One of the stops on our tour of the area surrounding the lodge was an indigenous village. Unfortunately, there are no indigenous peoples that live in traditional villages any more. This village was created by request of the lodge to given tourists an idea of how these peoples used to live. While such windows into past culture are certainly beneficial to all, it was awkward nonetheless. These people were actual members of this tribe and the elders even still spoke the traditional dialect. But, I just felt bad that these people were just doing some job to make us happy. We had to dance with them too, just to add to the awkwardness.

We did, however, come out of the experience with a blowgun. Several members of the tribe demonstrated its use and then allowed us to try. These weapons are incredibly easy to use and very accurate. We of course could not pass us the opportunity to acquire a full size one of our own.

Getting it to the US was quite the hassle. We bought a tube in which to transport it but that proved to be 6 cm too big for our international flight home on Taca airlines. Luckily the customer service desk at the airport was nice enough to summon some workers to remove the 6cm from the tube allowing the airline to finally accept it. They claimed that they would have to change us $120 to transport it — the device cost but $40 — but thus far they have not charged us the fee. Let us hope it stays that way.