Peru - Day 13 Part IV - More Village

The village kids all had pets.

Hey.......I'm slipping!

C'mon.....grab me!

Ugh.......now you are choking me!!

That's better.

Paul has a sloth. Sloths are about as much fun to play with as it is to watch grass grow.....just kidding. They are fascinating animals. We humans could learn a little about relaxing from sloths.

I went to high school with a guy who could have been a twin brother.

Nice hair arrangement......no wait.

It's a baby monkey nesting in her hair.

Terri was by far the most popular visitor. She had bubble blowing bottles and pens to give away to the kids.

Of course, there is aways shopping. Sigrid bought a couple of necklaces. We want to support the natives.

The kids are blowing bubbles and chasing them.

Heading for the boat.

Adios.

Piranha fishing next.

Peru - Day 13 Part III - Village Welcome

After lunch, we paid a visit to a village just off the Amazon River. It was a short walk to the village.

I love these plants and take a picture every time I see them.

The tribe's Chief greeted us as we entered the village.

The kids enjoy visitors.

The formal welcoming ceremony took place in the large hut.

We were treated to music and dance by the children as well as the adults.

We were invited to join in the dance.

After the ceremony, we were given a demonstration on how blow guns and darts are made. When complete, the blow gun has a very smooth and very straight bore.

The men proved their skills with some target practice. The accuracy is amazing at about 60 feet.

There were very few missed shots.

In case you were wondering, the natives are bothered by mosquitoes just as much as we are, but it is a way of life for them. They couldn't afford to buy all the Deet that they would need and using as much as they would need to on a daily basis would probably kill them anyway.....so they just swat the pest away constantly.

Paul demonstrates the art of making darts.

The dart is just a long thin splinter of wood with a cotton like ball on the end. They use piranha teeth to make the dart. Paul is holding a set of teeth.

You sharpen the splinter with the teeth.

You then make a notch around the tip of the dart so that if the animal (or person) tries to remove it, the tip breaks off and remains embedded in the flesh. The dart tips can be dipped in curare from the poison dart frog to kill the prey.

More village to come.