A few highlights....

Usually, every new village/district we went to would put on an extravagant welcome (or farewell) from the locals in their traditional dress with amazing dances and song, an array of gulf province food and even a few dramas... and it was a highlight of our day every time. No matter how many times we saw this, we always found ourselves so overwhelmed & blessed with the preparation put on for our welcome/farewell! ...

Now why wouldn't this be a highlight? Whether sunrise or sunset, and for every meal we ate on the after deck, watching the locals paddle across the river was a beautiful calming sight and made us realize how privileged we were to be there... and what a way to end the day....

Spontaneously gathering the massive crowds of all ages, singing kids songs whether acapella or with an out of tune guitar, and playing games to entertain and see them all laugh brought much joy to me.... and i'm not going to lie- it was all about the "Banana Song." Thats the big guns we pulled out and never failed to win them over...

We needed some footage & photographs of the M/V Pacific Link in action, so one morning, me, nick and Roger got to jump in the zodiac and drive ahead while the ship was cruising through the river. It's not a big ship, but it looked huge out there and it was pretty cool to see it from a distance with the awesome Gulf waterway backdrop! ...

So there's a saying that "God flicked them out of his hands" and thats how the Gulf Province was made... Thus, the mud. This picture was taken from our small boat... yes... you got it- AFTER we had to cross this mud. i found myself in nearly thigh-high mud ... and this all became part of our daily trip into and out of the villages and though it wasn't the simpliest- it was sooo much fun and when you are out there- you really just don't care and is all part of the adventure! ... and plus- see all the locals that walked us out? ... They just wanted a laugh to see us foreigners trip and fall into the mud.... see?.... everyone gets something out of it.

i wrote about Junior in the previous post... But still- meeting my little buddy Junior was such a highlight for me, especially for the week in Baimaru. Actually, i guess you can say that Junior was kind of a 'significant' highlight to cover all my png kid highlights. they are just all so free and innocent so much fun! ...

And of course, our means of travel in the Gulf has to be a highlight! ... As if travelling on the 32 meter ship wasn't enough... we got to the villages in small boats (called dingys), or the zodiac. Or even some of us in the locals' canoe boats... Out travels were sometimes a 5 minute- or an hour ride... either way, it was all part of this unique adventure and part of the Gulf Province lifestyle....