We are in Timika. The last team member arrived this morning from the Dominican Republic. He was delayed in Hong Kong for almost a week owing to Visa complications. While it is widely known one can easily obtain an Indonesian Visa upon arrival, the Chinese authorities would not allow Ivan to board his connection to Denpasar without first obtaining one. He scrambled from one consulate to another appealing to various uninterested dignitaries. We do not know much about Ivan just yet, but we do know his family has connections. Chinese officials were contacted by the United Nations late last night and all of Ivan's Visa problems disappeared.
It is fortunate for Ivan our expedition has been delayed in leaving Timika. Our original plan to fly from here to Illaga has been scraped. Recent unrest there has made it unsafe. We are now planning to fly to Suguapa and begin our trek there. But there have been complications.
The plane we intended to use blew a tire while landing at Suguapa two days ago. It skidded partway off the air strip and remained stuck there, blocking the ability of other aircraft to take off or land. The plane was cleared away the next day and a new tire flown in. But flight priority goes to food shipments gauranteed by the government to arrive daily and by this time those flights are 3 days backed up. So the team will not fly out until the food shipments are caught up. In the mean time poor weather has cancelled the food flights for today. We are all just hanging out, trying to keep a mellow attitude.
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