Morning came too soon. I was getting picked up at 6:30 (although the driver showed up at 6!) to head to the airport. Rushing through checkout, I accidently left my friend C.S. Lewis behind in the room. Explaining that I needed to go back for a book was much harder than I anticipated!
Seeing the airport in the light…well, no, it’s the same. The domestic terminal seems like it’s been remodeled recently, and is surprisingly clean. Getting there still involves destroyed sidewalks with boards over the holes to help with luggage carts. I really wish I could take more pictures, but it’s hard with your hands full of bags. Getting through security was hilarious; the guy watching the x-ray machine was talking to a friend when my stuff went through. I wonder if the international terminal is any better. At the gates they have a “smoking room,” which is pretty typical. Except theirs is a room without a ceiling, opening into the terminal. Nice going, guys.
I was nervous taking the malaria meds just before the flight (same time every day) given yesterday’s experience, but had little choice. Said a quick prayer and swallowed the pill dry. About the time I should have started getting sick, God provided food in the form of a small roll handed out on the plane. It was just enough to keep my stomach at bay.
Speaking of the plane…it was a small prop plane that sat no more than 20. To say it was old and busted would be something of an understatement. But it worked! It smelled like a urinal cake. For all the ladies out there, think of the cleaning stuff in a port-a-potty. The seats were all sorts of broken: mine was stuck in recline and there was nothing I could do about it. Felt bad for the person behind me. Turning the vent on did nothing, and I can’t say I was really surprised. The AC blowing into the plane’s central systems created such a fog that I could barely make out the flight attendant doing her safety presentation at the front. Not that I could understand her anyway.
As we began our final approach, you could see the runway whacked out of the vegetation, making a very visible clearing. For a moment, it looked as if the runway was simply dirt and I could check off another Life Goal, but, alas, it was “paved.” If the airport in Medan was a parking lot with a large building attached (more like a train station than anything), the “airport” in Nias is like a Greyhound bus stop. There is just the one runway (totally unmarked), and there we no other planes or even places to keep other planes.
Nias is a very special place. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a jungle. They could have filmed Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones here. Maybe they did. It’s lush and green and…tall. Huge leafed…things…and palm trees. In places you can see the coast with the bright blue water. Many of the buildings have thatched grass roofs…except these aren’t the fancy kind you find at a resort. These are on people’s homes. Nias could be a spectacular, world-class resort destination with the proper investment and management.
But it’s not. The three hour drive through the center of the island that took us from the airport to the main project office showed a tragic situation. For at least an hour of the drive, the road wasn’t paved. And that doesn’t mean it was just dirt or gravel. It was like the surface of the moon. I was continually jostled around in my seat, testing the limits of the seatbelt. The driver often had to stop completely to get over an obstacle. Every couple of minutes we would drive through another little village. It reminded me of the ruins of Katrina. Except people live in these ruins. I tried to snap some pictures as we drove by, and hope to get more on the way out. Like most things here, it’s hard to explain.
In the middle of it all, we have an office. It’s a small building with a lot of staff bustling around. Light bulbs hang from the ceiling. The floor is about the only thing that looks nice. The main floor has all the offices, downstairs is living quarters for a couple of the staff and upstairs is a roof-deck sort of thing. I like that part. Supplies are scarce and hard to come by, so there are giant vats setup to collect rain water to boil for drinking. Food has to last. The power goes out constantly and presents a very real problem for the equipment.
I had only been here for a couple hours when a mighty thunderstorm rolled in. I love storms, and this was one for the record books. The lighting and thunder were right with each other; we were close. The thunder shook the building and hurt your ears. It was almost high pitched cracking. Surprisingly enough, the power held. Rain flooded the streets in a way unheard of in Oregon.
It’s hard deciding what to actually do here. The computers all run, and all that could be done to make them run better is change the work habits of the staff. But with so many staff all popping in and out of the office, it’s not really possible to make sweeping changes. And they don’t have anyone here to help them. So it’s best to leave things as they’re used to.
I brought a satellite transceiver with me to see how they work from the field. This was my first opportunity to give it a shot (both in terms of time and being outside). I’m very impressed. It runs circles around their giant satellite dish (see pictures) and really isn’t bad for a single user. I have a Steelhead appliance (more on those later) configured to test with it hopefully tomorrow when its counterpart in Portland is ready. Not that this particular stop is in any way lacking adventure, but using a satellite modem you brought in your luggage is a pretty awesome feeling.
The sunset was breathtaking, but, of course, the pictures didn’t really come out. It was dark by 7. Wonder when it gets light.
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