Yagua Indians of the Amazon, Peru

I took a trip to the Amazon Rainforest in Peru earlier this month. I stayed at the Amazon Explorama Lodges and overall, it was a great experience. Part of the tour package was to visit a small village of Yagua Indians.

Honestly, the "village" was just 2 housing structures that the Yagua used to live in and 2 rows of booths with hand-made souvenirs made by the "villagers". I can't even say for certain if they were actual Yagua Indians or just locals hired to be Yagua Indians. The whole place just seemed really unseemly and explotive in my opinion. The demonstration of the blowgun seemed genuine but when they performed their dance rituals, it just seemed like a show put on for the tourists.

I also felt a little bad about taking their pictures. I could have probably gotten away with taking snapshots but I wanted some portraits and I had the feeling that they were expecting me to buy a souvenir from each booth. It didn't help that there was another tour group there with me and they were almost treating the Yagua like circus attractions. One guy even put his fisherman's hat on one of them, stood next to him and took a picture. I felt real bad about taking their portraits after that. I got only a handful of photos before I started feeling really bad about not buying more souvenirs.

Other than the visit to the village, the rest of the tour and the rest of the trip was amazing.

#1

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5659916​717/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5659917​555/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5660486​372/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5659918​583/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5660487​538/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5660488​426/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/clee130/5663251​211/

No comments?

My favorite is #3

I really like #1. The amount of textures you have in the picture is very nice. B&W was a smart choice for that one.

kyarger wrote in post #12313095
My favorite is #3

Thanks. It's my favorite along with #4.

lhughey wrote in post #12313288
I really like #1. The amount of textures you have in the picture is very nice. B&W was a smart choice for that one.

Thanks. She was sitting at the entrance so I think the diffused light helped out a lot.

lhughey wrote in post #12313288
I really like #1. The amount of textures you have in the picture is very nice. B&W was a smart choice for that one.

+1, really like this one, like the BW treatment as well... was reading about trips to Peru and about these little villages that youve visited.. I too was wondering if they were possibly "actors" or however youd put it... I realllly want to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu... maybe in a couple years time.

jaspa wrote in post #12317581
+1, really like this one, like the BW treatment as well... was reading about trips to Peru and about these little villages that youve visited.. I too was wondering if they were possibly "actors" or however youd put it... I realllly want to hike the Inca trail to Machu Picchu... maybe in a couple years time.

I didn't get to go as part of my tour but other groups got to visit a local village and not like the Yagua "village". I heard that it was far better visit as they saw children going to school and things of that nature. It wasn't as showy and a tourist trap because it was just a regular local village.

I too would like to hike my way to Machu Picchu. Several of my friends have done it and they say it's amazing.