Well, this was an exciting moment. I didn't quite catch this chap's name, but it wasn't the first thing on my mind. Actually, I don't know why the first thing on my mind was to take a photo instead of run! Part of my nature, I guess.
Here's the full story... I was walking near the western coast of Papua New Guinea near a place called Tufi. It's kind of a unique area for many reasons... one is that many of the local women permanently tattoo their entire face, starting from a very young age.
I was there with my friend Rene and four other friends from Queenstown. We got a hot tip that we could take some canoes down one of the rivers with some natives that we knew through a connection. We all went and our plan was to visit a local village and drink in some of the local action.
After our canoe trip, which was quite beautiful and serene (you could sometimes see natives darting this was and that through the jungly bits), we came to a stop and disembarked. We had about three canoes and two locals with us. They spoke English pretty well and we started to head down a path to their village. At one point, they warned us that some of their tribe may come out with a show of force, so that added a tinge of excitement. And within a few minutes, these two guys with spears blasted out of the jungle with the same force that I blasted into my undies.
I couldn't totally figure out if they would follow through on the threat... I got the impression it was just the PNG equivalent of a Larry David staredown, which I find to be a more comical situation and highly preferable. Also I couldn't figure out if they just wanted to give us a tour of their village, or if they saw as a 6 creamy Twinkies.
Well, I figured, I could not beat this guy in single-hand combat since he was holding a Spear of +2 to Cannibalism. Since I was holding a Camera of +1 to Autofocus, I decided I'll try just to properly compose this, which could have been my last photo ever.
Tufi, Papua New Guinea
