The Shining

After a day in the hotel in Port Moresby, yesterday we flew to Tari in the highlands of Papa New Guinea.

The guy at the hotel in Moresby apologized to Michael that he couldn't really comment on what it would be like up here because he is an islander (as in not a Highlander). Which is a very specific distinction when your whole country is the second largest island on earth. 

We were met at the airport by five guys. Thomas, the driver. Paul, the lodge manager. Stephen, the guide. Paul, the other guide. And Paul, the other guide also named Paul. Indeed, it is very Christian country. 

It turns out that we are THE ONLY guests here at the lodge. Which could feel very exclusive but actually feels like we are being intrusive. My brother was quick to send a jack Nicholson "here's Michael" meme which is the reason for the title of this post. 

That may be more relevant given that during our very personal orientation, Paul mentioned that the lodge has it's own "generally reliable" hydro electric system because the power lines we saw on the road up are only about a year old and aren't connected to any power yet. We should keep our devices handy at night so we can use the flashlights on them if necessary.

On a side note, in much the same way that you find all over the world people independently invent/discover important and useful things like flint rocks, rope, music, It appears that you can run power lines in a very isolated, primitive, primarily barefoot society and people still feel compelled to toss tied-together pairs of shoes over the lines.

But I digress...Paul also asked if we had any specific dietary restrictions. We said, no allergies. Michael just didn't like to eat fish. 

Paul was much relieved. that's easy. Some people can have very difficult dietary demands. Great. We didn't want to be difficult.

Spaghetti for lunch. Cool.

Then we sat down for dinner. 

Watercress soup. Surprisingly tasty

And.... For our main course.

Drum roll

Barramundi

Luckily very breaded salty seasoned and fried...

But how did "just no fish"  end up "feed him fish. "

Or in fact was the "no allergies" the key part of that conversation? I.e. Fish won't kill him so we can go ahead and feed him fish.