Trip to Fungurume - The Mine Site

So I had to travel to the mine site for a couple of days. Here's a few pictures. The plane was one of those dual props. I think it holds 12 passengers...not the smallest plane I've been on, but one of the most interesting flights. Here's a couple of shots of the clouds. The flight took about 30 minutes. You can actually drive. The National Highway actually goes right through the "town", but since it's a dirt road and not int he greatest condition, it takes 3 hours.

This is the boarding pass. Sorry that you can't see it very well. I thought it was a very interesting process. You go into this wating-room type area and they right your name on these pre-printed "tickets". Then they cut the tickets apart with sissors and hand you the one with your name on it. It was easy for them to identy me...the only one with an American name. Then the plane comes and you walk out on the tarmack and before you climb those stairs up to the plane, you hand the little slip to another person. I think it would be a lot easier to just tick your name off a list or something.

So here are the accomodations at base camp. They put me up in a "twelve man unit." My suite was eight feet wide and had enough room to walk around the bed and that's about it. I gained a lot of respect for those that live in a room like that for months at a time. At least I had my own bathroom, TV and fridge.