Going through the list of countries that start with P, the boys and I immediately agreed we had to do Papua New Guinea – a truly fascinating country that is unlike any other. With more than 800 different languages, several untouched forests (and presumably undiscovered animals), and group of people that have only recently had contact with the outside world!!

Humans first inhabited Papua New Guinea (PNG) some 40,000 years ago. And 6,500 years ago tribes there development agriculture on their own, one of the few civilizations to do so independently. And they have been farming ever since, and agriculture is still the main driver of the PNG economy. However, as we started researching PNG a huge 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the country on Feb. 26th. The death toll is now at 100 and there is extensive damage throughout the country.

Here is all the info you need to know on PNG: papua new guinea_info

And these are some of the facts we found most interesting: 

• PNG is the closest place to the equator to get snow with its highest point,  Mount
  Wilhelm, topping out at 14,793 feet.
• Until the 1930s, when the PNG kina was introduced, seashells were used as currency.
• There are more than 40 different species of birds-of-paradise in PNG and the only known poisonous bird, the Hooded Pitohui.
• Kangaroos in PNG climb trees

FOOD

Breakfast

Most PNG-ers don’t eat a big breakfast just some coffee (which they are quite famous for!) and toast, so we opted for a popular tea-time/snack treat.

Saksak – This is a dumpling made with bananas and ground sago (from the palm plant) in a coconut sauce. We could not find sago flour so we opted for tapioca flour. The sauce was tasty but the dumpling were a little chewier than we would like.

Pineapple & Fresh Coconut

Coffee and Mango Nectar

Dinner

Sweet potatoes came to PNG from the Spanish (by way of the Philippines)  in the 1700s. Today the are staple, with more than 1,000 different varieties of sweet potatoes in the country. And in some communities people consume around five pounds of sweet potato a day!!

Mumu – This is dish eaten only on holidays and special occasions, but it’s the official dish of PNG, so we had to try it. Its basically sweet potatoes, pork, pineapple, and greens (we used sweet potato greens) cooked at a low temperate for a long time. We basically followed this recipe but did add some chili powder, coriander and cardamon. It was super delicious!!! We already ate the leftovers and will definitely be cooking it again.

Kaukau – This a PNG style baked sweet potato – complete with coconut cream and lots of ginger. Another tasty preparation for the humble sweet potato!

Rice

CULTURE

When most people first think of PNG they might picture a person with a painted face in an elaborate head dress. So we decided to work from that! Though most PNGers now walk around in western clothing, they get dressed up in these traditional outfits for special occasions – particular something call Sing – Sing. Its an annual gathering of many of the tribes of PNG where they show of their distinct style of music, dress and dance. We read about it here and watched its video to find out more: Sing-Sing. Info.

Apparently there is no set meanings to the color or style of body paint or the headdresses and elaborate outfits. Basically, they are meant to represent nature in some way. So we decided to do our own face paint and headdress and channel our inner nature.

Face Paint- We used sticks of face paint and tried to color our whole faces to be authentic

Headdresses – Decorated pieces of ribbon with feather and fake flowers and whatever we could find (Isaac choose some bark and twigs from outside!)

The kids really had a blast. Isaac even added a costume and all of them were eager to dance (as we listened to PNG drum music while painting and decorating.) Here a glimpse of their crazy tribal dancing: At Home Sing-Sing

FLAG

Did you know the flag for Papua New Guinea was designed by a 15-year-old girl? She won a contest for the flag design in 1971 (four years before it officially became an independent country). The bird on it is one of the PNG’s famous Birds-of-Paradise and the stars are the South Cross, a famous constellation in the southern hemisphere. The red and black are the traditional colors used by many of the tribes.

Next up is Q so you all know what that means – back to the middle east for Qatar!