| Although we were accompanied by U. S. Air Force instructors for
certain portions of the training, these two gentlemen were the ones who tried to teach us
a little about the jungle in which they lived and thrived. Known locally as
"negritos" and under contract to the Air Force, they were indigenous to this
particular area of the Philippine jungle. We like to think of ourselves as highly
skilled and knowledgeable, but that only applies in our culture playing under our rules.
These two guys helped us understand that there are other cultures which play by
entirely different rules. In the photo above, they are hamming it up for us to take
pictures. The helmets and machine gun were left over from the Japanese in WWII and I
expect their original owners did not fare well against these folks' ancestors. |
