now has asked me to take a picture with him on my phone. I joked around with him and said I would only if he pays me.

We carry on walking and the trail is getting more interesting now. We have to cross small rivers, walk in mud and on rocks, and climb up ladders which I belive are built to keep pigs from running off.

From far in the distance we notice a group of locals with two foreigners. We stop to speak with them for five minutes. It's their sixth day of hiking and they are on their way back now. Wow, I'm thinking... six days! For us it's only the first day. I'm so exited! As the trail is getting more difficult Merike is changing her shorts to long trousers and sandals to boots. I have boots with me too, but I did not yet change into them. Before I left I was questioning if I needed the boots as they are a lot of extra weight but just in case I took them. At the moment im wearing very comfortable trainers that I got few years ago in Sumatra when went to hike in the jungle. When in Sumatra the guide gave us trainers made of rubber. The trainers are perfect for muddy, slippery and wet conditions as they have good traction on the bottom.

At times the trail becomes quite difficult and reminds me a little bit of the jungle--I'm really enjoying it! Merike is saying it already is much more difficult than she expect it to be. It's true, the trail is difficult but im full of energy. Regardless, we carry on the trail. To make the trecking manageable, we stopped for breaks to rest and drink water. One of the locals gave Merike a walking stick to aid her during the hike.
Oh, there are springs! We can fill up our bottles. We have one plastic bottle that is two liters which we got from Mr. Derek, a second small bottle and a filter bottle Merike bought from Estonia which is supposed to clean all water. We are not sure if this spring water is clean or not but just in case we filter the water.

We carry on walking and there is another river to cross. Merike realised she forgot her walking stick at the springs and decided to go back for it. I just waited, enjoyed the moment--listening to sounds of the river and birds around me. This river is quite deep and the space between the rocks are quite long so the stick is needed for the saftey.

The trail is now mainly uphill and there is quite a lot of climbing to do. Finally when we come out from the jungle, the scenery becomes much more beautiful. We are surrounded by amazing views, sunshine, mountains. I couldnt ask for anything better. We see lot of fields where locals are  growing different food such as ubi (sweet potato), water spinach, and onions. 

We have been hiking about 5 hours now and we are about to arrive to the first big village called Seima. Some village kids notice us from far away and run to us and ask for "gula gula" which means candy. Luckily Merike brought some from Estonia. We are thinking about staying in this village. For the first day we've had plenty of hiking. A young man who came to us is offering a place to sleep but he is asking 100, 000 rp per person for a night this equates to about six euros each but we think it's a bit too much and are trying to negotiate. He doesn't want to give us cheaper so we carry on walking and think about what to do. Another women come to us offering a place to stay too. She agrees that we pay 100, 000 rph for two people and everybody is happy. Her name is Ester. We have a similar room in a house with a mattress for sleeping like at Mr. Derek's house. I do try to convince her to let us sleep in the hut but for some reason she doesn't allow us. At least we get a chance to check it out from inside. The hut is very low, there is dried hay on the floor and in the middle of the hut there is a fire place for cooking. Unbelivable, there is nothing to cover the roof for the fire. I dont know how works like that but it does obviously. 

The church in the village

Now we gonna walk around in the village a bit. We see little kids playing volley ball and thinking to join them. But at the end we just watch them play and leave it as that.

While walking around in this lovely village we meet two men with a small child who kindly is asking us to come to visit his place. 

He takes us to his hut where his wife is cooking. She is splitting buah merah which is traditional delicacy in Papua. Unfortunately we didn't get to try it. 

After some time we decide to leave as the man started saying to us he doesn't have money to finish renovation of his house. 

Ester is preparing a dinner and more people from the village are coming around. Also her husband arrives with a bunch of food from the forests and fields. He is a pastor in the village. 

Ester has prepared rice, water spinach, and ubi while her husband has brought a massive avocado. While waiting the food (and after the meal too) everybody is eating kelapa hutan nuts. These are an important staple food in New Guinea. They grill it on the fire then breake the shell and each of the nuts we have to break with the rock. Then eat and enjoy! It tastes like mixture of coconut and walnut. 

Kelapa hutan

 Ester is crocheting a carry bag. They don't only use this for carrying food but also they keep their babies there sometimes.

Ester is also giving some food for the village children to take it home for their parents. They really look after to eachother. 

Couple of elderly women arrived. They are very friendly like all the locals but they have a glassy eyes and about 3 teeth in their mouth. They look high! Even kind of creepy with their eyes. Merike explains to me that here they eat betel nuts what makes them high... Oh wow, I'm wondering! I'd like to try them...