5k Kate

Yesterday Wagiba and I were walking together when something I feared would happen since the day I met her happened. Wagiba’s knife and my hand had a clumsy rendezvous as I swung my arms to walk and she waved her machete to gesticulate. Wagiba cried out “ngämo män! ngämo män! ngämo män! (my daughter! my daughter! my daughter!)” and I instantly went back in my mind to that wonderful moment walking down the village street of Batyrevo, Chuvashia and my mama in love calling out, introducing me to the gossiping neighbors “манан юратна херача!” (моя любимая дочка! my lovely daughter!) and I understood her and I went from feeling so awkward and tall and out of place to feeling like I belong and that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, and besides the fear of the machete, I felt so loved as Wagiba fussed over me.  I haven’t been officially adopted into a family here - even though the obvious one is Warama and Wagiba’s who invited me here, feed me, house me, and work with me. There’s a ver...

It is the 27th and everyone is still in full Christmas spirit! Yesterday I had the chance to observe an “uncle celebration” and today was the Christmas feast with a special speech by masar Kidarga.  I’ve been told that, in general, Ende people don’t consider their mother’s relatives as their family as their clan extends from their fathers side of the family. But one of their mother’s relatives is very important and that’s your mother’s brother or pope . Traditionally, Ende people marry through a practice of sister exchange, in which two men exchange sisters in order to marry. In this way, an Ende person’s mother’s brother is responsible for their mother’s marriage and thus their existence. A payment must be paid to one’s pope uncle when one comes of a certain age, and in general, one has to be careful to respect them and keep them happy. Yesterday, three elders in the community, Yugui, Warani, and Giniya, welcomed their pope uncle, Sipiki, who came to visit Limol for Christmas from...

Merry Christmas! It’s been a long few first days here in Limol, culminating in a great Christmas celebration.  Preparations for Christmas begin weeks before the actual day as families move around in the gardens and sago places, camping in the bush and gathering food for the holiday. Those who live outside of the village begin making their way home. On my first day here, the 23rd, I was able to help Wagiba make preparations. We went fishing (net dragging) down at Karama swamp and caught six fish! We went down a bit late though (8am). It would have been less hot (in the 30s/90s) and the fish wouldn’t have hid in the floating grass. We carried those fish and a bunch of taro home in our spalek bags. I thought I would faint in the heat but we made it. After a nap, we went to fetch water in the roller. It’s much harder without Grace to help me pull it up the hill. As soon as we got back it poured rain. We filled up all our buckets with rain water and had a nice shower too.  The next...

I’m writing this blogpost in a dugout canoe with a 15 HP motor attached, cruising down the part of the Bitiri river that leads to Limol.  The stars are so bright outside and the moon is just a sliver like a fingernail. Wagiba blows out through her mouth while patting her lips at the moon. I’m leaning back on my packs of gear in the honorary seat that is the only seat in the canoe. In front of Wagiba is her son Winson, and behind the packs is her husband Warama and our friend Sali who is operating the boat. In Ende we call the operator gall onyang  and the frontman, Winson today, the nyongo taempägag “way shower=navigator ” . When the motor is going and on such a long canoe, the navigator and the operator can’t hear one another, so they rely on a series of hand signs just like we do when helping someone park a car. I got all these signs on video and Wagiba helped explain them. Then she started giving me other signs: for example a hand rubbing stomach sign means “I’m going to t...

Greetings from Daru, where three outbreaks are raging (if you don’t count poverty): typhoid, dry cough, and the flu. I caught the flu immediately (not sure what that says about my immune system) and spent yesterday throwing up while out shopping in the 40 degree heat. Definitely not my most pleasant trip to Daru. But I spent the rest of the day sleeping and I’m feeling better now. I enjoyed my flights from Canberra to Daru. I was carrying Nick’s grey pelican briefcase with my recording equipment in it and I got a lot of curious looks. One woman took my picture then came up to me to say that she sent it to her son saying “this is what you could be doing if you finished your science degree!” I liked being perceived as a scientist! Even if it took a briefcase to prove it.  I met some nice people while in Daru: a university professor in food science who’s here doing inspections and a man from Balimo who was visiting to settle a land dispute were both staying at Tobest as well. Many Lim...

I’m sitting in the domestic terminal in Port Moresby’s airport and now that the last trace of internet and FaceTime are gone, I feel like I’ve finally embarked on my fourth field trip to Limol.  Many aspects of this trip are different than the three that came before. First, I’m traveling alone, which has its pros and cons. I’m looking forward to being more immersed in the community without my Western culture anchors that have kept me afloat the last two years. But I also know that these trips have a huge emotional and physical toll and I will miss the comfort, advice, and laughter that my friends brought me. Second, this will be my longest trip yet. I don’t have tickets to come out yet, but I expect to leave at the beginning of June, which will hopefully come after the annual yam harvest. That’s at least five months in the village! Enough time I hope to become conversationally fluent and to have a solid start on an Ende grammar. A is worried about me on both accounts, but I’m not t...

Year 2: Grace, Grace, Kate, Kate, and Kate In a comment to one of the Limol posts, Elizabeth said she was curious about how our relationships were evolving in the village and how people perceived us. I guess I can only talk about how I perceive that people perceive me, but with that caveat, here's what I thinkǃ The word for white person in Ende is gabma, which has been said to be derived from the English word government  for the government people that came in to check on the villages back under the Australian government. The word doesn't seem to be used in a mean way; children yell it out as we walk down the street, and adults use it when talking about us, "The tall gabma  is here with the medicineǃ" Towards the end of this last trip, I had started to remind people that my name was Kate and they could use that instead of gabma , which felt so impersonal. People did learn that I wanted to be called Kate and some children and adults made the effort, but especia...

Thursday was our leaving day. I woke up happy and excited. I packed quickly as I was leaving most of my things in the village since I'm coming back in just one month. I left my pop up mosquito tent up in my room, and put my recording equipment, notebooks, prescription meds, and camping things inside. I hung my cassowary bag and crocodile necklace up with a picture of me and Grace above. I packed all the community equipment, like the laptop, batteries, back up drive, sat phone, pens and notebooks and things, in a separate pelican case to give to Warama and Tonny for their use this next month. Then I left with just my red backpack partway filled. Grace was also packed up quickly and we stood outside with friends while Lauren packed up and went around giving things away.  When all was ready to go, the village gathered at the language house and Kidarga arrived again still dressed in young coconut leaves. The men (Jerry, Gidu, Francis, Jugu and Kenny) dressed in grass skirts, cassowary ...

So much has happened in the past few days that it's hard to know where to begin. Our last full day in the village (Wednesday) was the first half sunny day in a week and it was a really good day. I got nine final recordings from Tonny (readings of the storybook texts) then spent the rest of the day teaching Warama, Tonny, and Wagiba again how to use the satellite phone, computer, and solar panels.  At 4:00 the feast started. We walked down to the community hall, a space in the center of Limol which is just a dirt floor covered by a sago leaf roof. Palm fronds and tarps were laid out and a huge mountain of pots with cooked rice and flour dumplings sat in the middle of the hall. Families sat around the periphery with their own pots of food (yams, sweet potatoes, noodles, fish, banana sago cake). We sat in the front center with Wagiba and Warama. Grace had helped Wagiba make a huge banana sago cake, and our friends came to give us small pots of food, purple yam, sweet potato, fish. It ...

Sixth day of rain. I did get out this morning and went with Wagiba to go pick up her sago bundles to carry them back to the village. Grace and I headed over to her house early morning and said hello to the puppies before heading out. Even in our hiking boots we slipped a bit on the path. Wagiba walks in front, swinging her machete along the path, breaking tree branches, small shrubs, hitting pieces of wood. Her erratic machete swinging is scary because I'm always worried I'll start following her too closely and get hit, but it does serve a purpose. First, it is a way of upkeeping all the trails little by little every time they're walked. Second, it's a way of marking where you've been so you can a)find your way back, or more likely b) someone can find you if you don't return. As she swung, Wagiba chatted about sago chopping and health plans and our ever approaching departure. As she talks, she effortlessly chops off branches for firewood, peels bark for rope, an...

Today is the fourth or fifth day or rain we've had. Rain all night and much of the day makes the trails quite slippery and I can't justify breaking my leg just to get a run in, so I've been feeling quite lazy. I did walk halfway to the yamhouse with Grace to carry back Wagibas yams yesterday, and I chased after a deer to film it being shot, butchered, and distributed this afternoon so I haven't been without some heart racing entertainment.  Today was a beautiful day, we celebrated Grace's birthday, which is tomorrow. The language house was filled with people and decorated with flowers. Grace was given a beautiful lei of cordyline, hibiscus, and other tree flowers, and sung happy birthday. She was then sat on a beautiful mat, also covered in tree flowers and she was given plenty of presents of food as we sang more happy birthday song. I gave her a poem I wrote called Omad and Wagiba translated for everyone. Lauren gave her a beautiful drawing of Grace and Pingam, don...

I've missed writing the past few days because it's been a bit crazy and exciting around here. I did go on a run yesterday but it was a rough one. I had stayed up all night thinking about verbs and grammar and when I woke up all I wanted to do was not think about anything for a while. Yesterday, Tonny and I input the 500th verb into the verb database and the 4000th word into the dictionary. The 500th verb was suwe  tïngg which means 'to urinate on something', Tonny offered this one because he knows I like verbs that end in - ngg . When I put a verb into the database, I have to ask, how do I say "I verb one thing, I verb two things, We verb three things, today and yesterday" for each verb. So I got to ask Tonny how to say "Yesterday, we three peed on three trees each." He must know I'm crazy. The 4000th word in the dictionary was also a verb. That morning we knocked a ripe papaya out of the tree near our house for lunch. Tonny told me that the pap...

Walking a mile with someone else in your shoes.  Saved my exercise today for the evening - I helped my dear friend Manaleato carry heavy sago bundles to the canoe place. They were halfway down, so we carried lightly halfway, then heavy to the canoe spot, back empty and heavy again to the canoe. Women carry the loads on their heads, but I feel most of the weight in my elbows as I try to lift the pressure off my head and neck by lifting the straps near my ears. I then had to say goodbye to Manaleato. Wagiba told me a verb for when you talk but you have emotion in your voice and your words come out all cracked. This happened when Manealeato said goodbye.  I then helped Wagiba by carrying the leaves she picked and fish Manaleato gave me back to the village but gave her my shoes halfway because her feet were really hurting her. She asked me to get her some sandals in Daru and it's hard to know what to say, because everyone asks me for sandals in Daru and I can't just bring 300 pair...

Got a run in today! Went to the well with Grace and had to sit on the ground to reach the water this morning. We haven't needed a rope the past few days, but now that the village is back the water has gone down quicker. I felt fast and strong on the run. I like this pace because I think it's good for my heart and won't make me too hungry during the day. Meals lately have been mostly yams and sago with sprinkles of pineapple. Fortunately we have a semi steady supply of our favorite bia up bananas that taste like heaven in every bite.  It was another hot one today. Well over 90 and very dry. The flies landed on us in swarms, almost like looking through a cloud when taking notes. I translated quite a few verbs and words for the dictionary and recorded some storybooks. Kauga surprised me today by pulling out 90 story books from the school, all with pictures and space for writing in language! I don't know why he didn't think to show me before. There are nine books alread...

I should retitle this blog: Reasons why I didn't run today by Kate.  I didn't run today because the skin on my back is falling off in one big sheet from that terrible sunburn. Also it was cold and I was cozy in my sleeping bag. I know that that image of me shedding probably doesn't sound cozy, but you learn to put up with a lot here for basic comforts.  Today was an incredibly productive day linguistics-wise. My corpus of verbs is really coming together and I'm able to sort verbs into various conjugation classes based on their root allomorphy. Their conjugation class has implications for the phonology, for example it determines if the root will undergo reduplication or nasal metathesis. I have been transcribing and translating a lot of stories and finding plenty of examples for the short grammar texts that I've been writing up. I can't believe we only have one full work week left. I wonder what I want to get done... I promise to run tomorrow. Or at least come up...

Finally got out on a run today, first day of November. Limol villagers returned from the burial last night and will return to Malam this Sunday for the funeral feast. I felt sad running down the road that had just led those mourners home. I finished my run at the edge of the village and Grace was there waiting with the water roller and bucket. We went for water and saw a wallaby near the well. Second time! We rolled back and I had to have a very quick shower and breakfast because a man named Sawe Bolet who speaks another (!) Pahoturi River language (dialect) called Em was waiting to work with me. Together we did the Yamfinder survey and transcribed half of his story about a sacred cassowary that attacked him. In the afternoon, I gathered more verbs with Warama and Jerry and translated a text on Funeral Traditions that Winson had written last year. After work, I went to see the baby of the mother who had died. The baby boy has been given to a woman named Sandra in Malam who doesn't ...

Another no-run streak of days. I feel like there is always something. On Saturday when I caught those fish, I took my shirt off so it would stay dry and clean while I jumped in the swamp. I was in and out of the water for about an hour or two, then we harvested sweet potatoes for a while. Anyway, I got a terrible sunburn on my entire back, so much that I haven't been able to wear a bra for past three days - so running is out.  Moreover, yesterday morning we received the news that a woman in next-door village Malam died in childbirth. She was in labor for four days and no one brought her to Limol or to Upiara where there is a health center. Many Malam people, and all the leaders, were in Upiara, so when they came home yesterday via Limol, they heard the conch shell from Limol on the way and learned the sad news at the canoe place. The mother and father of the girl jumped out of their canoe in grief. I was able to carry the mother's baskets to Limol, when Wagiba, Grace, Lauren an...

Had to skip my run this morning because of heavy rain - it made the trail very slippery. I did however walk nearly 7km with a heavy load to and from the canoe spot on my first fishing trip! Everyone went, but our fishing party was Wagiba, Wendy, Lauren. Grace, and me. Many other woman and small girls also walked down with us to go fishing. When we got to the canoe place, we bailed the rain water out of the canoes, spent a little time digging in the mud for worms, then settled in to Wagibas big canoe and took off. Others were throwing lines but we were going to drag a net to catch fish. Riding in the canoe was beautiful but frightening. I was so worried I would topple out.  I helped Wagiba throw out the net properly, we tied one end to a stick in the mud then paddled out into the clear part of the swamp tossing the net out as we went and back to the stick in a big circle. One side of the net had floaters and the other had sinkers. Then with the circle complete, you drag the net in f...

Finally another run in! Today was my fifth day of being sick, and by sick I mean having cramps and stomach pains and having to go to the bathroom many times in the day/night. But a quick pep talk from Grace who said, "don't you remember this always happened and just kinda stuck around the whole trip?" I realized that I need to except this digestion issue as my new normal and not let it get in the way of doing things that I love, like running. So I went on a short run today to the fallen tree and back to see how I would feel. Sore back rest of the day but overall ok! I've been feeling pretty down the last week or so - perhaps since getting sick - but mostly just feeling restless. Today I did something special for Grace and Lauren, I wrote them small speeches on how much I appreciate them to be read at breakfast, and that seemed to reset my mood. The village is empty due to a big men's fellowship meeting in Upiara. Everyone went. So today was a quiet day of transcri...

It's been a few days since I last wrote. I've been sick and so I haven't been running. My appetite finally came back last night so I thought I might run today but I was only able to walk and then I had to stay close to the house (and toilet). Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  The past few days have been very productive though besides. More and more verbs keep coming in, and I started writing up a paper about the floating nasal pattern. I'm working on a few other papers too about general grammatical topics. Yesterday I had a productive conversation with a young woman who speaks an Ende language game where you replace the endings of words with the sound -sko. I hope that this may provide some evidence for stress and/or wordhood! Besides this I've gathered a number of stories and songs and have slowly been transcribing and processing them. It's very important to keep this going because I need examples of all the grammatical constructions that I claim are in the l...

Today, I am celebrating the new moon! In Ende, the phrase new moon (kok sisor) is used on the first day that a sliver of the moon is visible. When the moon is gone, it is called dead moon (kok kuddäll). Sometimes people greet the new moon by tapping their mouths with their hand and yelling out, which reminds me of my sweet baby Sisi.  My run today went well this morning. I walked the whole third kilometer because I was trying to figure out a phonology problem in my head. I have a few concurrent analyses about how some verbs have "moving" sounds. In one instance, the verb is tänd and in the next it's ntäd. The "n" moves from the middle to the beginning or vice versa. Anyway, I was worried because an alternative analysis that came to me in my dream last night seemed to negate my current analysis, but on the run I found the example that killed it so I could put it to rest! As I was walking back through the village home, I passed old man Giniya's house who becko...

Big milestone day! I think I passed my tenth 5k here in PNG, if not in Limol, which makes 50km! A distance that always reminds me of A. Today was a bit drizzly, which made the dirt trail a little slippery in places. I passed a few women on their way to the swamp and a man working in his garden. The whole village is feeling under pressure - it's time to build new gardens so everyone is out clearing trees, digging posts, and burning land. Barefoot and with rusty tools. Many people have come asking for medicine for body aches and it's hard to say no. Our policy is to only give medicine for non-chronic pain otherwise we will run out in just a few days and people might overwork their already overworked muscles. All the women are also going for sago, which involves falling a huge sago palm tree, debarking it, beating the pith into a powder, squeezing water through the powder into a pool and siphoning off the water to return with a super fine grained starch. This sago will be going to...

Another early morning run in before the heat. It's been higher than 90 degrees every day and well into the evening. It was a good way to start the day - much better than yesterday.  Yesterday I thought I might go on a run, but stayed in instead. I'm glad I did because the young boy with burns over half of his body came over again. He had fallen into a fire at the washing place. I had put a loose cloth over the burn gel the previous night to try to keep it clean but when he came in the morning, the third degree burns had stuck to the cloth, the second degree burns had all grown blisters and the first degree were more visible. I cried because I knew I couldn't help him. Grace helped take the bandages off. We gave him some more pain medicine and sent him with his mom to Upiara. It really tore me up inside, especially because I don't know if Upiara can care for him and his mom doesn't have a way to get to Daru. Grace and I comforted one another and sent some messages on...

Second Sunday. I can't believe the second week has come and gone. I've gotten into a running routine of warming up on my walk to little Dabi's house to give her her medicine at 6am and then a quick out and back run, back to Dabi's to pick up our plate and spoon and a cool down back home. Lately this has been followed by a water run around 7am with Grace. We take one of the big water rollers and a bucket and walk first to our friend Mecklyn's house who expertly ties a nice long rope onto our bucket. We then walk down to the new well, which is close to the health post that is being built. The well is deep so one of us throws the bucket in and the other pushes it down with a stick. Then we have to yank the bucket up and out in such a way so that the bucket doesn't hit the sides of the well which are covered in clay. We pour about six or seven buckets to fill the roller and then Grace and I both pull the roller back up the steep inclined path to the road. It's s...

Bright and early 5k this AM. Felt slow but had lots to think about. I dropped off the medicine for little Dabi and she wasn't looking very good. I don't think her parents are caring for her and I was a bit angry at her father for letting her wound get so dirty. She looks stiff and I'm worried she's getting sicker.  On the run I was thinking about the verbs and about how there might be evidence for clitics. Some post nominal morphology seems to be closer to the noun than other postpositions, but they don't harmonize with the noun, suggesting a distinction between suffix and clitic perhaps? I'll write a squib up today. I got back home and did some work in Wagiba's garden, then showered and washed some clothes. As I was finishing up, the village erupted with "Käza! Käza! Käza da aittan!" A crocodile! A crocodile had been caught! I grabbed a video camera and followed the young men down the narrow bush track to the creek. It was my first time down this ...

Officially in week 2 and feeling good. Went on a run this morning that was pretty slow first because my stomach was being funny, and hungry, and sick-feeling and second because I had a lot to think about. I ran out towards the canoe place again, which conveniently brings me past little girl Dabi's house who needed her 6am antibiotic hidden in peanut butter. She has such a sweet smile whenever I come by, which makes it all worth it. Tessa says her good temperament speaks volumes about her health so I'm reassured. After I pass Dabi's house, I pass Christina and Gidu's. Gidu is the town announcer and is unique for having  dreadlocks. He also killed a python two days ago and I got to see it, huge, coiled, and bleeding from a tree branch. I saw it again last night when they brought some over for our dinner! It was weird to eat, very chewy and muscly, but tasted like tuna. It was obviously a dear present for us. I thanked them again even though I think the python is to blame ...

Playing doctor This weekend has been a really difficult one. Dabi, the little girl with the infected buttock, needs medicine four times a day and she is very reluctant to take it, even mixed in peanut butter on a bit of sago. The poor thing. Her temperature was still high today and Grace and I cleaned and redressed the wound. I've sent all updates to Tessa for advice but unfortunately the west coast is asleep most of the day. Since Saturday, we've had more then ten people come asking for medicine. It's become a source of tension in the house. I don't want to be the village doctor and am hesitant to give out medication to anyone for anything. I'd rather just be the emergency first aid care. Lauren thinks everyone that wants medicine should have it. Grace is in between. The fact is that the health situation in South Fly is so terrible that even if we do help, it's just a drop in a very large bucket. Upiara's health post doesn't dress or even look at wounds...

Beautiful but hot run to the canoe place late this morning. The canoe place is 3.33 km away from the edge of the village. I ran to the end then back to where Grace and Lauren were walking behind and back again for a little more than 5k. I felt strong and didn't walk, but it was very hot.  It's a Saturday today and the goal is to rest but I just want to work. There is a big community meeting happening today and Joshua and Saly came from Malam to see us. After lunch with them I took a nice long nap in the hammock with my computer. I wrote up some pages on vowel harmony and fell asleep. When I woke up it was nearly evening. Grace and I attempted to pass out cooking oil in a plastic funnel but it failed. I took Joshua to rerecord a story of his fathers but a loud fight with lots of yelling started so we paused.  Then a man came by asking for some medicine for his daughter who got a terrible cut on her buttock from a shovel (we learned later that he had hit her). Fortunately we wen...

Second 5k in Limol! I ran down to the canoe place again and made it all the way to the border between the grasslands and the swamp. The run was pretty uneventful. I only saw one person, a man who has been ostracized by the community, but he was friendly. I felt more confident of my footing this morning so had time to think about other things like (i) what to do for Grace's birthday on November 13, (ii) which verbs to elicit today, and (iii) what chores needed doing.  When I came back, Grace and I went straight on a water run to a new well with very nice water. Some young men helped us which was nice because we had to pull the water up a very steep hill. They took the roller and we carried two buckets on our heads. Very heavy.  I've come back to this post on Friday because I fell asleep before finishing. I'm pretty exhausted once I get to my little sanctuary in my room. I brought myself a small mosquito tent that zips closed and has a full bottom to keep away both mosquitos ...

Second day in Limol and my first 5k! I woke at 6 and got ready to run, connected my watch in front of the house and took off. I was a little worried about causing a scene (running for no reason) and as soon as I started running, dogs began to bark and chase me! So I walked the first half kilometer through the village, than ran 2.25 kilometers down the path towards the canoe place, then back to the village 'gate'. It felt good to run! So many different bird sounds: owls, friar birds, parrots, and more. I ran through so many little spider webs with my legs. The sunrise colored sky was beautiful.  The rest of the day was eventful so I'm glad I got the run in early. Big community meeting was productive. We introduced Lauren, presented presents and discussed plans. Lauren and Grace did really good jobs. I explained how most of the solar lights and water rollers are lost and people were understanding but maybe disappointed? There was a big discussion about the gifts and whether s...

Today was our first full day in Limol! Everyone was tired today from the journey. Although many people brought us food from their gardens, Wagiba was too tired to cook for us and so I didn't eat until dinner. We also ran out of water in the morning but had to wait until evening to go to the well. The well is quite far away but has good water.  Anyway this resulted in another "rest day" from running because I couldn't run without eating or drinking. Things will settle in soon :) My favorite part of today was in the afternoon. Manaleato and Kauga came back from Malam and I ran to them to give them hugs and kisses. Manaleato is wonderful - she has a beautiful spirit and nine sweet children. Her husband, Kauga, is the school teacher. We all gathered at the new language house, which is twice as big as last year. At one point, I brought up the photos from last year that I printed and everyone wanted to see them. I set them out along the tables and big groups of peop...

Wow, we just arrived in Limol and I can't believe it. What a long, difficult journey filled with surprises and gratitude.  Musato found us a boat and boatman to take us to Limol Saturday morning. Our original hire had been thwarted by the infamous Sam George who took us to Limol our first year. We went down to the wharf on a prayer, hoping that a boat and boatman would appear. Before ours did, a boat came in with a man who had fallen off the boat onto his motor. His arm was very badly cut, and a big crowd surrounded him as he was helped to the hospital. When our boat arrived, we had also amassed a crowd for much happier reasons. The boat was smaller than we would have liked - we had to leave some people behind - but we did fit all of the gifts and supplies that we bought for Limol under two large tarps. I was very pleased with the packing except two large pots with handles were placed behind my seat of honor to dig into my back for the next two days.  The ride through the Paci...