Back in the Game

Day 21 - 9th December

During the morning, the hotel staff arranged a car and driver to take me on the 1-hour drive to Jayapurato try to change USD to Indonesian rupiah (not possible in Sentani) as funds were getting a bit low after so long in this hotel. The Sentani/Abepura/Jayapura conurbation is really not set up for tourists and I had fialed to change any money inj Sentani the day before. At the Bank, I was told that two of my $100 bills were fakes and couldn't be exchanged (thanks to the Post Office at Clapham Junction for that one!). Also, this was not a good time to find out that there is a daily exchange limit of 1,000 USD (which didn't apply in Jakarta)! I had hope to change at least $1,500 to make sure I had a small float of Rupiah for any unexpected emergency payments.

I still hadn't heard back from AMA so I called Bob Ops Manager and he told me he was in Merauke and would not arrive back in Sentani until Friday afternoon. He told me to go to his office and visit his secretary, who I knew from my last trip. The trip to exchange money took 3 hours in total and then I rushed to the AMA office at the airport. I explained to Bob's secretary that I was hoping to fly the next day and to my relief she confimed there was a flight and that there were 4 confirmed passengers. I tried to explain that I may fly with one other (Titus) but I don't think she really understood my point.

My next stop was the supermarket. Bob Ronberts had advised me to take a 10 kg bag of rice as a gift to the community and I also bought some Indonesian cigarettes as gifts for either my porters or the community leaders from the villages I passed through. I also stocked up on lots of chocolate, which I had missed on Puncak Trikora.

I rushed back to the hotel in good spirits that at last my luck seemed to be changing. I packed my kit that evening and ate my last big meal at the hotel. I checked a press release that my PR Alex Foley wanted to issue recounting my attempt on Puncak Trikora and tried to get some sleep. I was really nervous about going back to the Star Mountains after my last visit and the fact that there were so many factors beyond my control. I had no idea if I would make more progress or if I would get stuck in Bime or another village en route. I didn't know how much the porteres would expect to be paid. I had received a lot of useful information from several correspondents but no-one had visited the area in the last 10 years so I was still going back into the unknown, although I was very happy that I would at least have one other English-speaker to help this time.