“I want nice rooms and good security,” I heard Dan say to the woman at the front desk. Our reservation at the Grand Tempaga had, through a miscommunication, been cancelled and there was no room for our team as we returned to Timika from the expedition. The apologetic staff of the Grand Tempaga was calling around town in an effort to secure alternate accommodations. Dan’s emphasis on security reminded me that the post-climb ebullience we had enjoyed would need to be set aside while we lay low again.
Our vans took us to another part of the city, down alleyways of mismatched asphalt and wild-eyed roosters. We pulled into an ungated courtyard attended by a guard shack with two bare feet propped up in the window. Pal and I paid the front desk attendant 100,000 rupiah to find us some beers, to which our lone security guard was promptly dispatched on a vespa. Dan asked that we not wander off the premises, promising we would dine together somewhere nice a few hours hence.
There had been a Sheraton in Timika at one point, on the outskirts of town upon a high and defendable hilltop. At various times of unrest the resort had proven sanctuary for Freeport executives and others. Now it was owned by someone else, but still boasted both the grandness of a Sheraton and the fortifications of Viking brothel. I suspect the room rate was beyond our allotted budget, and thus we hunkered down in town behind an army of one. But the fabulous restaurant at the resort was fair game. We drank. We ate. We toasted. I consumed a steak large enough to put me on the Hindu most wanted list.
The next day we flew out of New Guinea, over hastily sketched trees and slums, the reef, surf and tiny islands with rocks arranged to spell SOS. In Denpasar, Bali, that night we celebrated again. A restaurant on the beach took us into the comforts of it’s large padded booth facing the postcard waters of this exotic place. The evening went on long enough for team members to slump over in the booth and sleep then wake and rejoin the party. I introduced the group to the merits of Vodka/tonic with a lime squeeze. When the bills arrived Pal was incredulous to see he had been charged for 22 of them. I pointed out that he had in fact only had 11 drinks, but they had all been doubles. Ivan and I saw Pal back to our hotel and i bade them good evening while I attended to details at the front desk. But voices beckoned me from the bar as I proceeded to my room. Pal had insisted on buying a round of whiskey for he and Ivan. Not wishing to offend, I joined them. When I finally got Pal to his room he gave me a big happy hug. “You’re my best friend,” he declared.
Team members slipped away over the next few days, returning to the far flung lands from whence they had come. As Ivan departed I urged him to pursue a career in Politics, making him pledge to hire me to manage the finances of the Dominican Republic once he is President. “You will be my Advisor,” he stated. “With a big a-- mansion,” I added. “On the beach or the mountain,” he questioned. “But of course the beach,” I said, and we both laughed.
I hired a cab to take me south to Nusa Dua. I had reserved a room there in a very nice resort for the next 8 days and Lin would be joining me, flying in this night from Munich. The Nikko resort is a vast and well-appointed property in the best of Balinese tradition. The warm, over-employed staff had just completed the high season for Australian Tourists and now drifted rudderless in the high vacancy tides of Ramadan. I was “Mr. Dave” the minute I checked in and everyone seemed to know it. The Concierge obliged my unorthodox request for Balinese clothing and summoned the car to take me to the airport.
Lin did not see me at first. I was standing behind the metal gate that held back the crush of Taxi Drivers and Tour Operators as Arrivals exited baggage claim. My sarong was stylish, my hair piece tasteful. I had enjoyed minor celebrity among my kind. Then she turned back, as though a replay of her scan had revealed my counterfeit. Lin smiled at me. I had not seen that smile in a month. I wanted to leap over the barricade but had no idea how to do so wearing a skirt. Lin came to me and we embraced. I instantly felt closure on the expedition, as though I had arrived back home. In a very real sense I had.
No comments:
Post a Comment